The Trouble With Canvas
Ink jet canvas? Yes, it can be a cheesy photo presentation, like something out of a cheap Miami motel. Also, lesser canvases have given the medium a bad name with poor shadow reproduction and drastic texture that all but obliterates fine detail. Last year, I ran through a roll of Canon’s Graphic Matte Canvas that I wouldn’t recommend for any conceivable reason to anyone (in fact, it was given to me for free by Canon, which I should have taken as a sign). I think canvas photo printing, as a general cynical consensus, has the reputation of being a technique to force mediocre photography into something that looks like art.
The appeal of canvas, on the flip side, is a modern floating presentation when it’s nicely gallery wrapped on a good stretcher frame. Tightly wrapped and well folded at the corners, the finished product is hard to beat for visual impact. Of course, it also has to be a stunning print, as there is no glass, matting, and framing to amplify the print size or quality. And, after all, canvas really is the de facto surface for certain more established schools of art and photographers can play with that.
[a review of my new favorite ink jet canvas after the jump..] Read the rest of this entry »
