5 Common Mistakes To Avoid With Custom Canvas Printing

Digital prints make your beloved photos come alive. You can turn a gorgeous memory from your phone or digital camera into stunning wall art. 

Canvas printing allows your memories to become physical objects personalized with high-quality, professional-grade decor that can fill your room with style. There is nothing quite like beholding a beloved image expertly printed on a textured weave canvas, hang-ready and perfect for display. It is something meant to be thrilling and motivational.

But the fun of ordering a custom canvas can be lost quickly if tiny mistakes along the way result in a disappointing finished product. You submitted a photo that you adore, yet the print is fuzzy, seriously cropped, or just unappealing on the wall. Avoidable endings like these result from overlooking key details. 

Wouldn't you like to learn the key to a perfect canvas? 

Read this article to find five of the most common mistakes for ordering custom prints. You will discover how to correct them and get the perfect canvas print with every order.

1. Working with Low Resolution

Submitting photos with a low resolution is a common mistake. 

If a digital photograph is not detailed enough, printing a larger scale for a canvas produces fuzzy, pixelated, or jagged prints. That is because the printer is stretching a finite set of pixels into a larger area, and each is getting bigger. 

A photograph that is clear on your computer monitor will not reproduce well on a larger-scale canvas if its resolution is not high enough for the desired printing scale. Always work at the highest resolution that is available for your original photos.

Canvas printing requires high-quality source photography for professional-standard results. You must consider the final image dimensions. This dictates the image resolution needed. Experts recommend images with 150-300 DPI. A lower image quality produces noticeable blurring as the enlarged image is less clear. 

Checking the image resolution prevents discouragement and guarantees a perfect custom canvas printing outcome.

2. Incorrect Orientation Assignment

Aspect ratio is also critical in how the image will appear on your chosen canvas and its perception. Presenting a landscape image and then a portrait canvas size, or vice versa, will nearly always lead to problems. Most typical are heavy cropping to resize the image or large gaping spaces surrounding the image. Neither ends up with a nice aesthetic printing.

Always check the digital image's orientation against the oriented canvas size that you have chosen before ordering. Nearly every custom website that prints on canvas offers visual previews that will show just how your image will appear on your selected canvas. Make full use of previews so that the fit will be perfect and no crucial areas of your image will be trimmed.

If your image isn't perfectly suited to a standard canvas, consider creative cropping or adding digital borders to the image before uploading. A minimal cropping before submission prevents the printing company from imposing a harsh crop that will lose critical detail in your image.

3. Ignoring Mirror-Spec Wrapping

When choosing a canvas wrap style, mirror wrapping is a popular and effective option. 

People often misunderstand or overlook. This technique involves duplicating the outermost pixels of your image and mirroring them around the edges of the canvas stretcher bars. It creates a seamless continuation of your image onto the sides of the canvas without losing any of the original photo from the front face. It is an excellent choice when you want the entire original image to remain visible on the front of the canvas.

Should you choose a gallery wrap where part of your actual photo is wrapped around the sides, then critical elements of your photo near the edges will be lost. Whilst a gallery wrap can also look appealing, a mirror wrap will ensure that the complete composition of your photograph is maintained on the main face, with a professional, finished appearance to the canvas.

4. Cluttering Collage Composition

Even with a collage printing on a canvas, crowding the design with too many photos is a bad choice. Every effort to squeeze in every cherished minute in a collage will result in a busy layout where no particular photo will be able to shine. 

A great collage is balanced so that each photograph is given enough room to breathe and have its presence in the overall look without nullifying others.

5. Assuming Aspect Ratio

The aspect ratio is the proportional relationship between the width and the height of a photograph. Another common misconception is believing that your photograph's aspect ratio will work just fine with a standard canvas size without verifying. Your photograph will become cropped or have white borders to adjust to the canvas. Neither is your desired outcome.

Always verify your photograph's aspect ratio and cross-reference it with the aspect ratio for the canvas size that you are considering ordering. Divide the width by the height. A 3000x2000-pixel photograph has a 3:2 aspect ratio. If you are requiring an 8x10-inch 4:5 aspect ratio canvas, then either you will have to resize your photograph to this aspect ratio or be prepared to have a certain amount of white space.

Summing Up

Canvas custom printing offers a chance to decorate your living or work spaces with original art. You'd like to have your prints just the way they look in your imagination. 

You can have this by avoiding mistakes that are common in custom printing. Investing a little time in preparing your photos and comprehending the printing process will be rewarding with great-quality, beautiful canvas art that will be treasured for a long time.