In today’s modern era, Digital has become something of a standard. MP3s and their mass storage players, digital cameras, flash media, it’s all become an integral part of our lives. The sacrifice to these digital wonders though is usually something of a nostalgic glint in most people’s eyes. CDs and their album sleeves with words from the artist are things of yesterday, but as we all well and know, retro always comes back into fashion.

An interesting blend of new and old is canvas printing. People can now take photos and have them printed onto a canvas. Now, for those of you who’ve never owned a canvas painting or had the pleasure of looking at one, you’re probably wondering why I would want to print a photo onto canvas?

The obvious answer is the way a canvas reacts to colour; there are reasons why artists paint to canvas and not to paper. Now, despite there being some good quality photo paper and gloss papers out there, none of them truly capture the warmth that is contained in some colours, giving a “washed out” look or just looking very dull.

Canvas is to photos as is Vinyl to music, it’s very retro and pop culture based, and something which is thankfully something people are taking an interest in these days. The print doesn’t necessarily have to be a portrait, it could be a graphic design or a piece of artwork downloaded from the many sites on the net.

With the advances in technology, printed canvases are much more detailed and vibrant then their previous incarnations, which suffered from being blurry and lacking detail. Add to the reasonable pricing and waiting times, it’s slowly becoming a very popular medium for people with digital cameras which can take photos of an extremely high resolution.

Taking a beautiful HDRI image and turning it into a huge canvas is a great way to decorate an otherwise dull looking office or living room wall, and anyone who’s not familiar with just how amazing a well taken HDRI image can look should look them up on Google, or the popular Flickr.com website.

Who said works of art had to be boring or dusty?

Over the years there have been many new ways to display photos than the usual photo printing methods. For example, with digital cameras you’re able to upload pictures to websites such as Facebook and MySpace to share with your family and friends. You’re also able to add photos to digital photo frames and display them in your home or office, and have them cycle through different pictures so you can show more than one at once.

However none of these methods reflects what photography is all about, the true nature of the artistry. Photographs are meant to be printed, and unless they are they lose something of that magic, that style that makes them so special.

One new way to showcase your photos, without losing any of the artistry, is to have them printed onto canvas and to create original artwork from the pictures. Photos to canvas is a unique way of displaying your pictures as it treats them as artwork.

As photos should be printed in order to give them life, printing pictures on canvas not just gives them life, but makes them into artwork.

For producing the most visually appealing inkjet canvas prints, the following parameters of colour gamut, Dmax (optical density), resolution, texture, and weight have to be taken into account.

Gamut: It is a set of colours, which can be accurately reproduced. When transferring from one medium to another, accuracy of colours is generally lost. When selecting an inkjet canvas, first chose a colourful picture and print it on different canvases. Compare each of them to find out which one is more vibrant.

DMAX(Optical density) :Black density or the blackest black possible. If achieved this will differentiate the best prints from the rest.

Resolution: It is a measurement of the fineness of detail in a printed image. When printing on canvas, texture and resolution are interdependent. When drastic peaks and valleys are available in the texture, then resolution will be compromised, as it will cause ‘bleed’ or run of the print.

Texture :It is best to avoid sparking textured inkjet canvas as it gives the look of a cheap reproduction. Check the texture of canvas by printing in detail and making sure the image is clean and crisp.

Thickness & weight: Some people prefer heavier canvas for printing which also involves higher cost. Heavy and thick canvas doesn’t guarantee increased lifetime for the print.

Longevity: Fine art prints maintain their constitution for decades. Using branded materials for printing increases the longevity of the print.

Water resistance: solvent-based coating can increase water resistance of canvas. But it does provide a longevity risk.

By prioritising these attributes one can select the best inkjet canvas and provide the customer a satisfying experience.

We all have a desire sometimes to make our own art; to take up the brushes and the canvas and try to put our inner most thoughts down on paper. However very few of us are actually able to visualise what we’re really trying to convey. Art is difficult to do well, hence few people can do it and it can be very expensive.

However photography is an art form that a great many more of us are able to enjoy, and practise ourselves. It’s easy to point your digital camera and click, taking the picture exactly as you see it. Did you realise though that photography is art? You can take your photos and have them printed on canvas, creating a unique and customised piece of art for your home in the style that you want.

Where painting on canvas can be out of the reach of most of us, photos to canvas is something that we can all do and enjoy. You don’t need to spend a lot of money on canvas art for your home, you can create your own with your camera and have the canvas pictures unique to your own tastes.

It’s become the norm these days to add every photograph you ever take to the social networking website Facebook. Whenever perople go out for the night they take their camera with them and document every drink, every dance and every silly pose. They all look very similar, but they’re all very personal and of great significance to those pictured.

