I love how it says right on the box in bold letters, “PHOTOGRAPHS, DO NOT BEND”… right next to where FedEx crunched the box.

The best part? I saw the FedEx woman dropping off the package as I was on my way home from an errand. She dropped it on the porch and scurried away without ringing the bell or anything, clearly knowing the package was damaged and not wanting to get caught.

FEDEX FAIL. Next time, UPS!

Their initial offer was for a 16″ x 20″ photo canvas. I shoot on Canon cameras, whose sensors are built with a 3:2 aspect-ratio frame (meaning the width of the image is 1.5x the height) and like many pros, whenever possible I use the entire frame when composing my shots (this is a good practice, as it maximizes the sensor area that you’re using for your final composition, thereby maximizing the image quality). As a result, the 16×20 canvas was a different aspect ratio (5:4) than my intended composition. I brought this to the attention of the company, and they generously offered to instead provide me with a 16×24 canvas, which matched my images’ 3:2 aspect ratio.

Zaza directs that for best quality, the image file that customers provide for printing have a resolution of 300 dpi in order to preserve detail in the final print. This is good, because in order to achieve the great detail of true professional-quality prints, high resolution is essential. For a 16×24 print though, this works out to 4800×7200 pixels, or approximately 35 megapixels, which is a higher resolution than even the best pro cameras widely used today (there are a small number of exotic systems that can achieve this resolution natively). What this means is that to make a Zaza canvas print properly, photo-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom is needed to increase the resolution of image files (known as “up-resing”). Since up-resing can result in nasty pixelation, artifacting and other image degradation if not done carefully, images that will be used to print high-quality prints such as canvases must be originally captured in the highest resolution possible.

In any case, for this test canvas, I chose to use one of my more recent photos (featured previously on the blog as the first Photo of the Day, here) which I called “Daybreak”. Here is the photo:

I chose to use this photo because it would really put the Zaza printing process through its paces: With its heavily saturated colors it would test Zaza’s ability to color-match, the absolute blacks in the silhouettes and sky would test the ability to achieve true black, and the smooth fade-to-black in the sky would test Zaza’s ability to print smooth gradients.

I prepared the image file according to Zaza’s specifications, with the appropriate resolution, format (Zaza takes standard JPG files) and embedded sRGB color profile (color profiles are essential for accurate color reproduction) and sent the image off. In about a week and a half (which is a normal turnaround time for canvas prints like this) I received the finished canvas. It was packaged well-protected, in a cardboard box in a plastic bag covered in bubble-wrap. Here is the finished canvas:

Zaza offers a number of different wrapping style options – a traditional “gallery wrap,” in which the image extends beyond the edges of the frame and continues on the sides, white and black wraps, in which image extends only to the edge of the frame and the sides are white or black, and finally “mirror wraps” and “blur wraps,” which are the best of both worlds: the image extends only to the edges of the frame (meaning the image is not cut off), but the edges are colored either by a reflection of the edge of the image or a blur of the edge of the image (which is nice so that the sides, if visible when hung, have some color and look like a real gallery wrap). I elected for the blur-wrap style. I haven’t seen this option with other canvas print vendors, and it is really nice. Your image doesn’t get clipped, but you still get nice coloration on the sides of the frame.

The quality of the final product is very good. The frame is sturdy and the canvas is stretched quite taut and stapled very securely. As far as the print quality:

-The color reproduction is very good. The colors matched the file I provided, and the saturation and vividness are excellent. Neither over- nor under-saturated.

-The blacks are truly black, the white truly white. Overall, contrast is excellent.

-Detail sharpness is average. On extremely close inspection I can make out a bit of fuzziness in the details, but this is to be expected from a file that was up-res’ed. And in any case no one viewing the print on a wall will get close enough to see the level of detail that I was inspecting. No complaints here.

-Like nearly all canvas prints I’ve seen, the print reflects a moderate amount of glare light, so care must be taken in regard to where the canvas is hung to avoid glare light. But again, this is common for canvas prints.

