How to clean a photo on canvas

Caring for Your Photo on Canvas

Canvas prints are quite durable, but they still require specific care and attention.  To clean your photo on canvas all you need to do is give your canvas print a light dust. If your canvas becomes soiled, just wipe gently with a damp cloth (do not do this if your print is not laminated – you will rub off the ink!). 

Canvas prints from a quality provider should be coated with a special laminate or varnish coating, before you start cleaning it’s a good idea to check with the manufacturer.  This coating protects your canvas print from abrasions, scratches and UV. It is important that when cleaning canvas prints you do not use any chemicals as the chemicals will damage your protective coating.  When transporting and storing your photo on canvas be careful not to lean anything against the canvas side, as canvas is stretchy and may stretch a little out of shape (don’t worry if it does, it usually gets back into shape pretty quickly too).   My advice when transporting your canvas prints is to place a piece of strong flat cardboard against the canvas side, this will prevent anything from damaging or piercing the canvas. 

A good quality canvas print is designed to last longer than you will, and with the correct care you will be enjoying your canvas prints for a long time to come.

Photos on Canvas making headway in Corporate Australia

Photos on canvas are becoming the new trend in many top corporate environments.  With photo on canvas print displays being successfully used for many applications.  Corporate office environments are now choosing photos on canvas as a way to effectively display their company branding and products.

Marketing directors are choosing photos on canvas over more traditional photography displays.  Some of the advantages of photos on canvas are that you can get much much larger sizes with a canvas print than you can with a traditional framed picture.  Many canvas printers, including ROC Corporate Prints, can print a photo or image on canvas up to 3 meters   This often suits corporate clients and their environments much better as they often have very large walls to fill.  Company logos and branding on canvas are being used in foyers and receptions to welcome visitors, as well as canvas print displays of products and latest advertising campaigns.  Photos on canvas are also becoming a popular addition to trade show displays.

If you don’t have your own images or are looking for something special, ROC Gallery & Print Studio can assist you in selecting suitable image.   Canvas prints  make the perfect accompaniment for office meeting rooms, reception areas and hotel rooms.

Creating Photos on Canvas from Negatives, Slides and Paper Photographs.

Creating Photos on Canvas from Negatives, Slides and Paper Photographs.

It is the misconception of many that you need to have digital photos to create modern photos on canvas. It is just simply not true. Canvas prints can be created from any type of image – if you can scan it or create it as an image file (jpeg, pdf etc) you can create a canvas print.

Photos on canvas are produced through digital printing technologies and therefore it is true that digital photos and digital images are easier to create canvas prints from, since they are already in the digital medium – but that does not mean other photos cannot create stunning canvas prints.

At ROC Gallery + Print Studio we are always creating fabulous canvas prints from negatives, slides and paper photographs. We have a high resolution photo scanner we use to scan our customers photographs, negatives and slides to create high resolution digital images. We then use these newly created digital files to manufacture great photos on canvas. Sometimes the photo or negative will produce a better canvas print than a photo taken with a modern digital camera.

So next time you are flicking through your photo album, don’t discount those old photos for canvas printing. They are where a lot of your memories lie and create fabulous gifts for your loved ones.

What is a Canvas Wrap – Wrap Options for Canvas Prints

Wrap Options for Canvas Prints.

There are a variety of wrap options available for your canvas print.  Which wrap you choose depends a lot on your personal taste and the limitations of your image.

Firstly, a wrap on a canvas print refers to what wraps around the frame.  Or more specifically, what is printed on the canvas that wraps around the frame.   Each canvas print is printed on canvas, laminated and then stretched over a timber frame.  The wrap is the canvas that wraps around the frame and will not be visible when viewing the image front on – but still visible on the sides.

There are 3 most common wrap options available for your canvas print.

Gallery Wrap:

The gallery wrap is the most popular.  A gallery wrap is where the image continues around the sides of the canvas as shown below.

This is an example of a canvas print with a gallery wrap.

When choosing a gallery wrap is it important that there is no important content on the sides of your photo as this part of the image will be wrapped around the sides of the frame and not visible from the front.

 

Block Colour Border:

This is an example of a canvas print with a block colour border.

A block colour border is where the whole image remains on the front of your canvas print and a single colour is used to wrap around the frame.  You can choose simply stylish black or white borders or you can select a colour from within the image – the choice is yours. 

Mirror Image Wrap:

This is an example of a canvas print with a mirror image wrap.

A mirror image wrap for your photo on canvas is a great alternative if you are after a gallery wrap but do not have the room within your photograph.  When one of our photo editors prepares your image for a mirror image wrap they will select approx. 1 1/2 inch (3.5cm) of the image and extend it out by the same distance as a mirror image of the original.  It is a great way to get the gallery wrap without compromising photographic content.

For more information on wrap options and if you feel like having a go at creating your own photo on canvas wrap please visit my canvas printing learning centre.  Here you will find step by step instructions on creating each wrap using Photoshop CS3.

What size / resolution does my photo have to be to create a personalised Photo on Canvas?

How good does my photo have to be to create a personalised Photo on Canvas?

