Photo Printing - Acrylic

jimbling

Hey guys,
I'm only a newbie photographer, and not very good.... but I did take some really nice shots (in my opinion anyway) on my recent travels. Mainly the ones I took of the wildlife and scenery on Galapagos.... pretty hard to not take great pictures there

Anyway, I've been thinking for a while that I would like to get a few blown up and printed for wall hanging. Then today I spotted the groupon offer for Acrylic prints by picanova. So I guess my questions are as follows:
1) Has anyone used Picanova before and are they reputable? (Advice on other companies you have used would be appreciated too)
2) Has anyone experience of printing their photos on Acrylic? I like the idea, but not sure how the shots will come out.
3) Are there alterations I should make to the pictures with Acrylic in mind? As I said, I’m a true amateur and the only mods I’ve made to pics post shot are minor changes like exposure, contrast and vibrancy etc…

Anyway, all advice welcome…..

jimbling

So, not something ye guys do regularly then I guess

secman

Only speaking to a colleage in the office yesterday who used this service and noted there was a special on this week. He was very happy with his canvas print from one of his own photo's. He is only a point and shoot guy but said it turned out very well.

Secman

melekalikimaka

i printed my college exhibition on acrylic, i'll try pull a photo of them up from it, I ended up winning an award for the presentation of the work, IMO all down to the acrylic printing, the images i used were a mix of quite contrasty bright and dull colours


HandDanbo by melekalikimaka, on Flickr

A Steamy Relationship by melekalikimaka, on Flickr

Danbo Like Smarties by melekalikimaka, on Flickr

and tbh the looked better, so so much better than standard printing, tho I think the pictures theme kinda lends to suiting acrylic.

I used steve at 360dpi, good price, not as cheap as that deal, but I think with this sort of printing theres so much that can go wrong in the process I wanted it done properly, and it paid dividends

jimbling

That's what's making me most interested. A lot of my favourite shots are very vibrant and colourful. I have a feeling they will look really nice on the acrylic.

stcstc

what you could do to try it is do some small acrylic blocks, they are cheapish, and see if you like the results before splashing out for big prints

Rew

I recently printed a photo of mine on normal photopaper and hung it like wallpaper, might be another option. Results were good though we got some bubbling but I think that was my own fault.

stcstc

looks good although if its not laminated it aint gonna stand up to much

i have done a bunch of those kinda things, i tend to print on self adhesive vinyl it means applying it is way easier, of yea and laminate it

jimbling

In fairness though, with the deal on groupon it's not really that expensive. I could get two 24" x 16" done for €60. That's seems pretty good value. It's around €90+ for one on most sites.

I'm thinking I'll just get two done..... now to just decide what pictures to choose!!

stcstc

thats very very cheap

the materials to make them (properly) would cost 45-50 euros

jimbling

stcstc wrote: »

thats very very cheap

the materials to make them (properly) would cost 45-50 euros

I have been stung by these "amazing" deals on groupon before, but think I'll take the gamble.

Does anyone know anything about the company involved? Picanova.co.uk?

stcstc

they are printing onto the acrylic with a sign printer. if you know what your looking for it wont be as good as doing it the proper way

which is to print onto high quality photographic paper and then mount that onto the acrylic

the other thing is the acrylic is only 3mm thick, you want at bare min 5mm acrylic and normally i use 8 or 10 mm

jimbling

stcstc wrote: »

they are printing onto the acrylic with a sign printer. if you know what your looking for it wont be as good as doing it the proper way

which is to print onto high quality photographic paper and then mount that onto the acrylic

the other thing is the acrylic is only 3mm thick, you want at bare min 5mm acrylic and normally i use 8 or 10 mm

I know very very little about it all to be honest. Thanks for the info... I'll do a bit of research now.

jimbling

stcstc wrote: »

they are printing onto the acrylic with a sign printer. if you know what your looking for it wont be as good as doing it the proper way

which is to print onto high quality photographic paper and then mount that onto the acrylic

the other thing is the acrylic is only 3mm thick, you want at bare min 5mm acrylic and normally i use 8 or 10 mm

Just curious about this. Is the reason you want a bare min of 5mm due to the fact that you are mounting the paper onto the acrylic?
Since what they're doing is printing onto the glass, perhaps the 3mm is okay?

melekalikimaka

jimbling wrote: »

Just curious about this. Is the reason you want a bare min of 5mm due to the fact that you are mounting the paper onto the acrylic?
Since what they're doing is printing onto the glass, perhaps the 3mm is okay?

