One of my friends asked me if they could get one of my images (Saunton Beach Hut Extreme) on a canvas wrap for their living room wall. It was the first time I’ve enlarged any of my digital work and to be honest was interested to see the final quality of the picture. I prepared the digital file and made a few adjustments to the layers as my friend wanted a slightly less looming sky.
Here is the original camera RAW file next to my conversion …
I was blown away by the finished item, a nice solid wood frame with the image printed onto canvas and wrapped around the edge. I couldn’t see any pixelation and the grain of the canvas suited the image really well. My friends were well happy and that made me happy.
So, now I’m thinking about getting a selection of my work together and offering it on canvas. Possibly limited editions, possibly signed (though I doubt anyone would want it signed) maybe even a small QR code embedded into the artwork linking back to a dedicated page for that specific limited print showing the map location, time, date and other camera meta data. It may even show who the current owner of the print is, with a form to log a new owner should the print be worth millions in the future 😉
Over the next few weeks I’m going to gather a selection of my work that I feel would work on canvas and I’m also thinking about experimenting with my iPhoneography. I’ve started saving images at full resolution (1936 x 1936) in the Hipstamatic app – it takes longer to process but ultimately I have a much better chance of re-using the image in the future. It’s also good to remember that with Hipstamatic, the photographer is making the creative decision BEFORE taking the shot and nothing is done with post processing. Hipstamatic makes you think creatively and there is no second chance as the raw image isn’t saved to the camera roll. If you embrace this method of iPhoneography you are a step closer to the days when you were limited by the initial film choice.
I’m not going to attempt to sell them at a massive price, rather that I would love to think that my images could be released into the wild and be appreciated by people outside of cyberspace (we geeks like to call it IRL). Anyway, I’d love to hear what you think about this, especially from anyone having already sold their own work. If you can’t be arsed to comment, I’d appreciate a token Facebook Like, Twitter Re-tweet or Posterous Like if you think this could be a good idea.
P.S. Oh, and some people email me to say they can’t leave comments due to the restriction on having a Posterous, Twitter or Facebook account – and to be honest I just have to say … get an account 😉
Great stuff! Interesting point about using the highest resolution and being committed to the shot before taking it in Hipstamatic. I take at 1940×1940 in Vignette but have it set up so it also stores an unprocessed copy. Maybe I shouldn’t keep that safety net..
@jackstow I do think it forces you to use the digital camera more like a film camera. If Hipstamatic had the option to save a unprocessed copy I probably would! however, I sort of hope they don’t ever build that in.
i’ll be talking to you to get some of these canvas items of ella from my feed for the ark for sure then if you have a good canvas contact.