However, photographs on Facebook are one thing, but they’re not the way that photos are meant to be displayed. Photos should be printed rather than displayed digitally. It would be far more effective to have any photos that you take on a night out printed onto canvas than simply uploading them to a website. By printing photos of your family and friends on a night out on canvas you’re creating artwork out of your exploits. This is a far better way to display your photographs as the texture of the canvas brings the best out of photos, and make them look like artwork.

It’s still worth adding your photos to Facebook, but you should choose the best of them to be displayed on your wall as canvas prints. Remember that photography is supposed to be printed, rather than seen digitally. Facebook is good for sharing pictures, but printing pictures to canvas is a better way of showing them off.

The digital age has seen photography become more available to the masses. Cameras have become cheaper, more accessible and easier to use. They’ve also become more forgiving of poor lighting conditions with digital enhancements, more forgiving of camera shake with steady shot functions, and generally more forgiving of poor photography. This means that on the whole, people are taking better photographs.

But what are they doing with them?

A great majority of photos aren’t actually printed. Because of the nature of digital photography, you don’t need to print the pictures to actually enjoy them. You can save them to your computer, upload them to websites or even email them to friends. This is all fine for sharing pictures, but it’s not what photography is all about.

Photographs should be printed, not stored digitally. They can be printed on paper and framed, stored in albums or given to friends. However photographs always look best when printed onto canvas. Photos to canvas are the best way to display your favourite photographs because the lines of the picture are best displayed on the texture of the canvas.

Don’t hide your photos away on your digital camera or your PC; share them with everyone by having them printed on canvas.

It’s the time of year that children are receiving their exam results, whether they be GCSE results, A-Level results or University Degree results. It’s a time of much celebration for most students and school children, and one that should be recorded for posterity.

Many degree students have their graduations photographed when they collect their scroll wearing a gown in front of their peers and their family. Graduation photos are common and often framed and displayed proudly by the parents. However graduation photos would look more impressive and poignant if they were printed on canvas. Canvas has such a unique and interesting texture that the special moment of a student or child receiving the accolades of passing their exams would look more impressive when printed on canvas.

When your child is receiving their exam results or being presented with their degree be sure to take plenty of photos. You’ll want photos of them receiving their award, with their friends and classmates and for university students; the moment when they throw their ‘mortars’ into the air.

Then you can print the photos to canvas and proudly display them on your wall.

We’ve all heard of Warhol with his pop art images of Marilyn, and even though having your own image immortalised in primary colour heaven would be rather suave, wouldn’t it be interesting to satisfy your own, personal, inner artist?

It is possible to upload your photos and have them, funnily enough, printed on canvas. You can upload any photo from your personal collection to be transformed into a canvas print.

What this means is that you could create any image you wanted on your computer and see your digital handiwork in prime place above the mantelpiece in a week or less.

Some may consider this the cheat’s approach to art, but I’m sure many said that about Banksy running around with his stencils.

There’s no need to stop at Paint on the PC either. Any image could be scanned in, and you could have it printed on canvas. The possibilities are endless.

You could reproduce a child’s painting on canvas and give them as gifts. You could even arrange flowers on your scanner-bed and create an interesting digital collage.

It would be illegal, for example, to download an image from the internet and send that to be printed without the permission of the copyright holder.

So, release your inner eccentric and prepare to create some rather un-messy art.

When it comes to printing onto canvas, it isn’t just photos you can have turned into canvas prints. Indeed, canvas as a medium was originally used for art, so why not have art turned art, printed on canvas?

When your child presents you with their latest masterpiece from their day at school, the conventional thing to do is to attach it to the front of the fridge. However, the fridge can very quickly get filled up with art, school reports and novelty Simpson’s magnets. So instead of sticking your child’s latest work of art to the fridge, or to their bedroom wall, you could scan it into the computer and have turned into a work of art on canvas.

By printing the art on canvas you’re creating a genuine work of art that can be saved for a lifetime, and even given as a gift to other family members. Printing your child’s artwork onto canvas is a novel idea and a great alternative to regular ways to display their work. Plus, by printing on canvas you’ll make the child seem very special, as their pictures become genuine artwork and get displayed as such with pride in your home.

If there’s one thing that all grandparents love, it’s photos of their grandchildren. They love to show them to their friends and proudly boast about how many grandchildren they have, how cute they are and how often they come to visit.

For this reason you can make any grandparent’s day by giving them more pictures of their beloved grandchildren. You can give these photos printed on paper, as regular pictures, and then framed in the customary manner. This will allow them to display the pictures on their wall to show off whenever their friends arrive. Alternatively you could print these pictures on canvas. Photos to canvas look far more impressive when displayed on a wall than regular framed pictures. They look like authentic art as the quality canvas gives the photos a unique artistic look.

Grandparents with canvas prints of photographs of their grandchildren will be able to proudly show off their pictures to their friends, displaying them like artwork.

You can make any grandparent’s day by giving them canvas prints of their grandchildren.