So there you have it, that’s my review! This canvas will hang proudly on my studio wall. Good job Zaza!

This will probably be the last Photo of the Day for a little while, as I’m getting pretty busy and I don’t think I’ll have time to post these each day for a little while. It’s been fun, I’ve enjoyed getting comments, and I hope you’ve enjoyed the images! Hopefully when things settle back down a bit I’ll be able to restart these.

For now though, I’ll leave you with “A Flower Grows in the City.” Have a great week everyone!

Chris

"A Flower Grows in the City": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 100mm Macro f/2.8L IS USM @ f/2.8, 100mm, 1/640th, ISO 400. ©Chris Conti Photography

Have a great weekend everybody!

Chris

"Reece's": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ f/4, 105mm, 1/400th, ISO 400. ©Chris Conti Photography

Today’s Photo of the Day is one that I kind of like. We’ve all seen lots of “put the camera on a tripod and point it at rocks on a beach with a long exposure” photos before, and I’ll completely acknowledge that this shot is very certainly not an original idea. What I like about this shot though is the lighting – it was a very special time of day (actually a little bit after sunset), shot from a special angle so that the water caught some reflected light in the sky, and the rocks actually caught light from two sides. Plus I like the composition, with lots of empty space suggesting expansiveness… I guess I better like the composition, since I shot it!

Anyway, I digress. Hope you enjoy it. Happy Thursday!

Chris

"Shorebreak": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ f/9, 105mm, 4", ISO 100. ©Chris Conti Photography

Anyway, this shot was on a volcanic black sand beach. Just up from the sand there were thousands of smooth black pebbles and the way the water ran over and through them was very interesting to me.

Happy Wednesday!

"Wet Rocks": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ f/4, 105mm, 1/25th, ISO 200. ©Chris Conti Photography

Today’s photo needs very little in the way of explanation. The USS Arizona Memorial bears the names of the men who died on board when the Arizona sank after the attack on Pearl Harbor, whose bodies still lay inside.

- Chris

"Remembered": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ f/2.8, 200mm, 1/1250th, ISO 200. ©Chris Conti Photography

This was my first year photographing the Boston Marathon, and I was blown away at the number of striking visual opportunities it provided; not just the stereotypical shots of runners pounding pavement, enduring mile after mile while pouring sweat, but more subtle, less-noticed details like this one. The marathon was a wealth of opportunity, and I’ll be going back next year.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Chris

"Aftermath": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ f/6.3, 150mm, 1/1600th, ISO 400. ©Chris Conti Photography

Have a great day.

Chris

"Morning After": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro USM @ f/2.8, 100mm, 1/6400th, ISO 200. ©Chris Conti Photography

Anyway, happy Wednesday!

Chris

"Lana'i Sunset": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ f/11, 24mm, 1/30th, ISO 200. ©Chris Conti Photography

"Bayou": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 105mm, ISO 400, 1/800th f/4. ©Chris Conti Photography

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]]> http://chriscontiphotography.com/2010/06/potd061510/feed/ 0 http://chriscontiphotography.com/2010/06/potd061410/ http://chriscontiphotography.com/2010/06/potd061410/#comments Mon, 14 Jun 2010 14:04:23 +0000 Chris http://chriscontiphotography.com/?p=1024 Hope everybody had a great weekend. To ease you back into the workweek, how about a photo of the cutest kid ever?

Chris

"Want a Freeze Pop?": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS II USM @ 95mm, ISO 400, 1/6400th f/2.8. ©Chris Conti Photography

In Hawaiian, “mauka” means “toward the mountain.” It is used when giving directions as the opposite of “makai,” or “toward the sea.” So today’s photo’s name translates (very roughly) as “up the mountain from Lahaina.”

Have a great weekend!

-Chris

"Lahaina Mauka": Canon 5D Mark II, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM @ 24mm, ISO 100, 1/80th f/6.3. ©Chris Conti Photography