When i was looking into this i found the thinner acrylic made it look less like a acrylic print and more like a hardened sign that you'd see like a notice board of sorts if you get me... I'm presonally very tempted by this offer but i wouldnt mind seeing one before i take the plunge,

stcstc

no its more to do with the effect, the thicker the acrylic the better the effect

stcstc

if you want to see the effect come out to my shop and have a look, i have 4mm, 8mm , 10mm and 20mm pieces done with the process

jimbling

stcstc wrote: »

no its more to do with the effect, the thicker the acrylic the better the effect

Okay... cheers.

stcstc wrote: »

if you want to see the effect come out to my shop and have a look, i have 4mm, 8mm , 10mm and 20mm pieces done with the process

That's a bit of a trek for me unfortunately.

stcstc

ah sorry didnt look where you were

maybe there is a gallery or something in cork with some on display

jimbling

I think I'll just take a chance. Get one done and see how it comes out.

32" x 24" for €50 incl delivery. If it doesnt turn out great so be it.....

melekalikimaka

jimbling wrote: »

I think I'll just take a chance. Get one done and see how it comes out.

32" x 24" for €50 incl delivery. If it doesnt turn out great so be it.....

Aye if i wasnt financially dessimated from xmas i would follow suit, photos up on wall would be great

jimbling

Right lads... gonna post a few of the pics here. Would appreciate your thoughts on which one to get done.

Note: I dont have access to my full photos, these are copied from my Facebook Uploads, so are not the true quality.

jimbling

This is probably one of my favourite pictures. Would really like to get it done, but not sure if it's right for this sort of print. Again, the true quality is much better. Much more vibrant colours.

jimbling

jimbling

jimbling

jimbling

jimbling

melekalikimaka

maybe check with steve but i'd imagine the printing technique wouldnt lend to heavily detailed images

jimbling

melekalikimaka

the bus image i think would suit the acrylic very well, sunset acrylic is a little too dentist waiting room, and plant and animal wouldnt be my bag, but that bus one is excellent

jimbling

I'm thinking the scenery shots are probably most suitable?

jimbling

melekalikimaka wrote: »

the bus image i think would suit the acrylic very well, sunset acrylic is a little too dentist waiting room, and plant and animal wouldnt be my bag, but that bus one is excellent

Cheers. Ya, love that picture all right. I was thinking the Moon Valley shot would be pretty nice on Acrylic too id say?

melekalikimaka

jimbling wrote: »

Cheers. Ya, love that picture all right. I was thinking the Moon Valley shot would be pretty nice on Acrylic too id say?

i presume thats th eimage above? if so i dont think so tbh, the colour gradient and detail might not transfer well if the printing process isnt up to scratch, again this is the assumption that the sign printing is what i image it is, could be wrong

jimbling

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i presume thats th eimage above? if so i dont think so tbh, the colour gradient and detail might not transfer well if the printing process isnt up to scratch, again this is the assumption that the sign printing is what i image it is, could be wrong

Ya, it's the 3rd pic. The high quality version is much brighter and more vibrant if that makes any difference?

I dont have a clue what sign printing even is

stcstc

i agree the hp latex printer they are using isnt really a photo art type thing, so the shadow detail might not be the best

also where you have very smooth graidients it might not cope to well either


mind for the price they are charging its worth a punt i guess

the other thing is i find most people actually dont notice the difference until its pointed out to them between some of these things

i mean the amount of times i see people saying some of the online photo print places do the best quality, generally i reckon its that people just havent seen any better if that makes sense

PaulieC

Just be aware that the prints that picanova do on acrylic do not come with mounting hardware. I got one done a couple of months back and Steve is correct, the acrylic is quite thin and wobbly. However they are done by printing on paper and mounting on the acrylic. Another thing is that they don't come pre-drilled, so you'll need to do this also. I got the standoff mounts on eBay for about a tenner.
Lastly, while the quality is ok, it's not a patch on what Steve does

jimbling

stcstc wrote: »

i agree the hp latex printer they are using isnt really a photo art type thing, so the shadow detail might not be the best
also where you have very smooth graidients it might not cope to well either
mind for the price they are charging its worth a punt i guess
the other thing is i find most people actually dont notice the difference until its pointed out to them between some of these things
i mean the amount of times i see people saying some of the online photo print places do the best quality, generally i reckon its that people just havent seen any better if that makes sense

Hey Steve… thanks for the advice.
So would you have the same opinion then. Of the few pics above, would you consider the Bus on the Bolivian salt flats to be the best option for the service they will provide?

cambo_gueno wrote: »

Just be aware that the prints that picanova do on acrylic do not come with mounting hardware. I got one done a couple of months back and Steve is correct, the acrylic is quite thin and wobbly. However they are done by printing on paper and mounting on the acrylic. Another thing is that they don't come pre-drilled, so you'll need to do this also. I got the standoff mounts on eBay for about a tenner.

