Canvas prints?

OH Boy... Now that I listed my printer for sale I will share my $0.02 here. The fact that some of these online shops offer such large prints so cheap is one of the reasons we are getting rid of our printer. That being said I'm surprised to hear the feedback on Costco canvases. Honestly I can walk into someone's house and instantly tell they printed their canvases at Costco. The paper IMO is cheap and it shows. Those images above are amazing and I don't think you will get that kind of quality at Costco. That being said it is very possible to buy a rolled canvas and make your own frame or purchase the premade frames at a good framing shop. I make all the canvas frames for the canvases my wife sells to her clients and have made hundreds of them over the last few years. A chop saw, compressor, nail gun and some wood glue is all you need. (I use the redwood deck rails you can get at Home Depot) they work great for a 1.5" border. There are canvas stretchers that many use in mounting but we have always done ours by hand and the quality has been really good even after 4 years. You should not have to brighten or pump up the colors on your image unless your are sending it to Costco. A good printer using quality paper will have the correct ICC profiles and it will look great. I think IntrepidXJ's images above speak for themselves.
 
Just thought I'd check back in to this thread and report on the costco way of getting around having the wrap affect the composition. I did a couple of prints for christmas gifts. Each is a 20x30 but I had them do the edges in black and then do the wood frame for an extra $20 or so. I actually really like it - more than standard canvas wraps. It presents nicely and I'm really happy with the results. I couldn't find photos of the costco canvas framing anywhere so I thought I'd post these up for anyone wondering how it turns out.

costco-canvas-print-framed-1.jpgcostco-canvas-print-framed-2.jpgcostco-canvas-print-framed-3.jpgcostco-canvas-print-framed-4.jpg
 
Interesting option. Results look pretty good. How was the color accuracy?
 
Color accuracy was very good in my opinion. I thought they were a little dark at first but under a light like the mini spots above my mantel, it looked great. I know it doesn't help much, but for comparison, here is the image for the GSL shot as I sent it in:

stansbury-print-bcp.jpg
 
thanks for the update @Nick.
I want to start with some canvas wraps this year and your canvas wraps looks pretty sweet.
I might try Cosco by myself. I love the black edges and frame you added to your pictures.

Good to know about the color accuracy, too.
 
I've had several done there with that framing as well, including a couple of Christmas gifts this year. I think they all turned out great.

- DAA
 
A few I just got back recently. Ordered these from a couple different places using groupon for discounts. Came out about $10 each less than Costco, but took way longer.

Six%20Eyes%20Mule%20Deer_16x20.jpg


Muley%20On%20The%20Prowl_20x24W.jpg


Golden%20Light%20Coyote_16x20W.jpg


First%20Light%20Coyote_20x24.jpg


- DAA
 
I haven't printed much in a long time. Does anyone have thoughts on output settings from Lightroom? I see Costco now offers metal prints in addition to canvas. Anyone tried those?
 
Oh sweet. I didn't know they had started doing metal. I think I'm going to get one and check it out. I'd love to hear if anyone else has tried them.

I might be misunderstanding your question about output. I usually just export mine at max res and max quality but I don't do any output sharpening or anything. I do find that the canvas prints are often a little dark and undersaturated for what I would normally process for the screen.
 
Nick said:
I usually just export mine at max res and max quality but I don't do any output sharpening or anything.
Click to expand...

I output sharpen for screen, but not for print. The only other change for me is color space. For screen I convert everything at output to sRGB. But if the printer supports AbobeRGB I'll use that instead.
 
I've tried the metal prints. I'm not a huge fan. I ordered them because I needed something waterproof to put in the bathroom by the shower, and for that it works great. However I'm not a huge fan of the quality of the finish. I haven't been able to put my finger on it but I've ordered 3 metal prints now, and none of them have looked as good as the prints I get on paper.

It very well could just be personal preference, but I've felt like the color depth and subtlety of the image is lacking on the metal prints, really hard to describe. They also always feel softer than my paper prints, I'm also not a huge fan of how glossy they are. So far my favorite prints, and I've ordered from a lot of places with a lot of different styles and finishes, is the fuji pearl paper. I get it sprayed with a lustre protective coating, dry mounted to styrene, and then placed directly into a frame without matte or glass. The Fuji pearl has a really nice finish, the spray let's me display it without glass (I hate displaying photos under glass), and of course no glass or matte means it's actually much more affordable than traditional display methods.
 
Interesting... I'd love to see a photo of your metal print, Andy. I can't find any out there on the interwebs of the costco ones. Heck, I'd love to see some of your photos any way I can! Why you always holding out on us?? ;)
 
I'll see if I can remember to take a picture of them tonight. Just so busy man. 2015 was an interesting year for me, I hiked more miles than I ever had before, yet took less photos than I had in probably the last 5 years. Throw a new baby on top of that and it's made for some serious slacking.
 
I've only had one metal print done, it was a Groupon and super cheap - like $20 or something. I was not in love with the finished product, but think it has a lot of potential for certain images. But, for the one I did (a winter coyote on snow), I had another one done on canvas at Costco and liked the canvas version much better.

Would take pics of both, but I sold the canvas.

Interesting to know Costco does metal now too though, I'll probably give another one a try one of these days just for the heck of it.

- DAA
 
Had a couple made from photobucket.....pretty cheap price I thought (always send me discount sales) looked pretty decent to me ...... but I just hang them on my wall ..... not sell.
 
I recently used easycanvasprints.com I liked the options they gave, and had an 80% off code.

I don't think it's worth it at full price, but def at 80% off.
 
I pulled the trigger on a 20x30 metal print through Costco. I'm a VERY impressed. The detail and color came out nicely and the metal makes the image pop almost like it was on a screen. I love it and I'm totally sold on doing more.

This is the image I printed:
img_0674-jpg.39034


The white balance in these cell phone shots is a little wonky for some reason, they don't at all do the finished product justice, but you can kinda get a feel for it.
IMG_0503.JPG

IMG_0511.JPG

DetailIMG_0508.JPG
 
Nick said:
I pulled the trigger on a 20x30 metal print through Costco. I'm a VERY impressed. The detail and color came out nicely and the metal makes the image pop almost like it was on a screen. I love it and I'm totally sold on doing more.

This is the image I printed:


The white balance in these cell phone shots is a little wonky for some reason, they don't at all do the finished product justice, but you can kinda get a feel for it.


DetailView attachment 39592
Click to expand...

I am curious as to how it gets mounted to the wall? Almost flush or does it have some kind of backing that sets it away from the wall?
 
Cool Danish said:
I am curious as to how it gets mounted to the wall? Almost flush or does it have some kind of backing that sets it away from the wall?
Click to expand...

Usually there's foam board mounted on the back. That, or metal posts through each corner that are then attached to the wall.
 
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