How do I do about copying my paintings to print?

[sweet]

Hi everyone,

I was looking at getting a couple of my paintings printed for friends and family, how do i go about this? is the best way to use a company who specialises in copying paintings to print, or can I scan them onto my computer and copy them that way? I have an epson stylus photo scanner & printer. I want them to look v.good quality

humph, i hope i explained that properly! lol

ty.s.x

[JBJB]

I would say you want someone who can output large files to a decent printer.

Have you any of those "we personalise anything" type shops near you - you know, the ones who turn your granny into a jigsaw and put your children onto mugs?

[linz]

I was speaking to someone who sells their prints, and he gets a lady who is a professional photographer to take photos of his paintings, then he prints them out on his own a3 printer. They looked pretty good quality to me.

[sweet]

I would say you want someone who can output large files to a decent printer.

Have you any of those "we personalise anything" type shops near you - you know, the ones who turn your granny into a jigsaw and put your children onto mugs?

lol...

Unfortunatly not! I'll have to keep searching!

[sweet]

I was speaking to someone who sells their prints, and he gets a lady who is a professional photographer to take photos of his paintings, then he prints them out on his own a3 printer. They looked pretty good quality to me.

thats a good idea! i know someone who is a semi-pro photographer! have ti be nice to him! :D

[Ian Beckerton]

Hi Sweet

Now it just so happens that I have done a bit of this my self, not that they were my paintings, they were an ex girlfriends sisters and I made up a portfolio for her for Christmas.

The approach I used was, use what was their!! All the images were taken on Transparency (This was only a year ago) using window light and all the paintings were propped up on a chair. I used a Nikon F100 with a 20-35mm zoom lens and essentially I used a tripod.

Once I had the images back from my processors I scanned them into my PC using a Nikon Coolscan 5000 ed scanner. I scanned the images at a resolution of 4000 dpi and had file sizes of about 30mb for each image.

Once I had them digitised I then re processed them in photoshop, printer them out as A4 on my A3 printer and mounted them for presentation.

These are some of the images I produced. Click on the link to Flickr then painted images and slide show.

Regards,

I..

[sweet]

Hi Sweet

Now it just so happens that I have done a bit of this my self, not that they were my paintings, they were an ex girlfriends sisters and I made up a portfolio for her for Christmas.

The approach I used was, use what was their!! All the images were taken on Transparency (This was only a year ago) using window light and all the paintings were propped up on a chair. I used a Nikon F100 with a 20-35mm zoom lens and essentially I used a tripod.

Once I had the images back from my processors I scanned them into my PC using a Nikon Coolscan 5000 ed scanner. I scanned the images at a resolution of 4000 dpi and had file sizes of about 30mb for each image.

Once I had them digitised I then re processed them in photoshop, printer them out as A4 on my A3 printer and mounted them for presentation.

These are some of the images I produced. Click on the link to Flickr then painted images and slide show.

Regards,

I..

thanks Ian for the advice! I'm glad it's that simple! I think i can manage that, well at least the guy who i'm going to 'borrow' can manage it!

s.x

[indri]

I know someone who does watercolours and sells prints of them. I believe she goes to somewhere like Office world (now staples I believe - showing my age office world disappeared years ago from Cov!). They do printing/photocopying etc. The prints looks good quality and sell really well. My mum ends up making lots of little labels for her so that she can stick the title/painter to the outside of the cellophane packaging... labels have to be in English and Welsh!!!

[gorjuss]

If you're scanner is good enough, scan them at over 300dpi. if the paintings are too large, then try scanning them in sections and piecing them together in some Photoshop-esque type software!

As for prints, always go for archival pro quality fine art prints.. not just 'cheap copies' or printouts.. then your customer base will be back for more ;)

[elysee]

High quality prints always look better - but sometimes I simply duplicate my work by scanning and printing out - I have quite a good printer tough!