Scarlet Ibis Art

What size digital file do I need ?

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:39:00 +0000

Contrary to common belief it is not the resolution (the number of pixels per inch) which determines the size an image can be enlarged too, it is the overall number of pixels the image contains. In essence the more pixels the better.The good news is that most modern digital cameras take pictures with enough pixels in them to produce good prints. For a rough guide a 4 or 5 mega pixel camera picture can be enlarged up to at least 24 inches or 60 cm's and higher megapixels can create much bigger prints.

How can I tell how many pixels my picture has ?

Take the number of pixels in height and width your picture contains and divide by 100 this will tell you roughly how big you can print is in inches (a picture 1000 by 1000 pixel can be printed 10 inches by 10 inches). Most image editing software can provide this data for you.

Jpeg pictures are highly compressed formats and contain deceptively large amounts of pixels a 110 KB file can contain 10,000 pixels. To produce a 40 x 40 inch or 100 x 100 cm picture requires at least 4000 x 4000 pixels. As an uncompressed Tiff file this could be 50 megabytes in size as a compressed jpeg the same file could be 750kb less than 1 50th the size.

If in doubt please use our upload facility to send us your digital file and we will contact you and let you know how many pixels your picture contains and what size print can be achieved with your picture. Please type your query in the comments box and if you can leave a phone number we can reach you on.

What size print can I have ?

If your digital file is big enough we can produce pictures up to a width of forty inches or 100 centimeters so the largest square canvas or paper print we do is one meter square 100cms by 100cms which is about 40 inches. They can however be longer so we could cover an entire wall in meter wide strips. The more pixels in your photo the larger we can print it

What can I do with a small file ?

Our digital designers love a challenge and we can often find ways of working with small files. We can use software to add more pixels if the image is sharp enough . Alternatively sometimes turning the photo into vector art which uses shapes not pixels can allow a stunning piece of art to emerge from the smallest picture. If in doubt please use our upload facility to send us your digital file and we will contact you and let you know what can be achieved with your picture. Please type your query in the comments box and if you can leave a phone number we can reach you on.

What if I don't have a digital file only a paper print ?

No problem we will work to create a digital file from your picture. We have produced some very large prints from scans of original photographs. If you have access to a scanner you can create a digital file from your picture. Please see our guide to scanning your picture for information about scanning resolutions . Alternatively you can send us your picture by registered post and we will scan it for you and return it with your finished artwork. This option is built in to the ordering process.

Quality Canvas Printing

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:34:00 +0000

Producing quality canvas prints requires getting a combination of factors right.You have to use the best canvas, quality stretchers great inks and professional large format printers

Canvas

Our Canvas prints are made to last. We use the finest available pure cotton Matt 340 gm's canvas for our prints considered by many to be the industry leader.This canvas allows your image to presented in the best possible way with a fine canvas texture and a full range of colour and depth of tone. It is also very strong and flexible allowing for taut stretching without the image breaking up or being distorted. Through experimenting with many different canvases we have found this works best with the widest range of images and subjects. Although the canvas is Matt in finish we can create a range of final finishes by the use of different varnishes to the print since these come in satin gloss and matt varieties. We apply a satin finish in most cases but we always check with you first

Stretcher bars

These are stretched around 3.4 cm's deep precision made pine stretchers to create a solid and lasting base.This is sustainable softwood not rainforest hardwood which is laminated and built up to ensure the wood wont warp. These stretcher bars are all adjustable so they have slots in the back to allow you to add wedges in add greater tension the canvas in future if this is required. You should not buy stretchers without this facility since without this capacity if the canvas sags there is nothing you can do with it except have it re stretched.

Colours

The ink set you use determines how fine the print will be. Epson have developed the ultrachrome ink set specifically for this type of fine art printing and it has the full gamut of colours produced from 8 inks. This has three levels of black to give depth and subtly to tones and shadows and five other colours to allow for millions of possible colours to be produced. The inks are also very durable and light fast in industry standard tests they have shown they will not fade in normal indoor lighting conditions for at least 75 years.

Scanning your photographs

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:20:00 +0000

If you have a picture in an album or a printed photograph someone has given you this can still be used as the basis for some digital art. These will need to be scanned to create a digital file.

Scanning it yourself

How you go about this will depend on the make of you scanner and software used. The following general pointers may be useful:

Make sure the glass bed of the scanner and your picture is clean and dust free. An imperfections and particles will show up particularly when blown up large.

