How To Make A Stunning Photo Gallery Wall: My 7-Step Guide

When I first moved into my flat nearly 20 years ago, I hung five large frames in the living room, and filled them with prints of my photos. 

Over time I’ve swapped out the images, but the layout has remained the same, and for ages I’ve felt it was pretty boring. 

With such a huge photo archive, I wanted to do more to show them off (even though no one ever comes round!).

So finally – with time at home to do some admin – I’ve made it happen: I’ve created my own photo gallery wall.

Since it took a bit of figuring out, I thought I’d share how I did it, in case you’re looking for gallery wall ideas or are inspired to make one too! 

About me and my photos

In case you’re new here – hello, I’m Bella, and I’m a travel and wildlife photographer.

As part of my weird and wonderful life I get to visit incredible places and take pictures – but the downside is I’ve ended up with a huge archive of images that I never look at.

Many of them, of course, also end up here on Passport & Pixels.

So all the images you can see on my gallery wall were taken by me (as were the photos of my living room of course!). And if you’d like to see more, or even buy some for yourself, check out my print store here.

Disclaimer: I’m not an interiors expert or a designer. But I am a photographer and I know a bit about editing, printing and framing. So my gallery wall is about showing off your photos – not necessarily about having the most fashionable interior design!

Read more: 11 Ways To Make Money As A Travel Photographer

What you’ll need to create your own home photo gallery

Here are all the things you’ll need:

• Individual frames or gallery wall set
• Prints of your photos
• Mounts if you want them. Some frames come with mounts, or you can buy custom sizes.
• Picture hooks or picture frame hanging kit
• Drill, hammer, or whatever you’ll use to hang the frames
• A laser level projector.
• Tape measure
• A roll of masking tape

Also useful but not essential:

• A knife with a thin edge
• Scissors (for cutting the masking tape)
• Dust blower or hairdryer
• Glass cleaner and lint-free cloth

Step One: Choose your frames

Once you’ve decided where you want to put your gallery wall, the most important thing is to choose your frames. 

Some people like to have mismatched frames so they can add to their wall over time. You can often find free or very cheap frames in charity shops or places like Facebook Marketplace. 

My lovely friend Fran does this and her gallery walls look eclectic and amazing (you should read her blog by the way, she’s brilliant and hilarious).

Since I was starting from scratch and I wanted the whole thing to look curated, I bought two of this 9-piece gallery frames set (if you’re in the UK you can also buy it from John Lewis).

I liked the classic design of the black wood frames – with my bright sofas and colourful photos I wanted a simple style – but you could go for light wood, gold, or a mixture.

There are lots of cheaper sets available on Amazon or from home decor shops, but Nielsen frames are pretty decent quality and it came with screws too.

I also kept a couple of my old 50 x 70 cm frames as well, which are Aluminus frames from Habitat or Argos. 

Obviously how many you choose will depend on the size of your wall, how far apart you want to space them, and whether you want lots of smaller frames, a few larger ones, or a mixture. 

That’s why I liked the gallery wall set, as it made that decision for me – and it worked out much cheaper to buy a set than to buy a bunch of frames individually. 

What sort of frames are best for a gallery wall?

One thing to consider is whether you want frames with glass, Perspex, or nothing at all. 

My gallery wall set came with glass, so that’s what I got. The slight issue I have now is that glass is very reflective, which can detract from the images. 

I do have some of these aluminium frames with acrylic ‘glass’, which as well as being cheaper and lighter, are a bit less reflective. I used them to frame four lovely birds from Botswana!

If you buy these, make sure you remove the protective film from both sides of the perspex. It isn’t marked and can be hard to see it’s there – so initially I was about to get ragey about the terrible quality of the frames until I realised I was being an idiot!

You could also get your images printed on canvas, aluminium or acrylic without a frame at all, but that’s much more expensive. 

Read more: 25 Brilliant Tips For Travel Photography

Step Two: Work out your layout

If you already know which pictures you want to hang, and whether they’re landscape or portrait, you’ll need to take this into consideration.

I had so many images to choose from, I decided my first priority was to figure out a layout that worked aesthetically, was balanced, and fit the wall space. 

I did this by laying all the frames on the floor and then swapping the smaller and larger pieces around like a game of Tetris until I had a layout I liked. 

The gallery kit also comes with a paper template which you can cut up and stick to the wall, but I found this too much faff – the floor method was quicker and easier for me!

Step Three: Hang the frames

This is by far the hardest part, and I confess, I did not do it myself. 

I’m terrible at DIY, and I knew if I had a go, the pictures wouldn’t be aligned or straight, and would annoy the hell out of me until the end of time. 

So I hired a local husband and wife handyman team (shoutout to Anita and Barnabas!) to come and do it. 

I made it work by waiting until I had a list of other small jobs, such as painting, fixing a broken light, and repairing a cupboard door – so I got a whole bunch of stuff done all in one go and I just paid them for two days of their time. 

They hung all the photo frames in just a couple of hours – using a laser level to make sure they were all lined up, and a measuring tape to check the spacing between the frames was equal. 

Here’s what they said about how they did it:

“The most important step is the plan you make on the floor. Everything else is about patience and measuring carefully. Always measure twice.

It’s best to use a laser level to create a straight guideline on the wall. From this line, measure down to the hanging points on each frame, as the distance between the top of the frame and the hangers is often different for each one.

Start with your middle frame and work outwards, making sure each frame is the same distance from the next. 

Mark the positions on the wall clearly. Measure the distance between the hanging point and both the top and sides of each frame so that it sits exactly where it should.

