Pittsburgh Newborn Family Photographer | Artsy Couture Canvas Deconstruction & Review

There are a lot of choices when it comes to products for my clients.  I generally sell canvas or framed fine art wall portraits, as well as archival custom photo albums, and have shopped a number of products to find the very best in quality for my clients.

In a canvas printer I am looking for, above all, extremely high image quality–sharp image and accurate color tones.  I am very actively involved in assuring my colors and tones are accurate by using the X-rite “Passport” color checker when I am shooting and editing and a Spyder to calibrate my monitor.  I double-check compatibility with each of the vendors that I work with to make sure I will get consistent, accurate color in my products. For those of you unfamiliar with how this works, what I am talking about is making sure that the color and brightness settings on my monitor are set to look like what I will get from my print labs so that I don’t get skin tones that are too orange, green, dark, bright, etc.

Secondly I am looking for solid, archival construction.  I want my canvas wrapped around wood with quality hanging hardware and bumpers.  NO CARDBOARD.  Just no.

I was using a canvas printer that I liked very much for a few years when I suddenly started having color issues back in October 2013.  I had been hearing so much about Artsy Couture, and their prices were less than my printer at the time, so I tried them out.  What I received from them was what appeared to be a well constructed, solid canvas, but the colors were way off–super orange.  Their customer service was amazing–friendly & prompt–and they sent out a new canvas that was better but still not the color & sharpness I am seeing from the pro labs I usually work with. I ended up taking a loss on that order and paying to have my client’s order printed at another lab (the one I am currently using).

I went to the Artsy booth at Imaging USA earlier this week and was very impressed with the quality of their products, their cute booth, and their friendly staff.  I was told that they were having short-lived color issues at the time of my order and that I should try again.  I was also told that the canvases are stretched around wood, which really surprised me because I figured it was some sort of super rigid cardboard given they cost a small fraction of the pro lab canvas wraps. Upon returning home I decided to dig up that old canvas–the one I received with color issues, and deconstruct it!  Here is what I found…

ure canvas deconstruction frame review
Yes, you could say these are the “tightest corners in the industry.” How do they accomplish this?

 

ure canvas deconstruction frame review
Sawtooth hanging hardware–not bad but I like a picture wire better.

 

ure canvas deconstruction frame review
These are some serious staples. They are not going anywhere. In fact during the deconstruction process I stabbed a finger with one of these so if you see smudges on the canvas that’s my blood!

 

ure canvas deconstruction frame review
I cut a large in the backing, which is very thick black card stock… and what I saw was….

 

ure canvas deconstruction frame review
Masonite! These are not wrapped around wood, but Masonite panels

 

ure canvas deconstruction frame review
You can see how solid the corners are, these are seriously not going anywhere and took some effort to get apart.

 

ure canvas deconstruction frame review
Here is my helper demonstrating how they get those tight corners–the canvas is actually pinched in between the Masonite that makes up the corners of the frame.

 

ure canvas deconstruction frame review
Again it took some serious effort to get the sides off. The interior is made up of beveled Masonite pieces that are very tightly stapled together.

 

ure canvas deconstruction frame review
After I got the staples out, it basically lays flat because the masonite is glued on, probably with some sort of spray adhesive.

 

artsy couture canvas deconstruction frame review
I was able to peel off the canvas image from the Masonite panel but it was pretty well adhered, which means that these are not likely to warp over time.

 

artsy couure canvas deconstruction frame review
Here you can see the canvas peeled off and the Masonite pieces I removed from the sides.

 

ure canvas deconstruction frame review
And here is the front of the canvas. The colors here are drastically different from the image I sent in (in their defense they did reprint this order for me), but otherwise I would give the image quality a B+.

My overall recommendation is that Artsy “Couture Canvas” is a good option for budget photographers or for consumers who are not willing to pay literally 3x the price at a pro lab.  I do intend to give them another shot for some personal projects and studio samples, but I do not feel confident fulfilling client orders until I am seeing consistent color.

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Are you looking for a maternity, newborn, family, or baby photographer in Pittsburgh?  Powder Blue Photography offers in-home and studio portraits of newborn babies and maternity and on location family portraits in and around Pittsburgh, including the South Hills, McMurray, Peters Township, Canonsburg, Bridgeville, Upper St. Clair, South Fayette, Mt. Lebanon, Cecil Township, Squirrel Hill, Regent Square, and Shadyside areas.  Please contact Missy to schedule a maternity appointment and a tentative date for your newborn session.  Maternity sessions take place around 33-36 weeks, and newborn sessions take place in the first 10 days of life.  Family sessions take place anytime!

PoBa Baby Clothing Shoot Spring 2012 | Portland Baby Photographer

I shot the spring line of bibdanas with Crystal Misner of PoBa Clothing last weekend.  It was a totally smooth and fun shoot, and I attribute that to the awesome mamas & daddies who accompanied these adorable babies to the studio!  These guys range in age from 6 months to 1 year+ and were all so sweet and happy throughout.

Crystal has seen a lot of success lately with her unique and fun baby accessories, up-cycled clothing, and waterproof picnic blanket lines.  These product shots will be featured in an upcoming partnership she has with fab.com.  Keep your eyes peeled for this deal because you will never get one of these hand-crafted bibdanas for less!

PoBa Clothing Shoot | Portland Baby Photographer

Are you ready for some major cuteness?  I collaborated with Crystal Misner of PoBa Clothing (short for Portland Baby!) to do a clothing shoot for her new line of unique handmade baby clothes.  We headed out to Laurelhurst Park with a gaggle of babies and did the shoot last week. Special thanks to the moms for helping me wrangle the babies and get them all looking in the same direction for some of the group photos!  Can you even handle these sweet little faces??

baby clothing photo shoot portland photographer

LOVE the prints. Some of the fabrics Crystal uses are vintage, nice.  Two of the items she needed photographed for her line sheet and look book are baby clothes that have been repurposed from menswear: little girls’ dresses and boys’ pants.  Look closely at some of the pants and you can see the original cuffs!  My own little Jonah was one of the baby models, and I think that was my favorite clothing item on him 🙂  Crystal also makes retro-style cord pants with matching “bibdannas.”  Jonah has one of the bibdannas and it is by far the cutest accessory he owns.  I like to style it like a little baby ascot (that doubles as a drool catcher) and am looking forward to cooler weather so I can put it under a cardigan for that baby “nerd chic” look.  The bibdannas are very affordable and are for sale on the PoBa site.