CanvasPrint

[ncmedix]

I am looking for feedback on the below photo. I was thinking about having it printed on canvas. To be honest, I was playing around with it tonight (HDR) and it ended up looking more like a painting. I like it (funny what you can get playing around sometimes), however I have never had a photo but on canvas. For those of you that have do you think this photo would look good on canvas at 16 x 20 or 20 x 24?

[blumesan]

Please forgive my rather blunt answer, but the photograph that you display here would not look good on canvas or any other media. Obviously it is a wedding photo. Can you recognize a single face in the image? How much of the image is devoted the important event and how much to paving stones in the foreground and foliage at the sides? It's just possible that something may be salvaged by careful cropping of this image and subsequent enlargement. If that works then it may be appropriate for printing on canvas. I would try to print an 8x10 first on paper and see how that looks.

Cheers/MIke

[ncmedix]

I don't mind blunt. I want honesty with critiques. I did crop the original to 5:4 and processed in black & white (that eliminated some of the foreground). I get torn between the two versions. When I eliminate the foreground your attention is drawn more to the party, but I seem to like the curve in the pavers and the pavers all together at times as well.

I have received some other comments on another board and I think I might try this again (different approach). I'm new to tonemapping and I get carried away with it. To each his own.

This was my first real wedding shoot. That is my stepfather escorting my stepsister down the aisle. The building in the background is a historical school house. I was thinking of enlarging it and printing it for my stepsister, but I will try a different approach. Thanks for your honesty. Carma to you!

[blumesan]

Well, here's another idea. Obviously the historic school house is a beautiful building and wonderfully situated. You can't recreate the wedding, but I would guess the site and its memory are important to your stepsister. So, pick a time when the light is just right, the foliage in full "bloom" and go back and make a wonderful landscape shot. Try various perspectives, but be sure to get some good detail from that beautiful building. Take your time and experiment. I am sure you will come up with an image that deserves printing on canvas and will make a wonderful gift.

Cheers/Mike

[felix.reichardt]

If you have Photoshop you can actually simulate canvas structure and how it might look. Look for the texture filter. I think it will not look to good on canvas because all details are to small and will be further broken by the canvas structure.

[rrdphoto]

I'd also suggest that this one will get tricky to do properly on canvas since the detail like the flag pole will look odd being partially wrapped around the edge of the stretcher frame.

[flashmedic]

saying nothing about canvas or mounting - I'll offer my 2 cents in favor of the image as it is. I'm sure it isn't the only image you have of that wedding, maybe not even the best image of the FOB walking the bride down the aisle...but it's something a bit different and has a very artistic feel. It won't be for everyone, but that's what art is about.

I would say if you can find some place that will print an affordable canvas (I think some Sam's or Costco's have this capability) - go for it - all you have to lose is your time and you might find something great...or you learn a lesson the hard way and move on. A quote comes to mind "if at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence you tried"

let us know how it goes

[ncmedix]

I actually had this printed 24 x 36 on canvas. I think it came out great! I was going for something different with it.

Now it was a learning process. I had it done by Uprinting (the price was right to try this out on) and it did not come stretched and framed. I had another done at the same time 16 x 20 (a picture of my Mom and step father). I only looked at them for a day and then shipped them to my sister to give to them for Christmas. I would have liked to have them stretched, but did not have the time.

My Mom loves hers. She had it matted and framed (under glass). I could not talk her out of it, but oh well. My step sister loved hers (the image above) and I hear it is hanging in their house. I'm not sure how she had it framed or stretched.

Long story short....I will get to see for myself when I go home on vacation in July. Until then all I can say is they are happy and they have been very supportive of my new found love / hobby!

[flashmedic]

Ultimately, all that matters is that the client is happy...sounds like you made that happen - congratulations!

[Ed Shapiro]

So here's the real deal on canvas and textured prints.

I have produced thousands of prints mounted on canvas, printed on canvas, printed on textured papers or run through embossing type texturing machines. The results of doing this can be very enhancing or distracting to you images.

Theses methods are very applicable to portraiture and other specialties of photography as long as the head sizes and other important details are large enough whereby the texture will not overpower or distort the image. Depending on the depth and intensity of the effect, the texture can appear as skin blemishes, dermatitis, disfigurements on the skin and can distort small details like facial features or the eyes of a subject on small prints with small head sizes. As a general rule, textured surfaces work best with traditional portrait images and certain landscapes and art images. When the treatment is well and appropriately applied it gives the work a painterly feeling. Canvas mounted portraits also give added value to well produced fine portraits and other types of display photography.

It is well to advise clients that canvas mounted prints or images printed on textured stock, printed through textures screens or printed with a texture-effect via Photoshop are not meant to view from very close distances- just as one would no view a painting to examine the brush strokes rather than appreciate the motif of the image.

As I alluded to above, there are many version of canvases going from burlap to hardly noticeable linen- like effects- it is up to the photographer to choose the one that best enhances the image.

A few more comments-

The image posted is a perfectly good and well composed photograph in the context of a full wedding coverage or a sequence of images in a wedding album. Not every image has to be tightly cropped, show faces or render intimate detail- that can become boring and claustrophobic if every shot is composed in the same manner. I like to work like cinematographers and film editors, that is, an establishing shot, a tighter shot followed by a closeup or detail shot. This helps in establish a shooting method and an album design concept for each wedding assignment. I like that image because it "sets the stage" for the procession in the building. The exaggerated foreground is an interesting touch, what with the stone walkway and the guests outside of the building clinch the shot for me.

I do think this image will do better if it is left as is- sans texture.

A tip- When canvas mounting prints which will be wrapped around a stretcher, if you want to see details on the very edge of the frame or you need all the space you can get for compositional reasons, here's what to do: You print the image with a border. Carefully measure the stretcher bars and the lip of the picture frame and calculate how much clearance you will need. Then print the image with a white border- the border can be wrapped around the stretcher without sacrificing any of the image or the need space, Another method is to clone or extend the background of the image beyond the edge details- this works well with solid, out of focus or painted portrait backgrounds.

Hope this helps. Ed

[ncmedix]

Thanks for the comments Ed and thanks for a further understanding of canvas. I'm doing alot of learning the hard way. Trying something and seeing what the results are! I guess some might call it "experience". Thanks again!