Choose a high resolution for your scan this is usually measured in dots per inch or DPI . Ideally 1200 or higher if this is available and certainly at least 600 is desirable. The larger the DPI the bigger the print we can produce from your file

In the preview window ensure the scanner is only going to scan the picture by selecting the edges of the picture with the marquee tool. Otherwise you will create a scan of the bed of the scanner as well as your picture and create a very large file as a result.

Save the scan as a jpeg since this will automatically compress the file to a smaller size but retain the same number of pixels

Once you have a digital file you can order your print in the usual way. The facility to either upload your image or sent it to us by e mail or on a CD is built in to the order process. Alternatively if you want us to have a look at your picture before ordering please use our upload facility to send us your digital file and a message and we will contact you and let you know what can be achieved with your picture.

Have us scan it for you

You can use the online ordering process to order a canvas or poster print the size you want in the normal way. When asked whether you want to upload your picture choose the second option and send us your image by registered post . We recommend this method to ensure your precious images get to us safely. The address is on the footer of the home page and is repeated on the confirmatory e mail you are sent after every purchase from the site.

To wrap or not to wrap ?

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:49:00 +0000

With box canvas prints the default option that many people want to achieve is to have a wrapped edge. Here the image continues around the side of the canvas and makes use of the 3d element of canvas prints that cannot be achieved with any other way of presenting and displaying pictures. This works well with pictures where the centre of interest is towards the middle of the picture and where there is plenty of image on the edges that can be used to form the border. However, up to a third of a picture may be used to create this effect and this can create unwanted effects. Wrapping a landscape with a narrow sky can result in most of the sky disappearing over the top of the canvas. Where important details lie towards the edge on the left or right they can end up sitting on the edge or partially disappearing around the side. If this is a problem there is an approach that preserves the wrapped effect but allows you to keep the entire image on the front surface this is often called a mirrored effect. Here elements near the edge of the canvas print are duplicated and used to create the edge of the canvas. These strips around the canvas are then reversed to create the mirror image of the picture on the edge of the box canvas

Picture formats for canvas prints

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 13:36:00 +0000

To create a really good canvas print from your photographs you first need to think about the type of image you are going to use and what type of shape canvas you are going to produce. Landscape or portrait formats are usually the format digital pictures are produced in so pictures can readily be produced as canvas prints in this format. Little editing is usually needed to prepare a print for printing. Many subjects work well in this style, from landscapes to family groups or intimate portraits, However, often by cropping the image to focus on the key elements and remove unnecessary or distracting elements you can create a more powerful image. This can mean you create a square picture rather than an oblong one. Square formats work particularly well if you have a set of related images to print. Long thin panorama prints work well for cityscapes and landscapes and can be great for more abstract ideas. Another approach is to take a single image and split it into a set of smaller canvases that together make up one complete image. This works well for natural forms and some landscape or sunset shots can look stunning in this format.

What can be done to enlarge a small picture with few pixels?

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:29:00 +0000

There are some ways around this problem. In the first place there are software programmes that can enlarge pictures and add in more pixels. These usually rely on fractal based programmes that interpret surrounding pixels and create similar ones that will increase the picture size without losing to much detail. This can be effective for crisp sharp images which have plenty of detail in them to start with Another approach is to create a vector based image from your photograph since vector based images are said to be resolution independent and thus capable of being enlarged further. This can be particularly effective with images that are being stylised to simulate real media or a particular graphic style. .Ask your digital printer to help you get the most out of your photo and if they know what they are doing they should be able to help.

What size canvas print can I expect from my picture

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:18:00 +0000

What size print can I expect?
Mobile phone cameras, especially earlier ones produce quite small pictures with less than 500 pixels in width and can usually only be blown up to around 16cm by 12. They are designed to produce good snapshots and were not meant to be create much larger prints. Three or four mega pixel cameras produce file sizes that allow prints up to approximately 24 inches and to produce much larger prints requires larger files still requires a photo with thousands of pixels. To produce a large canvas print 90 cms wide requires at least 3600 pixels which an 8 to 10 mega pixel camera can provide. However the mobile phone camera image size continues to increase and more recent phone have up to 8 mega pixel cameras in them which can produce large canvas prints.