Cheers for that… hadn’t realized they didn’t supply the mounts. That’s a bit annoying but the deal is already purchased at this point.

cambo_gueno wrote: »

Lastly, while the quality is ok, it's not a patch on what Steve does

I believe it. But this deal will cost me €50 (€60 with the mounts I guess) and a similar size print would cost me €250 with Steve. I have no doubt that the price difference might be worth it if I knew & understood more about the whole thing… or if I felt my photos were of a better standard and warranted the extra price to hang on my wall.

Mr Velo

Guys, I got one of these on the groupon offer. Got a mount with it including 2 rubber spacers, but haven't the foggiest idea on how to actually use the damn mount. It would appear it sticks to the wall, but can't fathom how to attach the acrylic to the mount. Any help greatly appreciated.

stcstc

can u put up some pics, i might be able to help if i see them

jimbling

So, received the Print and thought I'd update this thread.

Couple of things:

1) Dealing with Picanova.
Not the best. Takes a min of two days to get a reply to an email, even if it’s a follow up question to an existing query. Very annoying.
Also, when I picked the picture I wanted to get done, I realized it would look better in a different size. I had ordered the most expensive voucher, for the biggest size. I wanted to downgrade to a cheaper option (£30+ cheaper on the site, €10 cheaper on the groupon deal) but they wouldn’t let me. Thought this was completely ridiculous and would put me off going with them again.

2) The Picture
It looks pretty good I must say. The colours are well captured, but as mentioned earlier, I probably wouldn’t spot the real differences between this and a better quality one.
I knew it was only 3mm in depth, but I was still pretty surprised at how thin it was when I got it. It does look/feel a little flimsy… I can see the appeal of the greater thickness even without bringing the image quality into the equation.

3) The Aftermath
While trying to figure out where to put the picture I was wandering around the house holding it up in spots trying to get a look. I stupidly held it in one spot while stretching to get a good view of it through a mirror across the way. Inevitably my clumsiness came to the fore and the print slipped from my fingers and hit the ground with a cringe inducing crack! Yes, a huge crack across the bottom left corner of the print

So, what to do?? I could try to hide the crack with a frame that cuts out the corner in some manner. Or I could get the print cut into a smaller size. It’s 30” x 24”. I would likely lose 2 inches from the left and bottom of the print in getting this done. It will certainly take away from the picture, but it might be the best plan of action.
Anyone got any other ideas?


PS: Mr Velo: I also purchased the mount with the print and it definitely wasn't too obvious what to do with it. But that went to the back of my mind pretty quickly due to the events above

stcstc

it might be possible to cut

the issues though would be:

the edge then wont be polished

there is a chance the some of the print on the new edge might come off too

i would suggest possible cutting and then using a frame to hide the edges, well without seeing thats what sounds the best thing to do

Nebezpeci Mys

Got my Picanova print a few weeks back and have to say I'm not very impressed. Leaving the flimsiness aside, there is visible colour banding and highlights are blown out in places. Had the same picture printed before elsewhere and without any of these issues, so won't go with Picanova again.

stcstc

there is a bit of ya get what ya pays for with these things


loads of people offer them, not many actually understand how to do them quite right

but there again the offer you got seemed deff worth a punt

SamBrugha

melekalikimaka wrote: »

i printed my college exhibition on acrylic, i'll try pull a photo of them up from it, I ended up winning an award for the presentation of the work, IMO all down to the acrylic printing, the images i used were a mix of quite contrasty bright and dull colours


HandDanbo by melekalikimaka, on Flickr

A Steamy Relationship by melekalikimaka, on Flickr

Danbo Like Smarties by melekalikimaka, on Flickr

and tbh the looked better, so so much better than standard printing, tho I think the pictures theme kinda lends to suiting acrylic.

I used steve at 360dpi, good price, not as cheap as that deal, but I think with this sort of printing theres so much that can go wrong in the process I wanted it done properly, and it paid dividends

I went to college with Sterling here, and these prints were very very tasty!

Nebezpeci Mys

SamBrugha wrote: »

I went to college with Sterling here, and these prints were very very tasty!

Not surprised, Steve always does a great job afaik.

dinneenp

Quiet annoyed and pis*ed off.
I googled 'acrylic prints' and the ad result was for Snapfish offering 50% off Acrylic Prints.
So I went throught the site, picked photo, size etc. and applied code. Didn't work.
Contacted Support and in the end realised the the code is only for canvas prints.
I asked them if they'd honour it for me but they said no.