Guide to Cropping Photos for Canvas Printing

Canvas printing is more than just a cool interior design tool, it’s kind of a revolution in the DIY design world. It gives people from all kinds of aesthetic preferences and budgets the ability to decorate their homes exactly the way they want to.

The best part is we’re no longer bound by the selection of wall art in a store or even a series of stores. Many of these stores source their art from the same wholesale supplier. This results in a generic look and feel that leaves your home feeling tired and dull. We now have the freedom to express ourselves by taking our own photos or artwork and turning them into high-quality pieces of art. This keeps our interiors fresh, unique and personal.

But many amateur designers don’t use the most powerful and easiest tool at their disposal: the crop tool. Cropping is something anyone can do in any software program. Cropping requires only the most rudimentary computer skills. But cropping can have a transformative effect on your image. It’s one of the most essential preparatory steps you need take before ordering prints.

Here’s a quick guide to cropping your photos before having them printed.

Cropping for Canvas Printing: Shifting Focus

The first thing to consider is the focus of your image. This will require you to step back and be totally objective for a moment. Remember that as the photographer, or the designer, you know what you think is the focal point of the image. But will visitors to your space get it?

Look at the photo: Is there something else in there that could also be the focus if you walked in fresh, without preconceived notions? Snipping out a distracting object or person who might draw the eye will increase the impact of your photo. Be ruthless. If something isn’t adding to the overall meaning of the image, remove it.

Improving Composition

Cropping your images can also improve the balance and composition of your image, making them perfect for canvas printing. Sometimes, especially when we’re snapping photos on the fly, we don’t get the balance precisely right. We might leave too much space around the subject or we don’t get the subjects centred.

Cropping is the fastest and easiest way to adjust this. Getting rid of a little space to one side can shift the subject more to the centre and make your image pop off the walls.

Changing Tone

We often get ‘subject blind’. This occurs when where we’re so focused on the person or object that drew our eye in the first place that we don’t see distracting background action that changes the tone. For example, a photo of your grandparents at your wedding might be absolutely beautiful. That is until you see kids in the background being silly! This sort of tonal clash can ruin a photo – but you can crop out the distractions and return the power to your focal point.

Cropping is dead simple and often necessary – it’s a rare photo that can’t be improved by a little judicious cropping. If you’re all thumbs with Photoshop and can’t do much else, you can at least crop your photos before they go to the printer – and you absolutely should. And when you have, click here and we’d be delighted to turn those cropped photos into powerful wall art.