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“Out of the photo album and onto the wall” – latest digital technology provides innovative new way to turn photos into PHOTOART

By: Corey7 Smith7
 

“Out of the photo album and onto the wall” – latest digital technology provides innovative new way to turn photos into PHOTOART

Where do most digital photos end up, anyway? It’s probably no surprise that the majority of the snapshots we all take are archived away on a CD or saved on our computer in a semi-organized way, making it difficult to even find them. Some are shared electronically and then deleted. Only a few percent are actually printed out and placed in photo albums or scrapbooks and an even tinier percentage enlarged and framed for the wall. Why are so few printed or enlarged?

The most common reason is that most of the photos we take are just not good enough quality, photographically. A photo for an album or scrapbook can be a nice little memory and perfectly suitable for close-up viewing, but not “wall-worthy”. But there is hope. The latest digital imaging technologies can actually improve the photo quality and turn a borderline picture into a keeper, a picture worth enlarging and displaying on the wall to enjoy every day. This goes way beyond the 8X10 enlargements your dad used to have framed for the hallway.

It’s called “PhotoArt canvas printing”, and here’s how it’s done.

Pick a photo
The first step, and most difficult for most people, is to pick a photo. “I can’t decide which picture to pick” is a common refrain we hear in our canvas printing business. My advice is to pick the photos that you have a strong emotional reaction to, regardless of the photo quality…maybe it’s a candid shot of your child at play, your dog running in the field, a favorite family shot with the grandparents, whatever just strikes your fancy. Then sort from among those, the one or two that are the best photographically. Just make sure they are in focus, that is critical. Just about everything else can be fixed digitally, but not fuzzy. “Fuzzy is Forever” we say.

Pick a company
You will need to find a photoart canvas printing company that can transform your digital images into a beautiful enlargement that is “canvas-worthy”. Google is a great way to find a good company that does in this type of printing. Use search words like “photoart on canvas” or “canvas photoart”. Look for a company that specializes in canvas printing, not a general digital printing company. You can order on-line and upload your digital images to their website.

Making your photo “sing”
When the photoart company gets your image their artists will use the latest digital imaging software to clean up any little problems with the picture like red-eye or date stamp, that, when magnified in the enlargement, would be very objectionable. At a minimum, the artist should also adjust the contrast, color saturation and color tones. In addition, a top-quality digital artist can correct facial tones, lessen shadows and even remove wrinkles or blemishes without it looking phony. It’s really amazing how an ordinary, everyday photo, can be turned into a real winner using this technology in the hands of a talented digital artist.

The magic part
Now the real magic begins. One of the more popular, and certainly most unique photo treatments available today is the transformation of the photo into a simulated oil painting. The artist uses special software and a digital stylus to “digitally paint” the image, mimicking brush strokes. It takes real talent to capture the twinkle in a child’s eye, the contours of a face or the special lighting, and the result is truly unique. The hard part is now done…ready to print!

Printing and Finishing
The images are printed directly on special, museum-quality canvas using a giant inkjet printer. These printers weigh up to 700 pounds and can print up to 5 feet wide…not your typical desktop inkjet printer, but the same basic principle. The special inks are matched to the canvas to provide a life of over 80 years. That’s about 4 times longer than a traditional photographic print will last under similar conditions.

The printed canvas images are sprayed with a special protective overcoat to protect the image from light and water damage and then stretched over an internal wooden frame using a technique called gallery-wrapping. This simply means that the imaged canvas continues around the edges so that the finished stretched canvas can be hung right out of the box. This is how art galleries display canvas paintings, hence the name.

Voila! You have a beautiful custom work-of-art, suitable for display in your home or as a special gift for someone else. Believe me; a gift like this will be talked about for years.

The cost
Photoart prints on canvas are surprisingly affordable. For the most common size, 16” X 20”, prices generally run between $80 - $100 for images that are digitally enhanced and gallery-wrapped using the highest quality materials, ready-to-hang. When you consider that a traditional photo enlargement, matted and framed, can easily run over $150, canvas photoart is a real bargain. Beware of companies that charge significantly less than the average…it’s unlikely that they are really spending the time to enhance your photo. And always get a 100% money-back guarantee!

Bill Loeber is founder and president of www.ThePhotoArtPeople.com, a digital printing company that specializes in transforming everyday photos into canvas masterpieces. His company focuses exclusively on photo canvas printing, with customers all over the world.

Article Source: Main Articles

Corey Smith is author of this article on photo to canvas. Find more information about canvas photo here.

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