|
| Author | Thread |
|
|
05/27/2010 08:12:45 AM · #26 |
Originally posted by nshapiro:
moo cards look really good--someone did post a link to it already. However, they are also really expensive in order to get an assortment.
Blackriver looks fantastic--free shipping like WHCC. And the free $50 off your first order sounds good; though I'm a loyal WHCC customer at this point (just because they've earned it so far), I'll definitely give them a try anyway!
WHCC has already shipped my materials, they should be here today. So we'll see how they are.
On the "down-side", if any locals were planning on stopping by to see my work at Starbucks this month, I just called about hanging them, and there's been a "double booking" this month, and the other person advertised their show in the paper already, so I got bumped to July. So now my show isn't until July. That's fine, but it's a bit of a bummer to find out "the day of". |
I ordered a 16x16 gallery wrap for my first order with BlackRiver. Tracking shows it will arrive June 1st. I only ended up paying $9.50. Now the next deal revealed is 25 free press printed 5x7 folded greeting cards on pearl paper (original cost $47.95). I'll let you know about the quality of the gallery wrap when it arrives. |
|
|
|
05/27/2010 09:04:48 AM · #27 |
Originally posted by Kelli:
I ordered a 16x16 gallery wrap for my first order with BlackRiver. Tracking shows it will arrive June 1st. I only ended up paying $9.50. Now the next deal revealed is 25 free press printed 5x7 folded greeting cards on pearl paper (original cost $47.95). I'll let you know about the quality of the gallery wrap when it arrives. |
Me too. My $50 coupon was about to expire, but I got my order in yesterday. I usually order CanvasWraps from CanvasOnDemand though, and they had a great sale yesterday, but I missed it because CanvasWraps are hard work! I rarely have a pic that I want to lose a whole 1.5" off of the face (.75 each side) or 3" for a 1.5" wrap. So I end up creating a false edge and it takes a couple of hours per wrap. I've done quite a few wraps though--I love them, but hate the work.
So I started looking at alternatives to them...especially for pics that might look better on Lustre paper. I have now been ordering some Standout prints. These are ordinary Lustre prints mounted on a wood like product :) which hang like wraps, but have black (or white) edges and a lustre (or metallic) finish on the print on the face. I've got three of these now, and they're pretty nice. The main problem is that both WHCC and Blackriver are missing important sizes/aspect ratios in their offerings of standouts. In the past, I wanted to order a picture of my Manhattan Lights NYC shot, which is 2:1, and the largest I could buy at WHCC was 10x20. I ordered one, but it was far too small. They said they would eventually add more 2:1 sizes, but Blackriver actually had some! So yesteday, I ordered a 15x30. They have a 18x36 too, but I thought it might be too big for a show. And for my intro offer, the 15x30 cost me a whopping $4.95 with my coupon.
The order is processed and shipping today...so we'll see.
On the other hand, I had to use chat support, and call Black River (BRI) several times--their Roes software system is more sophisticated than WHCC but not without some serious flaws. Same for their catalog and information. They had a ICC profile for E-Surface paper, which is great, but I actually couldn't find anywhere on the site that would tell me exactly what E-Surface paper was. I used their chat system and found it was Lustre. Perfect. I set up my order, and it went in.
However, I never got an email confirmation, though ROES said it was successful, and I looked on my account and their was a message on the account that said there was an error with my filename. (Eventually, BTW, I got an email from an employee telling me I had to resubmit the order.) Apparently, you need a 32 or smaller character filename without special characters. My file names tend to be long...I probably had twice that. So I had to rebuild the order after changing the filename and resubmit.
So if the print is good, it will be nice to have a supplemental place to WHCC. WHCC is great, but if BRI offers alternative sales and print sizes that WHCC doesn't have, I'll use both. BRI has a lot more small to medium sizes than WHCC in standouts. HOWEVER, BRI oddly doesn't have the good choices of mid-size mounts in 3:2...including 12x18, or 16x24! That makes it hard to order my landscapes, since 80% of them are that aspect ratio and I don't want small ones or huge ones. WHCC doesn't have the smaller ones, or 12x18, but they have 16x24 which is really the perfect size--in fact, all my canvas prints are 16x24 (and some 16x20). Both have the largest sizes 20x30 and 24x36, which I'm sure would be good for some uses/displays.
Anyway, we'll see the print, but it's good to find another lab like WHCC, where each may fill in their competitors holes. And the intro coupons
from BRI can't be beat. (The sales from WHCC this winter were really good too--I ordered about 70 11x14's to build a portfolio book at about 2.50 each (and free shipping).
And finally--sorry for the long post--I realize I never followed up this thread. The bookmarks and cards I got from WHCC were fantastic. The bookmark I ordered was the Bass Harbor Light one, and I used Castle Hill Light for my cards. They look really really great! I will probably need to order more of both, and I may just order more "as is". Though it might be fun to change the pictures and have a variety to hand out.
Message edited by author 2010-05-27 09:07:58.
|
|
|
|
05/27/2010 10:01:43 AM · #28 |
| For gallery wraps I always choose black as the wrap colour so you don't lose any image surface. Also, with Canvas on Demand, they add the black so you don't have to worry about it. You just upload the image at the size you want the face of the canvas to be. |
|
|
|
05/27/2010 12:34:27 PM · #29 |
Originally posted by cpanaioti:
For gallery wraps I always choose black as the wrap colour so you don't lose any image surface. Also, with Canvas on Demand, they add the black so you don't have to worry about it. You just upload the image at the size you want the face of the canvas to be. |
Yes, that's a good reminder. I actually ordered one with a black border recently, but since I figured I'd try a sample and sample pricing, I had to put the border on myself (since I wanted to place the "sample" message on the bottom rather than the side where it wouldn't exclude me using that as a display sample at a gallery, for example.)
But in general, I like the look of the wrap around the edges (I have done 18 different canvas prints now, 17 of them with photo edges). This is the one I tried with black in order to compare it to the look of a standout I printed recently:
(You can see all the photos I've done in this thread here. One of these days, I'm going to find a nice white wall, set up lights, and shoot them one by one. I actually really need to do that, cause I'm thinking of trying to sell them on ebay!)
|
|
|
|
06/02/2010 09:50:18 PM · #30 |
| Did you get your gallery wrap from BlackRiver yet? I got mine Tuesday. Love the quality. I like how they did the corners better than the way CanvasOnDemand did theirs. |
|
|
|
06/05/2010 09:51:34 AM · #31 |
Originally posted by Kelli:
Did you get your gallery wrap from BlackRiver yet? I got mine Tuesday. Love the quality. I like how they did the corners better than the way CanvasOnDemand did theirs. |
I had the opposite experience, unfortunately. I ordered an 18x36 standout. The print itself is fine, though I lost detail in some of the highlight areas that I had intentionally added (there's an area where the sun basically burned out the sunset, and I added some cloud texture because it looked a little "chalky" in previous prints.)
But I don't know if anyone else would have done better there.
The problem is that the print itself isn't well cut/mounted. The left edge of the standout has a distinct white edge; the right edge looks fine and that's what I would have expected for the left. And note that this is not when you are looking from the side, but from the front. It's as if they cut it badly, then mounted it anyway.
I may call and complain, and test out their customer service.
|
|
|
|
Current Server Time: 03/13/2025 07:28:11 AM  |
Home -
Challenges -
Community -
League -
Photos -
Cameras -
Lenses -
Learn -
Help -
Terms of Use -
Privacy -
Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 03/13/2025 07:28:11 AM EDT.
|
