Many at home all-in-one printers have great scanning capabilities, so you may be able to scan your own prints in order to send them to us for printing on canvas. However, not just any scan will do. It is important to make sure the settings are correct to ensure a quality digital copy of your original.
Depending on how large the print is and how large you want to go you will need to adjust the resolution (DPI or PPI) setting to a higher number, the default is typically 200. It is ideal to scan at a resolution of between 800 and 2400 dpi. You will also want to select the area just around the image, so that the scanner surface is not included.
Some brands of scanners include software to remove dust and scratches automatically, and this can work great but it can also create some strange effects on the digital file. You can choose to scan without that adjustment if you aren’t happy with the results and select “Minor Retouching” on your order and we will be sure to touch up all those flaws.
Finally, make sure to save as a high quality file. JPEG is fine but make sure it is the Maximum Quality level to avoid compression artifacts and pixilation. Our website can accept files up to 100MB in size in .JPG, .PNG and .PSD file formats.
If you don’t have access to a scanner or you aren’t confident in getting a high quality scan from your equipment feel free to mail it to us for complementary scanning and we will return the original with your finished canvas. We recommend securing the photo inside a plastic bag between two pieces of cardboard and mailing using a service that provides you with a tracking number to make sure it does not get lost in the mail. If the print is a unique, one of a kind photograph and you are uncomfortable mailing it, or if it is larger than a letter size sheet of paper you can take it to a local print shop and request a high resolution scan.