Why image size is important

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Why is this important
If you go too large with a small photograph the resulting canvas print can be pixelated or blurred and produce a poor print. To avoid this before considering a photo for a canvas print you ideally need to find out how large it is. By how large we mean how many pixels it contains. Once you know how many pixels, which are usually recorded as xxx wide by xxx high you can work out how big a print you can get. Most image editing software contains the information you need. As a rough guide find out the number of pixels and divide by 100 this will tell you roughly how big you can print in inches (a picture 1000 by 1000 pixel can be printed 10 inches by 10 inches). To find this out depends on the image editing software you use. In Adobe Photoshop you go to the menu for image and click on the image size tab from the drop down list. Here you will find the following, the width and height of the picture file in pixels, the overall size in megabytes of the picture file, the resolution of the picture file and the current dimensions of the print it would produce. Quite simply the more pixels the better.

Three of a Kind gallery added

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:23:00 +0000

Three of a Kind

When you have a long thin space a set of three images often works well rather than one large picture. At scarlet-ibis-art.co.uk we have developed many designs that work well in this format. So in response to requests from customers we have added a Our Three of a Kind gallery to our website. Abstract designs including Earth Symphony
As a set of three is very popular. Often more geometic designs work well in this format and Geometic Set and Swirls are examples that can be found in the gallery. All these designs are available in three size ranging from 30 to 60 cms to enable you to match the designs to the available space. At present these are only available as stretched canvas prints. Further designs will be added as our collection expands and develops.

Black and Whit Photograhic Prints

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 12:12:00 +0000

Black and White Photograph Gallery Added

Black and white photographs have always been popular as they can go with any colour scheme and can create a stunning centrepiece to any room. At scarlet ibis art our digital designer has a wealth of great photographs so we have got him to add a gallery of 19 of his best shots. These are available as stretched canvas prints and fine art paper prints.

There are some stunning landscape shots including Singular Tree and some coastal shots including Kynance Cove . Also in the gallery are some quirky shots such as Plugged and Hand Signal. Also included are some softer floral images such as Hibiscus as well as some more abstract images such as Rain Bars

Showing scarlet-ibis-art canvas designs

noreply@blogger.com (Scarlet Ibis Art) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:38:00 +0000

Newmarket Art Craft and Design Show
Just got back from showcasing our canvas prints and designs at the show at the millennium showground in Newmarket. Our earth symphony abstracts went down particularily well and our giant poppy again received much attention.

Several people said they collected or had friends who collected poppy pictures and one lady brought her friend the next day to show her what she had discovered.

Some original acrylics were also displayed and open edition prints of the three red roses, three flowers including canna lily, tiger lily and umbrella magnolia are now available in the floral gallery at scarlet-ibis-art.co.uk

Small canvas blocks allowed us to show a wider range of designs on the stand and sets were purchased by several people. Hanging the two parts of Kyance Cove around the corner of the stand was commented on by many visitors. Two new series of three abstract canvas prints were also launched. A new gallery featuring sets of three canvas prints will shortly be added to the scarlet-ibis-art.co.uk site.

Services

noreply@blogger.com (Blogger) — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 10:37:00 +0000

Digital Canvas Art & Large Poster Prints from Photos

Whether you want stunning large format prints from your photographs or contemporary art for the home or office Scarlet Ibis Art is here to help you make the most of what digital art has to offer. We produce our own digital art using a unique blend of photographic, digital and more traditional painting techniques. So we understand what it takes to produce high quality prints for artists and can help transform your images into great wall art.

Create canvas art

See your favourite pictures turned into stunning canvas prints for your home or as a great gift. Turn your photographs into a great piece of art by the magic of digital art.
It is easy to do

About Scarlet Ibis Art

noreply@blogger.com (Blogger) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:38:00 +0000

Digital Painting on Canvas or on Art Paper

The Scarlet Ibis is the most colourful bird in the world its bright scarlet virtually all over. Just like the bird Scarlet-Ibis-Art we like rich tones and aims to bring some colour into your living space. If you need a splash of colour to act as a centrepiece or to brighten up a dull and lifeless corner then you have come to the right place.

Our own prints

If you are looking for a print whether you like contemporary abstract designs strong geometric patterns, stripes, flowers or landscapes we hope you will find something to your liking. We will continue to add to existing galleries and from time to time add to the themes and styles available so do bookmark us and check back to see whats new.