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preparing photos for printing on canvas


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<p>Hi Everybody,</p>

<p>I have a couple of photos I want to print on canvas. Unfortunately, I shot them full frame which means I don't have extra image for the borders. That means I have to go in to photoshop to create borders and fill them with something believable. I can fly through lightroom but I'm not as good at photoshop. Certain tasks are easy. Others are very difficult for me. So, I'm looking for some coaching and critique here.</p>

<p>The printer I am working with does not specify the size of borders you need and is quite unhelpful, so I measured a 16x20 canvas I bought from them earlier this year. The frame measures 1 3/8" deep but they wrap a bit of the canvas around the back, so the total image size is really image size (16x24 here) + 1 3/4" on each side or a total of 19.5" x 27.5". Due to tolerances, I need my image to be a tad bigger than 16x24, let's say 16.5" x 24.5" plus a border of 1.5" on each side, which makes it 19.5" x 27.5".</p>

<p>So, here's my process:</p>

<ol>

<li>make the image look nice -- use lightroom, photoshop, etc. -- ok, no problem, I did some development adjustments in LR and then used PS to clone-stamp and heal our some ugly bits (orange cone and little bits of red and blue tape in the vineyard plus some distracting hot spots in the background)</li>

<li>make a template in photoshop using guides so the total image is 19.5x27.5 but the central part is 16.5x24.5 and put my image in the central area -- ok, done</li>

<li>use clone-stamp to make some borders -- after a bit of practice and iteration, I got a pretty good result</li>

<li>clean up the final result with heal and lens blur -- argghhh! this has been tough... the foreground is a gravel road. at the very bottom of the frame it is just barely going out of focus. when I do clone-stamp, the border has bits that are sharp and bits that are blurry and they don't look believable. So I iterated and iterated. I used lens blur with ~50% opacity for an area, heal to clean up the edge, and then another lens blur 50% opacity and then heal again.</li>

</ol>

<p>Can anyone suggest a better process? Are there any good tutorials on the web?</p>

<p>Should I post my image through the steps for critique? Is that ok?</p>

<p>Allan</p>

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<p>I print one to two dozen canvas prints for my gallery customers each month. I'll offer an alternative viewpoint for you to consider.</p>

<p>I started printing canvas images early on with black or solid color borders in lieu of a wrapped or reversed image. Initially, I offered customers both options. They overwhelmingly preferred black borders as the black offered some contrast to make the image stand off the wall with the illusion of a bit more depth.</p>

<p>I don't always print in standard sizes or aspect ratios, so my frames are custom constructed and braced. As my frames are nearly two inches thick, I create a black border around the image that is 2" wide on each dimension with an additional allowance of 1" of white, unprinted canvas for the backside and stapling to the frame. To create the frame, with the image file open and sized to the desired dimensions, go CANVAS SIZE under IMAGE in CS (Photoshop). I select 4" in both the Horizontal and Vertical options and then I select Black or Other if I want a color besides black. Click OK, then select 2" in both Hor and Ver, and then select White. This is all done in seconds and you have your border.</p>

<p>This approach saves a lot of time, eliminating all the hassles of matching, cloaning and trying to clean up the wrap area, doesn't require sacrificing any of the image for the wrap, and in my opinion, looks more 'high end' in presentation than a wrapped image.</p>

<p> </p>

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<p>This is how I prepare a print for canvas if I want a wrap-around mirrored border in Photoshop:<br>

1. Complete all edits in either LR or PS<br>

2. In PS, select Image>Canvas Size. In "new size" insert the amount of border you need to wrap around on each side (typically 2", but check with your printer). Make sure that "relative" box is checked & the anchor point is center--all arrows pointing outward. At this point, if you just want a plain border, select the border color (black, white, custom) and you are done. If you want a mirror image, select white.<br>

3. Turn on the rulers and with the selection tool, select a vertical portion of the image top to bottom on the left hand side equal to the amount of the additional canvas (ie. 2"). Copy & paste (ctl C & ctl V) on your image then, with the move tool, grab the middle transform handle and pull to the left until the image reverses & fills the blank canvas. Align edges carefully. Repeat on the right side of the image. <br>

4. Flatten the image then repeat step 3 for the top & bottom. Flatten the image again and you should be done. </p>

 

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