Chris Collis Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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When I choose to print on canvas it is because of how the characteristics of canvas will interact with the image. In my case the material costs are close enough between stretched canvas and traditional framing that I can focus more on what the media will do for the image.
After printing enough on canvas and other media, it becomes somewhat instinctual that an image will either work as a gallery wrap or not. The reasons will change based on what you want to use the image for and what your subject matter is, but I'll tell you mine. I shoot strictly nature, and in color. There is a great variety between birds, mammals, landscapes and macro subjects, but each subject and the way in which it is photographed create a message. The more we refine this focus on a clear message (or "tell a story" as you often hear), the more powerful photo art becomes. The idea is to continue this to the stage of printing and presentation. Think about canvas and how it differs from, say, traditional photo paper. Canvas is an absorbent type of surface. The ink absorbs into the fibers and there is a tooth on the surface of the canvas material. This absorption property and surface texture trade the ability to showcase fine image detail for a certain presentation value that people historically associate with paintings and fine art. Traditional photo paper, on the other hand, will often have coatings that keep the ink from absorbing into the paper. This enables such papers to maximize detail and often color saturation as well. But this too makes a trade to be able to do this. The presentation value of traditional gloss papers can tend to look cheap, common or not "fine-art" to some and so they look at matte or fiber based papers, going in the direction of canvas.
But each of those material characteristics should be considered with a given image. Is this an image that showcases minute detail and an impressive design in the subject? Think of the hairs of a bee, covered in pollen or the eye of an alligator. It would miss the point to print these kinds of images on canvas. I would go with a more traditional photo paper under high quality glass or even metallic paper face mounted to acrylic, going to the end of the extreme. But how about a motion blur of pelicans in morning light or silhouetted against the setting sun? These would be perfect applications to canvas for nature images. Those images have more to do with a sense or emotion, broad scene or artistic vision than the technical ability of a paper to showcase detail, color or design. There's more to it and some nuance missing here, but this is broadly how I make the decision of what to print on.
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