I get asked this question every day from customers wanting to know the answer.  The answer is – there is no answer.  There are so many variables involved with producing a canvas print and so many variables in the quality of photos taken – from the photographer through to the camera they use. 

Unfortunately it is not as easy as saying – “just make sure you take your photo with a certain megapixel camera” – that would be too easy, and make my life much simpler.  I often have people come into my canvas printing studio with bad photos taken from a really high megapixel camera and great photos taken from early digital cameras with low megapixels – more and more I am getting great results from mobile phone cameras as well.  The answer is not just in the megapixel, a lot has to do with the way the camera was made and the quality of the processor and lens – not something that the manufacturers use as a selling feature.   The better the processor in your camera the better the canvas print.

My advice is – if you are not sure, ask ROC Canvas Prints.  We can take a quick look at your image and let you know if it is suitable.  More often than not it is not a case of if it is suitable, but how big it will go before looking too grainy. 

Something to also take into account is the textured surface of the canvas.  Printing on canvas can be very forgiving to an image, what might look terrible on paper can look stunning on canvas.

Photography Tips

To ensure your photos are the best they can be with the camera you own, I have included some basic photography tips you can follow.  I include new tip every month in the monthly newsletter I send out every month.   If you would like you can register to receive my monthly canvas printing newsletter.

1. Making the most of your light:
The most important aspect of your photograph, outside of the person or content you are photographing, is light. You can alter your photographs dramatically just by changing the way the light falls across your subject. For example: bright sunlight can enhance an older person’s wrinkles, but a softer light on an overcast day can subdue those same wrinkles.

2. Off centre your subject:

Bring your pictures to life by placing your subject off centre.  Moving your target away from the middle of your image, not only from side to side but also up and down, will provide more depth and interest to your picture.

• Camera tip:

Since most cameras focus on whatever is in the middle of the view finder, remember to lock the focus by pressing the button half way down and then re-framing your picture (while still holding the shutter button half down) and then taking the picture.

3. Using your flash in the sun:

When taking photos of people outdoors remember to use your flash.  Many cameras have a fill flash setting.  Use this to fill the dark areas on people’s faces with light when you have shadowing from the sun.  This is especially useful when the sun is directly above or behind your subject(s). 

4. Taking pictures of children or animals:

Get down on their level, hold the camera at their eye level and capture their gaze or smile.  They don’t need to look directly into the camera; the beauty of the eye level angle is that it will create a personal feeling that will give you a great image that you will want to keep for a lifetime.

5. Optical zoom Vs digital zoom. What’s the difference?

Do you find that when you use the digital zoom you end up with a photo that isn’t quite that good? This is because the camera crops the image and enlarges it back to full size, therefore reducing the image quality.

Optical zoom makes use of the optics (lens) to bring the subject being photographed closer and keeping the quality of the image.  In order to preserve maximum image quality you should avoid digital zoom wherever possible.

 

If you are after further information I suggest you check out the ROC Gallery & Print Studio Canvas Print ready format page.  

What is a Canvas Print?

What is a canvas Print?

I thought I would start my blog with ‘what is a canvas print?’  And while I thought it was obvious, as I will point out I work in the industry, I was having a conversation today with someone wanting to sell me advertising space and they couldn’t quite grasp what it was we do, and of course what he was interested in –what marketing directory category do we fit in to, who do we market to?  Well the answer to his questions, is that everybody is our market, and that not one category satisfies all that is canvas printing.   It did get me thinking… Canvas printing and the technology that makes it all possible is something I take very much for granted, but how many people out there actually have no idea what a canvas print is, or how they could use one?

Simply put, a canvas print or Giclee print, is any image or photo printed onto canvas and stretched over a frame.  In its most popular form, it’s Your Photo on Canvas, just like buying a wall painting – but it’s yours!  Sounds simple eh, but there are a lot of variables involved in the manufacture of a canvas print which will determine the final outcome of a canvas print and many people have concerns over how their photo will look once they put their photo on canvas. 

Origins of ‘Your Photos on Canvas’. 

Canvas printing has become very popular in the last couple of years, and is a trend which is still growing.  With new technology has come the ability to reproduce any photograph or image onto canvas, in effect, turning your photographs into works of art. 

In many respects canvas prints are a great affordable alternative to traditional art works and can be much more personal.  Canvas prints will also last as long as many pieces of more traditional art. 

Printing photos onto canvas uses a process known as Giclée.  The word giclée has French origins, meaning to squirt.  Giclée printing specifically refers to using high quality ink jet printers used to squirt ink onto the media surface, in this case canvas.  Ink jet printing is the preferable option when producing canvas prints.  This is the first thing to take into consideration when selecting a canvas printing supplier, The company I work for – ROC Gallery & Print Studio – only use Canon 12 colour inkjet printers.   You will find the cheaper canvas printers on the market do not use inkjet printers, instead they choose to use flat bed printers.  This is fine, however you will find your ink rubs off your print very easily, often with basic dusting, and because the ink is UV treated they don’t laminate (more about laminating later) – this results in a dull canvas print that doesn’t last long.