How to Turn Your Digital Photos into Canvass Art

Founded in 1999, Shutterfly is a leading electronic commerce company specializing in digital photo products and services and is my favourite. They have added another relatively new service, they are offering large canvas prints Photos are reproduced on textured artists' canvas, which is hand-stretched and mounted onto wooden support frames. Images featured on Shutterfly Canvas prints wrap around the edges of the supportive frames, enabling them to hang on their own and giving photos an artistic finish. Canvas prints are coated for both UV and moisture protection so they can be safely displayed anywhere and retain their original quality. The price for this service start at around $89.99 and the prints are offered in three sizes 16"x20", 20"x30" and 24"x36".

Ebay offer a directory of other suppliers, which provide this service, and the prices start at $15.95 for an 8x10 Stretched Fine Art Canvas available. There is an additional shipping charge of $6.00.

The same service, is offered by Power-graphics. but they guarantee the quality of their canvas to be of the same standard of museum canvanses. It is certainly an interesting way to combine family archives into a collage that will last forever. As well as printing on canvas they offer a similar print service to display watercolors. It's a good site but not quite up to Shutterfly's standard in my opinion.

4portraits. Have the same service, but they do not have a particularly user-friendly web site. You have to be logged in and have a password, but if you just want a demonstration, you can type in “demo” and the password 10. However, they are a little vague re access and information.

This extension in to the art world shows the popularity that digital prints are gaining. They add another service that the professional photographer can use to sell his prints, and make them more marketable. Shutterfly also offers other services, such as making mouse mats, tee shirts, printing your digital photos. As the growth of the digital industry continues, then these side industries will grow exponentially. For your customer that feels that the transference of a work of art is over the top, then it is possible that they may be interested in the production of a poster, of a favourite print.

Teenage customers, who have neither the need nor the available finance to maintain such a durable product, may well favor this option. All these resources make for more profitable photography, be giving the photographer a wider range of services to offer the client. As the market base gets wider, then the demand for these products increase, as clients can avail themselves of wider services, at a competitive price.