Prepping for Canvas Prints

[Remo Nonaz]

A recent email advertisement for discounted canvas prints got me thinking about trying a couple of my images with this medium. I have never made images larger than 13 x 19 and have not printed anything on canvas.

What additional steps (if any) should I take to prepare images for printing at larger sizes on canvas.

My starting point is roughly 4700 x 3100 dpi images with good color saturation and tonal range.

[smjphoto]

I have no experience ordering canvas prints from discount sources, I print my own, but since no one has spoken up I thought I'd reply to your post. For most online print sources, you don't need to do anything special to prep your files beyond what you would do to print them at normal sizes. They will scale them to the right size and usually are happy with a high quality jpeg or tiff at native resolution (not uprez'ed).

If you are shooting for the best results you can get, then many photographers would work with a printing company where they can download a profile from the printer in order to soft proof their image first in order to customize the image to the actual printer characteristics. I would think if you are in that group, then you would be more concerned with what type of canvas and varnish and process the printer is using as there are many levels of quality and appearance to choose from. Lacking any real knowledge about what your print offer is offering, you might just have to try one as an experiment and then maybe try one from a well respected lab to compare the results.

You will find some images are great for canvas and some are better on paper. For example, canvas tends to be used more when high levels of fine detail are less important.

good luck,
Stuart

[Herbc]

depends on what printer you are using.  I have an Epson 3800, and had a hell of a time getting canvas to feed properly.
Final solution was to tack glue a sheet of paper printing stock to the back of a single piece of canvas, and have had moderately good sucess with that.

Lula has  an enormous number of posts on the subject, how to feed etc etc, and should provide many hours of reading for you.
Most say varnish is best if not absolutely necessary, as it brings out contrasts and colors better.
Personally, I do not care for matte canvas.
Check out Breathing Color- they have a ton of stuff (of which they are quite proud of!)

[smjphoto]

OP, Are you asking about ordering canvas prints or printing them yourself? If the later, then MY response is not relevant. Sorry if I misunderstood.

Stuart

[Remo Nonaz]

Thank you for your responses. I'm not looking to do this at a professional level - I just thought it might be interesting to see how an image would look on canvas and in a larger than normal size. I'll follow your advise, and if I go ahead with this, let you know how it works out.