Printing on Canvas

Do you have a digital photo that deserves to be admired? You know the one ... it might not shine in an online album or as a printed snapshot, but it's just dripping with potential. There's a process you can use to turn those pixels into a big beautiful pièce de résistance that will honor the room where it hangs ...

Printing on canvas combines the latest digital ink jet technology with the venerable painter's tradition.

From a technology perspective, printing on canvas isn't a new development. (Historically speaking, well, that's another matter, altogether.) The first artists to witness the magic of large format digital color output clamored for a way to print their digital artwork on something other than lackluster rolls of paper. The industry soon developed the products and techniques, swapping out the big rolls of paper media for canvas.

When displayed alongside canvas prints, images printed on conventional paper pale in comparison. When properly done, canvas prints carry an heirloom quality. The person that receives the print (whether they've purchased it or received it as a gift) looks at it with much more value. It becomes a piece of art, rather than a simple snapshot.

Here's a handful of things to consider if you're thinking about printing your digital images on canvas ...

1. You'll want to start with plenty of image. The bigger you go, the more important it is to have a sufficient number of pixels in the digital file. (Your digital print provider should provide you with their suggested range.) While you can't put image quality into an image that you've resampled upwards, you can play some tricks to blur the hard digital edges and pixelation.
2. Following on that, you'll probably want to avoid tight photographic images. By manipulating the image to achieve a more painterly effect, you'll avoid the "oh wow, a pixelated photo printed on canvas." Take some time to become familiar with the impressionists. Photoshop plug-in filters are your friends ... just don't go overboard.
3. Mounting makes all the difference.(You didn't think you were going to spend all that money on the print to tack a flappy piece of fabric on the wall, now did you?) Once the canvas is printed, it should be mounted on a solid substrate or stretched over a traditional wood frame. Don't scrimp if you dry-mount ... cheapo foam core is easily warped and dinged.
4. Consider upsizing your image a tad if you plan to have the image stretched over a wood frame. The extra image area will wrap around the frame.
5. Talk to your print provider about protecting the image once it's mounted. They'll likely have a preservative or two that they prefer (as well as some they do not).
6. Think about making more than one print of an image. If you print multiples, you may end up saving on the per-print price. Some printers charge a setup fee with a sliding scale print schedule, based on volume.

What would the great masters think of today's digital printing techniques? Would they be embraced by the innovators or eschewed by the purists?