The type of fixing you use depends on the wall and the weight of the frame. On brick walls, strong picture nails or wall plugs and screws are usually ok. On plasterboard walls, you will need plasterboard wall plugs so the frames are securely supported.”

Step Four: Choose and edit your images

If you don’t already know what photos you want to put up, it’s much easier to do now that you have your frames on the wall and can work out what would look good where. 

You might want to put family photos or pictures of your holidays; you might even want art prints instead of photos.

I knew I wanted to show off my favourite wildlife photos – but it still took me AGES to choose which ones.

Read more: 41 Safari Photography Tips For Stunning Wildlife Photos

I spent about two days going through hard drives and re-editing until I had a shortlist of about 170 images. 

Then I took photos of the walls with the empty frames, and used Photoshop to drag thumbnails of my photos around until I had a layout I liked. 

I wanted to make sure the colours were balanced, there was a good mix of birds and mammals, and that the larger prints were more environmental shots, so there wasn’t one huge close-up dominating the room. 

I exported them at full resolution, JPEG, Adobe RGB colour space.

Many of these prints were taken in Botswana with Pangolin Photo Safaris. If you enjoy wildlife photography and would like the opportunity to get shots like these, check out What Happens On An African Photo Safari: Are They Any Good?

Step Five: Print your images

Once I had my layout, I knew which images to print, and what size. 

With my gallery frames, the print sizes vary from 7×5 all the way up to 20×13. You’ll need to make sure you double check you’re ordering the right print in the right size as it can be very confusing when you’re ordering loads of different ones.

I ordered the prints from Loxley Colour – an excellent UK-based print company who also ship worldwide.

I ordered their standard lustre photo print paper, with a 2mm card backing on each one. I find having the 2mm card stops the prints from buckling in the frame over time, and looks much more professional if you’re going to do your own framing. 

Read more: Wildlife Hide Photography Tips For Safari Photos Like A Pro

Buy my prints!

Ok no, this is not an essential step for creating your own amazing gallery wall!

But if you like the look of mine and want some of these images in your own home, all of them (and many more) are available to buy from my print store.

The printing is also done by Loxley Colour, so you know you’re getting the same excellent quality and service.

Step Six: Order mounts if needed

My gallery frames came with mounts, but I felt some of them were too wide: I wanted less white space and larger prints, so I ordered custom mounts from frames.co.uk.

With these, you specify both the exact external dimensions of the mount (the size of your frame) and the dimensions of the hole (the size of your print).

Make sure you make the hole slightly smaller than the print size so there’s maybe 5 mm of overlap on each side – you don’t want the print to fall through!

Again it’s best to check and double check, especially if you’re ordering a load of different sizes. I’m honestly amazed I didn’t mess anything up and have to re-order!

They come in range of colour choices too – you don’t have to have white. If I’m framing high-key black and white images like my favourite hippo shot, for example, I’d probably get a black mount.

Step Seven: Mount and frame your images

Once everything’s arrived, now you can frame your photos! 

For this, you’ll need a clean surface and clean hands.! I recommend wiping your table and give it a blast with the hairdryer to blow away any stray hairs or bits of lint.

Open each frame – this is where the knife can come in handy as on some frames the metal bits that hold the back on can be fiddly to open.

Add your mount if necessary and then tape your image to the back of the mount using masking tape. 

Now, before you put the back on, pick up the frame and check there’s no bits of dust or fluff trapped in the frame. It’s super annoying to only discover this AFTER you’ve done up all the clasps!

You may need to wipe the glass or blast with your dust blower or hairdryer to blow the bits away.  

Then all you need to do is close up the frames and hang them back in their spots, then make a cuppa and enjoy your new gallery wall!

How much did my photo gallery wall cost?

Here’s what I spent (not counting all the travel or camera gear to take the photos in the first place!)

• Prints: I ordered all the prints you can see here, plus a few bonus 7×5 ones in case I changed my mind, as well as six other prints to put up in my bedroom and bathroom. The total came to £238.33.
• Frames: I bought two of these gallery wall kits for £67.20 each, plus I already had the two 50×70 cm frames, which would have cost £34 each new. Total for frames: £202.40
• Custom mounts: I ordered 10 custom mounts costing between £10.75 and £16 each depending on the size. Total for mounts: £97.60
• Labour: My handyman charged £200 a day, so let’s call this half a day: £100.
• Tape: 1 roll of wide masking tape: £5.22

Total cost of my photo gallery wall: £643.55

Not cheap, but this will give me many years of enjoyment, and if I get bored of the photos I can swap them out for new ones in a few years’ time.

How to save money on your gallery wall

If this sounds expensive, here are a few ways you can cut costs:

• Get cheaper frames from Amazon – but then they might be poor quality
• Get free or cheap frames from here there and everywhere. This requires a lot more patience and effort though. And it would have created a mismatched look which is not what I wanted.
• Hang the frames yourself if you can! I would DEFINITELY have ballsed that up. 
• Do the printing at a cheaper place like Photobox. But then you are compromising on print quality.
• Don’t print the images with card backing. It would have been cheaper just to get regular paper prints, but then they might buckle in the frames, especially the larger ones. 

And that’s how I did my gallery wall? What do you think? What would you have done differently?

Thanks for reading!

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Where to next?

If you’d like to find out more about where some of these images were taken, why not try some of these posts?

• Shompole Wilderness Lodge In Kenya: My Complete Review
• My Luxury Uganda Safari Itinerary: Into Africa’s Wild Places
• Affordable Botswana Safaris: My Bargain Wildlife Trip Review
• 70+ Stunning South Georgia Photography Tips
• 19 Easy Wildlife Photography Tips For Beginners
• Instinct of the Mara Review: Exclusive Wildlife In Kenya

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