Canvas prints?

DAA

DAA

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2012
Messages
715
So, I know absolutey nothing about canvas prints. Zippo, zilcho, nadda, zero. In fact, thinking about it, I don't think I have ever even seen one. At least not to know what I was seeing.

But I just ordered one anyway... An 18x24 from Costco, $55. I sure hope it turns out okay.

Now that I've already clicked through and completed my order and it's too late anyway, it occurs to me that maybe it wouldn't have been a bad idea to get some advice on preparing an image for printing on canvas? Maybe it should be more or less sharpened? More or less saturated, brightness? Heck, I've no idea...

Anyone have any advice or observations from personal experience to offer for the future?

Thanks!

- DAA
 
i'm going to be doing this for an art show i'm having in a couple of weeks.
my first time doing it as well. One of the local professional photographers here does it with his Aspen shots and they look great.
I'm trying out winkflash.com because they are having a special right now. 18x24 was 35 bucks, 12x18 was $29 . both thin wrapped. it was only about 6 bucks more for thick wrapped. got these first two to se how they turn out (probably keeping one for myself) and then ordering more after i see how they are. shipping was around 12 bucks for the two.
 
I've had several canvases printed by WHCC, but you need an account. A lot of how a photo print will turn out on canvas comes down to the texture of the material. I prefer a more fine grain so texture is important. A lot of cheap canvas prints will be on more rough material, so you'll see that I the image.
 
Canvas prints are great, I've printed quite a few and they look nice and are incredibly convenient for clients. They are simply a matter of aesthetic. Much less expensive than a professionally framed print though. Highly recommended.
 
I also use WHCC for all my canvas prints. Top notch quality. I treat the files just like I would for any other type of print. Canvas prints are nice but I prefer my prints on metallic paper and then mounted on some type of backer board depending on what the end use is going to be. The metallic paper looks a lot better IMO.
 
Anyone have tips on how to prepare your photos for canvas? Like is it necessary to boost saturation or brightness or anything to get an optimum result, or just process like normal?
 
I've had a few more canvas prints done since my original post here. From two different printers. Stating the obvious here - not all canvas prints are created equal... The first one, I ordered from Costco, is definitely the best quality of the ones I've done. I had a few others done from I actually know not where - they were payment for allowing a couple of my images to be used on a website and I honestly don't know where they were printed. But the quality was a couple notches below the one I had done at Costco. Still nice prints though - canvas is neat. Then I had one done by a friend and I framed it myself. His printer (no idea what he has) and/or the canvas he uses isn't as nice as the Costo one either, but nicer than the others.

I said all that, to say this... Of the three different sources I've used for my canvas prints so far, I'd treat each differently as far as processing the artwork before sending it to them. I'm guessing because all three use different printers and or canvas stock. The Costco print came out as I'd expect that image to come out on regular matte paper. The other two sources could use varying amounts of extra sharpening and brightening. Depending on the image itself, I think a little extra sharpening for canvas is often helpful.

Anway... I'm a total beginner, no actual advice, just sharing what little bit I think I'm learning so far. I'm planning on having quite a few more canvas prints done in the near future (already have some pre-sold). My plan is to get the ICC profile from the printer I plan to use, try my hand at "soft proofing" in Photoshop and do a series of smaller test prints before I finalize my artwork and commit to a couple dozen larger prints.

- DAA
 
No, don't even know who/what WHCC is, but when I read that an account is required, I figured that wasn't going to work for me anyway. But it might be something I should look into.

- DAA
 
Setting up a WHCC account is easy. I prefer them over Costco because their results, for me, have been extremely consistent.
 
nick said:
Has anyone done both WHCC and Costco for the sake of a direct comparison?
Click to expand...

No comparison, but I'll also vouch for WHCC. They also, once your sign up, offer you 5 free 8x10 prints, just so you can verify that your monitor is calibrated correctly. And at least in the past, they've had prints to me in 2 days, whereas I'm pretty sure with Costco you have to wait 5-10 days for canvas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Similar threads
Thread starter Title Forum Replies Date
DAA Canvas, more of... Photography 0
Titans Paw prints, help pls! General Discussion 32
Bigred72 Prints and framing-Where to? Photography 3

Similar threads

Back
Top