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How good do my images need to be
Why do we specify a minimum file size
Which wrap style should I choose
Choosing an image for a ‘Dominant Colour’ print
Changing a colour print to sepia or black and white
Choosing the right canvas size
Why do we specifiy the number of images for each size of montage canvas
How good do my images need to be
Obviously the better the quality of the original the better the quality of the final canvas print. Remember that typically canvas prints are much larger than the original picture, be they digital straight from your camera or scanned from an original. (It’s generally better to let us do the scanning as we have a high end photo scanner which scans both reflective and transparent originals, including 35mm colour negatives, and which is calibrated against our monitors and canvas printer.) When enlarging an image the available data is spread over a larger area so any imperfections are magnified accordingly, so if for example your original image is out of focus or a bit fuzzy then it will always be so. Don’t worry too much about this as we will always advise you if we think your image will not produce a satisfactory result. We also have some pretty nifty software (in fact it’s the high end industry standard software!) which does a pretty good job at blowing up low res images typically from mobile phones or low end digital camera images but please remember if it’s not pin sharp to begin with it will never be pin sharp, whatever you do with it, but that doesn’t mean it won’t produce a very satisfactory canvas print.
What materials do we use
We only ever use 400 gsm bright white matte 100% cotton canvas which is specially designed for high quality, artistic reproductions from Giclée printers.
The canvas material is designed specifically for the Epson UltraChrome inks we use in our printer.
Our Epson UltraChrome inks are colourfast for up to 75 years. ie they will not fade even if exposed to direct sunlight.
Typically our canvas prints are stretched over 38 mm deep profile wooden stretcher bars with the exception of our mini canvases which are stretched over 18 mm deep wooden stretcher bars.
By special order we can also supply prints on 50 mm deep wooden stretcher bars.
All our canvas prints are laminated with an acrylic matte varnish which has been
developed using the latest nano-
Why do we specify a minimum file size
When you send us an image it is actually composed of a number of dots, called pixels.
Because canvases are generally quite large finished images we need enough pixels
to produce a ‘sharp’ image as more pixels make for a sharper image, ie the higher
resolution image you send us the better the resulting canvas print. We are of course
aware that people may want an old or damaged print reproduced and that it may not
be of high quality, don’t worry we have some cunning software that allows us to enlarge
the image for printing but we will of course let you know if we are unable to produce
a satisfactory result -
Which wrap style should I choose
We offer a variety of wrap styles. If you have not already seen them then just click here. So, which one works best for your chosen image?
- Standard white wrap -
this actually works well for any image and if you just can’t decide then we would recommend that this is the one to choose
- Mirror wrap -
Rather than having a plain white ‘edge’ to your canvas you can choose to replicate the image round the sides. We take a strip of your image the width of the frame (ie usually about 38mm) and ‘mirror’ it on the sides. However, this is not suitable for all prints as you need to be aware of what will actually appear on the edge, for example if someone’s head is at the edge of your picture then you would NOT want this mirrored round the edge. It works best when the edges of your picture have no specific detail. If in doubt just give us a call after you have uploaded your picture and we’ll advise.
- Single colour -
Here we take a dominant colour from your picture and use it as the edge colour. This is particularly effective if you order a set of prints which will be displayed in close proximity. For example, we recently did a set of some 30 canvasses for a school showing the students undertaking a variety of activities - we chose a colour from each image for the edge and as they are all displayed on one wall they look very colourful when viewed ‘edge on’ Another example was of a piece of child’s art which was on a very dark background and rather than printing it with a standard white edge we replicated the background colour round the canvas edges.
- Gallery wrap -
This works well as long as there is plenty of non- specific image around a central point of interest. Bear in mind that some of your image will be lost from the face of the canvas as it wraps round the edge. There is one exception to this and that is where prints are done as a set, sometimes referred to as a triptych. This is a single image displayed a three separate panels so that the image is complete when viewed face on but equally looks good from an angle as the edge of one print is the beginning of the face of the adjacent one.
This can all get a bit complicated but is one area where our artists excel so we’ll
just give some general guidelines here... a) try to avoid including one image which
has a very strong overall colour which is different from the rest b) try to avoid
a lot of images where someone’s head is near the edge of the print -
Choosing an image for a ‘Dominant Colour’ print
This type of effect can often be seen for sale as a picture of a red London bus against an otherwise Black and White image or alternatively a New York Yellow cab, again with a Black and White background. When choosing an image for this treatment you need to make sure that the ‘colour’ you want to keep is strong and well defined. It may well be that the same colour appears elsewhere in the image and you may or may not want this area of ‘colour’ kept, or not in which case you need to let us know. Additionally, the remainder of the image needs to have good contrast to produce good Black and White bearing in mind this time that the canvas will be printed in colour, unlike a true Black and White print which uses black ink only. If in any doubt just call us for advice.
Changing a colour print to Sepia or Black and White
This is a very popular choice and can produce a stunning looking single image or
montage. While changing you images to Sepia is pretty straightforward changing them
to Black and White is an all together different process so just leave this to our
artists -
Choosing the Right Canvas Size
There are a couple of things you need to be aware of when deciding on the size of your canvas although generally the bigger the better! A large canvas print of your favourite images or a montage of images has more impact the bigger it is! Having said that consider where you are going to hang it. Also be aware of the size of your original, for example if it is square and you want a long narrow print we will have to crop the image to fit the new aspect ratio.The traditional photograph was 6” x 4” which is an aspect ratio of 3:2 which fits perfectly on say a 36” x 24” canvas print. If we don’t think the size you have chosen is appropriate we will always contact you to confirm the size and adjust it if necessary.
Why do we specifiy the number of images for each size of montage canvas
Generally the number of images we recommend is based on both the size of the canvas and the typical size of the images. Too many and the individual items end up looking too small, and the opposite for too few. Also, as the basic layout consists of a number of rows of images, we prefer to be able to make up either 2,3 or 4 rows depending on the canvas size, an odd number of images makes this difficult, particularly on the smaller sizes of canvas. As usual, if in doubt, just give us a call!
