Printing to Canvas

Turn your best underwater images into art.

Text and Images by Sandy Sondrol

All underwater photographers know the challenge of capturing beautiful images and by now most of us know the drudgery of processing those shots in imaging software. Sadly, even the best images — no matter how well-composed, properly exposed and tweaked to perfection in Photoshop — can suffer when printed. Photo finishing often removes the texture of an undersea experience. This is particularly true of the typical home photo printer, but even professional photo finishers find it difficult to show the true beauty of the underwater world in a printed image.

Rather than waste ink and photo paper to produce flat, lifeless prints that will only wind up in a drawer, I prefer to turn my best work into large, custom art pieces worthy of hanging on the wall. How? By printing hi-definition underwater images on art canvas. The first time I saw the results, I was amazed. On canvas, texture flows from the image, truly reflecting the life and beauty of the underwater world. All those details that I worked so diligently to capture and refine, were there! Even better, printing to canvas allows a wider range of portrait sizes from 8- by 10-inches all the way up to 30- by 40-inches. One of my all-time favorite canvas prints is the manta ray pictured above, shot while on assignment in the Komodo Islands. http://seaduction.com/travel/3006.html

Now for the shameless commercial plug: After showing my canvas prints at the 2009 DEMA show, the photography side of my business has really taken off. Through my web site, www.SandySondrol.com, I now offer an array of my images that can be individually ordered in a range of sizes and the response has been very gratifying. If you click on the “Order Your Own Canvas Images” link, there are also details on how to turn your favorite shots into canvas art. Through my Underwater Canvas site, I offer other photographers full-service photo editing and canvas printing, with the final product delivered to your door in as few as seven days.

Photo Tips for Canvas-Ready Images

As part of the service, I optimize your images for printing on canvas by enhancing exposure, correcting color and contrast, adjusting clarity and sharpness and minimizing backscatter (as much as possible). However, there are a few tried-and-true shooting techniques that will help ensure the best reproduction of your work:

• Get as close to your subject as you can. Then move one more fin kick even closer before triggering the shutter. Seaduction.com’s resident Photo Pro, Don Tipton, deals with this in his article “Go Wide: Part 2.” http://seaduction.com/imaging/16.html.
• Shoot at least horizontal to your subject. Better yet, shoot slightly upward to make the most of ambient light. Avoid shooting downward. See Tip #2 in Don’s article “Seven Tips for Better Composition.” http://seaduction.com/imaging/20.html
• Use an off-camera strobe. If you are not already doing so, begin shooting with a strobe that is off the camera rather than using the built in flash. Aim your strobe so that the very edge of the light beam illuminates your subject.  That way you are not illuminating backscatter between your lens and the subject. See tip # 4 in Don’s article “Go Wide: 5 Tips for Shooting Shipwrecks.” http://seaduction.com/imaging/5.html
• Study histograms. If your camera can show a histogram, use it religiously to make sure that your shot is not overexposed. Underexposed shots can be fixed, but badly overexposed shots are nearly impossible to save.

For more information, feel free to contact me at sandy@sandysondrol.com.

Author Bio

Raised beside a lake in Iowa, Sandy Sondrol grew up a self-described “water rat,” and made his first dives in the mid-1960s. In 1994, he left his law practice and moved to Grand Cayman to become a dive instructor and boat captain for Bob Soto’s. After nearly 10 years in Cayman, it was back to the states to join Nekton live-aboards for three years. He later became the associate publisher of Dive Chronicles, and today works as a full-time freelance writer and photographer.