canvas prints

I'm thinking about doing some gallery-wraps and was wondering what types of images you prefer for this method of display?

I'm not sure how much detail is lost on the canvas material, how much sharpness is lost.

I really like how they look, and the benefit of not having high costs of framing.

Any suggestions are appreciated.

Thanks,
Kevin

Just about any image can look good on canvas. Because of the texture of the canvas I find you can print a little bit bigger than you could on paper. One thing to be aware of with gallery wraps is that anything within the image that is close to the edges will be folded over onto the sides. Sounds obvious but a lot of folks overlook this! This can really look bad if its an important element of the image (a mountain peak for instance) and you need to plan for this (know in advance how thick the stretcher bars are going to be--they come in several different thicknesses). You might need to add to the edges of the image so important elements don't get folded over. Also, when you fold over the corners do so such that the folded piece is on the top or bottom of the image. This keeps the sides of your gallery wrap clean--most people will never see the top or bottom.

You don't really lose as much as you'd think. The canvas used for inkjet prints is a very tight weave. It's also coated to receive the ink properly and the coating limits the ink absorption (dot gain) so the 'sharpness' is still good.

I've printed on Epson's matte canvas as well as Hahnemuhle's Monet and Daguerre canvases. Did some at one point on some MediaStreet Royal Canvas but didn't like it quite as well. The Monet canvas is 100% cotton. The Daguerre is a poly-cotton blend. The Daguerre is a slightly finer texture and is a brighter white than the Monet. Both produce really nice prints. I had several wrapped for a gallery recently and they turned out quite well. In terms of drange and colour saturation, I find the canvases to be in between glossy papers (higher dmax/saturation) and matte papers (lower dmax/saturation). They do give a bit more of a painterly look. I'd tend to use them more for images with bolder colours and/or images that had a more 'artistic' look to begin with.

You do need to coat them for protection. Moab has a spray for this - Desert Varnish. Hahnemuhle has a spray as well. Premier Art has both a spray and a roll on product. I sprayed mine after they were wrapped and the one thing I noticed was that there was a fading of the ink in the creases at the 4 corners. I'm not sure if spraying them before wrapping would have prevented that. Mine were also wrapped very tightly. I've seen some others that didn't have that effect but they weren't wrapped nearly as well.

These are relatively expensive media; however. A sheet of 17x22 of the Epson canvas runs about $6 and the Hahnemuhle are about the same. Trial and error can be costly. If I were you, I'd probably wait till I got the other printing problems sorted out before trying these. I just checked Hahnemuhule's website and they do have profiles for both the Monet and Daguerre canvases for the PixmaPro 9000 (that's your printer, right?). I've found Hahnemuhle's profiles for my Epson 3800 to be excellent - extremely accurate.

You're right about the cost for presentation too. I had a small (8x16) print framed recently and it cost $200 (double matte 2 1/4" wide, fairly simply black frame and uv/anti-glare glass). By comparison, a 16.5x21.5 canvas wrapped to a final size of 15x20 cost $55.

Thanks guys.

I'm thinking about having a print shop do a few wraps for me to start with. I was playing around with Inkpress Canvas paper at home, but I have bigger issues to figure out on my home printer first.

I was thinking about trying a larger size, say 24x36 as a canvas print. The cost of framing gets so outrageous at those sizes..

Kevin, at that size, from normal viewing distances you'd have nothing to worry about as far as detail and sharpness.

Here's some practical experience. Canvases are the "high priced spread" in our studio, and we sell them for a lot more than most photographers ever make for a magazine cover. Over the course of a year, canvas sales add up to big buxx for us.

The perception among studio clients, anyway, is that your canvases are your very best products. Therefore any flaws or problems reflect on you badly. The mounting has to be perfect, and no excuses. You also have to protect those corners, both in handling and display. It's really, really easy to ding a corner, and even though it won't show in an eventual frame, they're painfully obvious when a client picks up their work.

We tried producing our own briefly, and though possible, we feel strongly that the expense of a lab is a very good investment. When printing yourself, you eat your mistakes. When buying from a lab, they eat the mistakes.

Any recommendations on a lab to work with for gallery wraps?

West Coast Imaging will print on canvas but they won't stretch the canvas on stretcher bars.

Artistic Photo Canvas is another but I don't have any first hand experience with them.

There are lots of companies out there that will do this (just Google "canvas prints") but I don't have any experience with them. I do my own canvas printing and mounting/stretching.

We use H&H Color Labs. They're a commercial outfit and you have to set up an account with them, but the results are beyond compare.

Other pro photogs we know also report great happiness with White House Custom Colour, but we don't have any first hand experience.

I've tried a few of the inexpensive labs for this and found out it wasn't worth it.

I've used two different companies that have really good results with no color fading guarantees and the edges don't crack. Also they don't have any noticeable folds except for one exactly at each corner.

Good quality 24x36 canvas wraps should run you somewhere between $170 - $250

If you're going to lug them around to art shows or have others handle them they must be treated like fragile eggs or you're wasting your money. Good Luck!

You will lose a lot more of the image on the edge depending on how large the print is and how much wraps on the side. Most companies offer 1.5 inch or just 1 inch wrap on the sides. Most of the time I'm cloning in the sides because I don't want to lose any part of my composition. It can get very frustrating to get it to work out right. The sides are the most important part that people will notice. I would use extreme caution when handeling them they crack very easily.

I use Mpix.com. If you need something fast they will do it quicker than most with limited sizes only.

I also use imagesourceonline.com They are my local printer. They can do custom sizes which can be really convenient. You figure that out when you contemplating the sides of your images in photoshop.

El Co Color does canvas and I think they'll wrap it as well. MyPhotoPipe I believe will also print on canvas. Not sure if they'll do the wrap though.

I've had a couple of canvas prints from El-Co Color Labs. They turned out really good. They will mount them on the stretcher bars also.

Thanks everyone.

I was considering El-Co labs, there prices are rather reasonable, but I was a bit curious about quality.

These first couple of attempts would actually to be for my home so they shouldn't be getting moved around too much. Thanks for the tip on that though Steve, I didn't realize you had to be that careful with them.

I haven't tried El-Co's canvas yet, but have been more than happy with their service and prints.

I have tried both Simply Canvas and Canvas on Demand and don't see any real difference in quality. I was happy with both.