Ottawa Places

When it comes to printing, whether it's an image from this site or others, you have options.

For this site, the goal is to present images from around this region, allowing people to get local art prints or downloads. Images of various types, whether it's a place, a theme, a colour or other -- it's taken by a local photographer.

For many images here, downloading a hi-res JPG is sufficient for printing online at Posterjack or CanvasPop. Ottawaplaces.ca stores hi-res JPGs submitted by users but only shows lo-res versions publicly, so the local artist's work is secure and they own the rights. In any case, if purchased for between $5 and $25, these high resolution JPEGs can then be printed and framed as you like, and, should work fine on the wall with Posterjack or CanvasPop or anywhere else you choose.

The issue with online shops like CanvasPop, is that despite being easy to use, is that in particular for CanvasPop they only print at 150 DPI. Fine at 5 or 6 feet away if it's canvas, but by no means fine art or preservation level quality. I've had decent results from Posterjack which does print at 300 DPI with Adobe RGB colour space, and, they have specials regularly if you are a subscriber. But you are still sending JPG, which can lose some detail if not careful.

But, we also want to support the higher-end fine art print, where, for example, we are able to work with the original photographer (that posted a JPEG here) to source their TIFF, RAW, PSD file (ideally TIFF Adobe RGB format ready to go) and then we in turn will work with a selection of Ottawa's fine art printers. So for example, we can get a print you see here printed quite large (as long as the digital file is large enough) on Gicleé paper at museum quality. We also ensure your print is adjusted as needed for the fine art print you will be showing off.

The lo-res images you see online (including here) and most digital devices are in the sRGB colour space. That's OK, but not nearly the colour gamut of Adobe RGB or ProPhoto, and then there's the CMYK choice for those who wish that more subdued look in the print. What's our position on that?

If you want fine art printing we'd work with our fine art printer on your behalf with Adobe RGB TIFF or RAW (or JPG if that's all we have). Then we'd get the printer to do the rest, including any conversion to CMYK if requested.

The online services like CanvasPop or Posterjack will only take what you give, and, while it might work just fine for you, some will want to extract the most colour and detail in a vivid or subdued look. So the fine art option is there for you, just ask.

Either way -- both methods for printing will get you art for the wall, but we would recommend fine art printing handled by us and adjusted for print, so we know it's going to look great on the wall. Pricing is fairly standard, there is no cost to "adjust" the print unless it needs extensive re-working.

In the end, we want to support local photographers, locally shot photos, and local fine art printing by the experts. Is this making sense? I guess it's soup to nuts shoot / show (on ottawaplaces.ca) / print / frame / admire; all local.

In summary, when a photographer submits here, in Adobe RGB colour space, we save that hi-res original in a private space (not visible on the site) then convert a thumbnail and a medium sized version at lower resolution in SRGB for display. These won't work for print. The original hi-res (ideally Adobe RGB) is kept in case someone wants to purchase for printing on their own or online. If you want fine art quality reviewed by an expert prior to print, contact us.

If you have any questions -- just ask. If you are an enthusiast looking to add your art aimed at local walls -- get in touch.

Kurtis