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Canvas Photo Glossary |
Resources |
A list of canvas printing related terms that may help you understand the photo to canvas process. Let us know if you would like some additions to the list. Artifacts Distortions or excess noise, which are caused by the sensor, the optical system or image processing (such as compression). We check all images for artifacts that may reduce the quality of the print. General digital noise can be reduced. Any problems we will always contact you before we print your canvas. Banding An artifact of colour gradation. Where graduated colours are reduced to larger blocks of a single colour. Black and White Printing We can convert your colour images to black and white at no additional cost, or print your original black and white images. Our colour management system allows us to print beautiful neutral black and whites or to print warm or cool black and whites as required. Canvas We use quality museum grade canvas, which has been independently tested by the Wilhelm Imaging Research Institute. The tests were undertaken using our brand of UV inks and the same, HP 5500 printer that we use. These independent tests give us the confidence that our canvas prints will last for many generations (100+ years). Chromatic Aberration A fringing effect around the edges, which is caused by the lens not focusing correctly. Compression The process of reducing the size of a file. Compression is either lossless or lossy. Ideally make a copy of your original file and work with your copy, but send us the original to avoid artifacts due to compression. If the file is larger than 5Mb, no problems just ask for access to our web based file transfer site. Border-Wrap Border-wrapping involves a solid colour border being printed around the edge of the wooden frame. This border doesn't have to be black or white we can select a colour from the image to match perfectly. If your subjects are close to the edge of the image this provides an effective solution. We will always send you a proof by email to show cropping and how your image will sit on the frame and make suggestions as to the best way to display your canvas print. Colour Cast Due to lighting or reflective colours many images show a colour cast. The cast is seen as a colour tone or hue which dominates the image and is out of balance from the original scene you captured on your camera. All images we receive are checked and corrected for colour casts. This is just one of the free services that are included in the cost of your canvas print. Digital Zoom Increase the apparent size by interpolation. They do not increase the amount of image information. Care should be taken when enlarging such images to ensure that the resulting canvas print will be of good quality. Diptych A diptych is a single image divided into two canvas pieces. Hung together they are viewed as a single image. The two canvases may be of different sizes. Enlargement Increase the proportions of the image. How much enlargement your image is capable of will depend primarily on the size of your file. However a large file may not enlarge well if the detail is not sharp to start with. Do not enlarge your image before sending it to us. We use a combination of methods including Genuine Fractals software to enlarge your images without losing detail. Stretched Canvas A stretched canvas print will be stretched over a profiled timber frame (see profiled timber frame) mounted with staples. Professionally finished with framers tape, screw eyes, and hanging cord. Gallery-Wrap Unless you request otherwise we like to gallery-wrap our canvas prints. This means that the image continues around the edge of the frame. This is not only the most popular wrap but also produces a contemporary 3-D effect to your canvas print. If any significant part of your subject is going to be wrapped around the frame we will contact you with suggestions. In most cases some cloning and digital editing will fix the problem, alternatively you can choose a border wrap.
Giclee Printing Giclée (zhee-klay) - The French word "giclée" simply means a spray or a spurt of liquid. However closely you look at a giclée image you will not see any dots. It is considered to be the best process to truly reproduce an image with all its detail and tonal gradations and produces better colour accuracy than other means of reproduction. The term "giclée print" indicates an elevation in printmaking technology. High-resolution images are printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. Further details can be found on our Canvas Printing – Why Choose Achia Images page. GIF A graphic file format limited to 256 colours, used mainly for web graphics or small animated files. Not suitable for printing. Greyscale An image containing shades of grey as well as black and white.
Hard Proof
(also see soft proof) A printed sample of your image on canvas. A hard proof prior to printing is available on request for $15.00.
Jaggies
Stepped appearance of a curved or angled line in digital imaging. The smaller the pixels and the greater their number, the less apparent are the “jaggies”.
JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)
A lossy compression format, most common type of file format. Lamination All our canvas prints are spray laminated using a HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) compressor to give additional protection. Our laminate increases the protection from UV light, gives some scuff and abrasion protection and provides some water resistance, which means you can use a damp cloth to clean marks from your canvas. Light-fastness Is an indication as to the fade resistance of the colours on your canvas print. Our combination of canvas, inks and printer have been independently tested and are expected to last 100+ years. Lossless An image format which stores the image in a non-compressed format. Lossy An image format that sacrifices a certain amount of image information in order to create a smaller compressed file. Noise Misinterpreted pixels found in your digital image, usually found in longer exposures, we notice this problem most in photos taken indoors. We have software that can reduce digital noise from your image and make great improvements to your image. Profiled Timber All our frames are manufactured in-house, which allows us to provide custom sizes and to double-profile the frame. The front internal edges are chamfered and beveled, which prevents the canvas from resting on the frame, which in time would result in frame shadowing (the outline of the frame being visible through the canvas). The external edges of the frame are beveled which prevents stress on the canvas. Ready-to-hang A ready-to-hang canvas print can be placed straight on the wall. Screw-eyes and hanging cord are already fitted. Sepia Describes the shades of brown found in early photography. For no charge we can convert your colour or black and white image to a “sepia” image. Soft Proof A proof is a file that shows your image as it will look when it is printed. All our customers receive an emailed proof (soft proof) for approval before printing. This way you can check cropping, wrap, colour correction and digital editing etc. TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) A lossless uncompressed image file format that produces no artifacts as some other file formats do. Triptych A triptych is a single photograph divided into three canvas pieces. The canvas panels for a triptych may be identically sized or different sized panels together. |