Acrylic Face Mounting for Milky Way Photography in Brisbane

At Prolab, we recently completed a striking pair of large-format acrylic photographic prints for photographer Steve Watt, featuring two dramatic Australian night-sky images: Silo Milky Way and Tree Milky Way.

Both artworks were produced at 1200 x 900 mm, giving the images the scale they needed to feel immersive while preserving the fine detail in the stars, landscape, and foreground subjects.

Bringing Milky Way Photography to Life

Astrophotography demands a print process that can hold deep blacks, bright highlights, and subtle colour transitions. These two images featured rich night skies, glowing stars, intense greens, purples, blues, and strong silhouetted foregrounds.

To achieve a vibrant, high-impact result, we produced each piece using our Pure Metallic Acrylic process. This gave the finished artworks strong depth, crisp contrast, and a premium gloss finish suited to dramatic photographic display.

Printed on Ilford Metallic Gloss 310 gsm

We printed both artworks on Ilford Metallic Gloss 310 gsm, a paper that works especially well for images with strong contrast, bright highlights, and luminous colour.

For Milky Way and landscape photography, metallic paper can add extra visual energy to areas such as stars, light trails, reflections, and glowing skies. In this project, it helped enhance the sense of depth across the night sky while keeping the landscape elements bold and defined.

Acrylic Face Mounting for a Premium Finish

After printing, we mounted each photograph behind 4.5 mm extruded acrylic using an optically clear mounting process. This acrylic face-mounting method creates a sleek, gallery-style finish with excellent clarity and depth.

Each print was also mounted to 3 mm aluminium panel, giving the finished artwork a stable, professional backing. This combination creates a clean, modern presentation that suits large photographic prints, commercial interiors, private collections, and exhibition-style wall displays.

Retouching and Artwork Preparation

Before production, we completed creative retouching to prepare the files for final output. On the Silo Milky Way image, we removed small yellow signage/text visible in the grassy foreground area. We also added Steve’s signature to the bottom right-hand corner of both artworks.

These finishing details helped create a cleaner final presentation while keeping the focus on the photography itself.

Ready to Hang with a Baton Assembly

For installation, we supplied each acrylic print with a split baton assembly. This hanging system allows the artworks to sit neatly and securely on the wall while maintaining a professional floating appearance.

For large acrylic prints, a strong and reliable hanging method is essential. The baton assembly gives the finished pieces the support they need while keeping the front presentation clean and minimal.

Large Acrylic Photo Printing in Brisbane

This project is a great example of how large-format acrylic photo printing can transform a strong image into a polished finished artwork. The combination of Ilford Metallic Gloss paper, acrylic face mounting, aluminium backing, and professional hanging hardware created two bold photographic pieces ready for display.

At Prolab, we work with photographers, artists, designers, and businesses to produce premium photographic prints, acrylic mounts, metal-mounted prints, fine art prints, and custom display pieces from our Brisbane lab.

Looking for Acrylic Photo Printing in Brisbane?

If you are looking to produce large acrylic prints, Milky Way photography prints, metallic photo prints, or gallery-quality photographic wall art, Prolab can help prepare, print, mount, and finish your artwork professionally.

Visit us in Kelvin Grove or contact the Prolab team to discuss the best print and mounting option for your next photographic project.