FAQs

Turnaround Times

Most orders are ready within the week. Some orders take longer due to availability of supplies, scale of project and other factors that may not be foreseen. Prints must be given at least 24 hours to rest before delivery. This is manufacturer specified in order to allow the inks time to properly cure. Framing prior to this cure time may cause undesired effects weeks, months or even years later.

Do you “Preprocess” or apply brightening, boost the contrast, or sharpen before printing?

No. We may hold production on a print run to connect with you if we suspect something is off. We will never make any unapproved edits to you work. If your work must match an edition of prints created elsewhere, we will ask you to supply a print from that edition as reference.

What factors influence print results?

Resolution
As a general rule, the lower the ppi in a digital file, the lower the expected print quality will be. The higher the ppi, finer details can be expected in the resulting print.

However resolution is more than this, it is a relationship between the image ppi and area size. Lower ppi does not always mean a low quality print will be created as long as the area size is sufficient.

Contemporary phones boast some impressive camera specs (48mp Google Pixel 10 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro; 200MP Oppo Find X9), and nearly all of them save as 72 ppi. That low number does not necessarily equal an unsatisfactory print due to the inverse effects of scaling the area.

Viewing distance
One of the most important factors in determining the “best” resolution for print is the distance it will be viewed from. There is lots of research out there that discuss this, but it all boils down to one simple fact. The human eye is only so good at a given distance. Under most circumstances, an audience will not be examining the print from a few centimeters away, but will instead admire it from a meter or more away. As an extreme case in point, a roadside billboard may be printed as low as 12 dpi.

Other factors that impact image and print quality
Many factors will negatively impact the quality of an image, despite having a high megapixel camera or high resolution scan. These include: Digital zoom as opposed to optical zoom, cropping, poor quality lenses, dust and smudges on the lens or sensor, imaging technology and how sensitive they are in differentiating tone and colors (CCD vs CMOS), the light itself, and saving in “lossy” file types.

Do I need to pre size my picture or add a white border to ensure my dimensions are kept?

No. In fact we ask that you supply a master image larger or equal to the largest print you might order. We will rescale as needed to match any size needed. Adding a white border to your print will result in an image smaller than you expect.

What dimensions can you print?

Current Max Paper Limit: 24in in one direction. Current Max Print Limit: 22in in one direction.

Our papers come pre-cut to industry standard sizes [8.5×11 in, A4, 11×14 in, 11x17in, 13x19in (A3+), 17x19in and 24 inch rolls.] We print to the required dimension on these papers and will trim, if necessary.

Are you able to print borderless?

In most cases we recommend leaving at least a 1/2 inch border around the image for matting and framing purposes. This means the largest 2:3 ratio image (35mm frame) we are currently able to print is approximately 22x33in.
If an artist truly needs an image to bleed to the edge, common in some framing applications, the paper will need to be trimmed from its standard size to the image.

Will you guarantee my prints will meet my expectations?

Due to differences in paper surfaces and textures, how the ink lays on or soaks into the paper, even the type of lighting used to view a print will impact the experience a person has with it. Even the conditions under which the digital image is edited can impact the resulting print. Each of our papers is custom profiled for our printers to produce the most faithful color or black & white prints from any of the supported files and settings.

What is your return policy for prints?

Due to the nature of artwork and its inherent values, this is dealt with on a case-by-case basis. In most cases prints are sold as-is and no refunds will be made. Unless you’ve worked with our post-processing service to perfect your image for print, we cannot offer any guarantees. In the very rare event a shipment of prints from us is damaged, we will ask you to provide images of the damage and may request you to return the order for us to inspect. If we deem the order is as intended, no refund will be issued and we will charge you to return the prints back to you. If we deem the order was damaged due to carrier negligence we will work with our shipping partners to remedy the situation in the quickest possible turn around. If the damage was caused by negligence on the receiver’s end to ensure the safety of the artwork once delivered we are unable to offer any solutions.

‡ Paper Availability We stock most Canson-Infinity and Moab papers in house in addition to select Hahnemühle, Epson and Awagami Papers. Some papers are only available on a case-by-case basis by special order. Contact us for more information and to schedule a presentation of papers and surfaces. Special Orders are subject to at least 50% deposit upfront.