Help: Frequently Asked Questions about APC Canvas Prints

Every APC canvas comes with a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. So if you’re not absolutely stoked with your canvas — let us know within 30 days of your purchase and we’ll make it right, whether that means creating a brand-new canvas or giving you a full refund.

If you can dream it, we can probably create it. Don’t see your size in our size chart? Just plug in your custom size on the Create a Canvas page instead. Not only will you get the precise size you want, you’ll also get instant pricing on your custom canvas.

The short answer: rock star people using the best equipment and materials in the business.

Our team of professional photographers, image editors and canvas artisans work on your canvas from start to finish. We also have the mother lode of canvas printing gear. We’re talking Epson 9900 series professional printers, Epson UltraChrome HDR inks (the world’s most advanced archival inks) and of course 20.5 mil, ultra DMAX, OBA-free, brilliant white poly/cotton canvas approved by the Fine Art Trade Guild. But that’s not all. We also seal your canvas with a proprietary archival UV topcoat, and mount it using solid, kiln-dried, sustainable wood stretcher bars.

How does “At least until the mid-22nd Century” sound? It’s true. Long after robots wait on you hand and foot — your APC canvas will be stealing glances.

Staying power is just one more thing that sets your APC canvas apart. Here’s why:

• Most other canvas labs print canvas to ‘Art Decor’ standards, which lasts 3 - 10 years. But our combination of equipment, materials and care means our canvas resists fading and deterioration for at least 150 years! Don’t take our word for it. Wilhelm Imaging Research, the leading authority on art print longevity, said so.
• We exceed the rigorous standards for genuine Giclée canvas prints. No, Giclée doesn’t refer to a bad Jennifer Lopez film. It refers to the highest caliber of canvas prints; made with professional-grade printers and archival inks.
• We go the extra mile since we also seal every canvas with a protective archival UV topcoat to guard against time, humidity, abrasion, fading and yellowing.

It’s all in the canvas mounting.

Our frame-ready canvas prints are mounted on 3/4" deep wood stretcher bars and and are designed to fit into custom frames as well as most pre-made picture frames from art supply stores.

Our gallery wrapped canvas prints don’t need frames. They’re mounted on either 3/4" deep or 1-1/2" deep wooden stretcher bars, and the printed image wraps all the way around the sides — creating a finished piece of art that’s stunning from every angle. An APC gallery wrapped canvas arrives ready-to-hang, including the hardware.

For more details — and some helpful photos — see APC Canvas Styles .

While most people want us to stretch their canvas, we aim to please. Perhaps you have the tools, expertise and patience to stretch it yourself. Or maybe you want to mat and frame your canvas under glass or hang it between rails. Who knows? The Martha Stewart in you might even want to embellish your canvas with embroidery. In that case an unfinished canvas may be easier to work with.

Now for the unstretched specifics… Our unstretched canvas come with 2” of unprinted margins on all four sides to accommodate future stretching. The ‘live’ or ‘image’ area will be the same as the canvas size you order. For instance, if you order a 24" x 36" unstretched canvas, your image will be printed at exactly 24" x 36". However, the canvas itself would be at least 28" x 40", including the extra unprinted margins.

If you want to stretch your own gallery wraps, we offer an “Additional Image Area” option during the Create a Canvas process.

Nope. We rock at canvas printing and that’s largely because we’re devoted to it. We like the challenge. Doing it right demands crazy precision, trained professionals with a wicked creative eye and of course — professional-grade equipment. So you won’t find us going astray for paper, metal, pillow cases or ceramics. No, we’re all canvas all the time.

Go for it. Our proprietary topcoat works with materials like oil or acrylic paints, texturizing gel coats, indelible marker ink or even glued items — all without harming your canvas.

Daredevil aren’t we? Well, we don’t recommend letting your canvas play outdoors and if you do — it will void your guarantee.

But, some of our customers have thrown caution to the wind and tried it anyway, and been very happy. Clearly, it helps that we seal our canvas with the best archival topcoat available, protecting against UV fading, moisture and abrasion.

Curiosity got the best of us in 2007 so we hatched our own experiment to see how our canvas braves the great outdoors. To celebrate our move to a new building, we printed temporary outdoor signs using the exact materials and process we use for all our customer projects. We mounted several gallery wrapped canvases to a masonry surface using a continuous application of silicone glue — positioning them east to west right at the mercy of Florida sun and storms.

The verdict? Over time, we saw slight fading of the reds, and a few areas of spotty mildew on the canvas surfaces. We easily removed the mildew with tap water and a cloth. In 2009, we killed the experiment since we got a new logo and needed new signs. But the original canvases still looked great. And the stretching stayed tight the entire time. Because of the masonry mounting, we weren’t able to see how well the wood stretcher frames underneath the canvas held up. We can say they fought the good fight when we removed them.

Talk about low-maintenance. Our canvas prints make The Terminator look weak. We’re talking heavy-duty all the way. While we recommend displaying your canvas in a dry, temperature-controlled location, it’s designed to withstand the environmental factors that damage other artwork, like exposure to sunlight or humidity. If necessary, just gently clean with a feather duster or a damp or dry soft cloth.

Most orders ship in just 2 – 4 business days. Turnaround time varies depending on the size and complexity of your order as well as the shipping method you choose. For example, if you select the ‘digital proof’ option, we’ll need extra time before we can create your canvas. Looking to beat time? Choose rush delivery. And don’t forget to take advantage of our order tracking to stalk your canvas as it travels home to you. Concerned about delivery in time for the holidays? See our 2011 Ordering Deadlines for Christmas Delivery.

Since the proof is in the pudding, a.k.a. our 100% Satisfaction Guarantee, we don’t normally send previews. After all, our team thoroughly checks every order before we begin production.

But as you may have guessed, there’s nothing normal about our canvas prints or our service. So if want to see a digital proof of what adding brush strokes or another technique to your canvas will look like — you’ve got it. Just choose the Digital Proof option when your order. This probably goes without saying but the proofing approval process usually increases the turnaround time.

Does a pig love mud? Yeah, we’re color management experts. How can you tell? Look at any APC canvas or ask an artist. We’re known in the biz for our vibrant, precise color prints as well as our crisp, complex black and white prints.

How do we do it? We color-calibrate our monitors using the industry-leading i1 system by x-Rite. We use printer targets that are custom-profiled to our printer/ink/canvas/coating formula by color management experts. And we have color management pros on staff along with professional photographers and image editors.

Wanna soft-proof your photo using our ICC Color Profile? Download it right here. (1.3 MB zip)

Of course! We would love to connect with you.

Call us toll-free at 1.888.992.2682 between 9AM - 5PM Eastern. Or email us and we'll get back to you within 24 hours (Monday through Friday, except holidays). Promise.

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We can work with most types of digital files, as well as photo prints, original artwork, film negatives and transparencies from 35 mm up to medium format. You can upload digital images with file sizes as large as 500 MB (megabytes) during our online ordering process.

You can also mail us digital photos on CD or DVD as well as hard copies. That’s right, we’ll professionally scan your photos at no extra charge.

If we had our pick, we would work with JPEG and TIFF images. But we play well with many other formats, including native formats of software applications such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and Corel Painter.

No matter what format you choose, we’ll contact you if any questions or concerns arise when we “preflight” your order.

Absolutely! Our expert imaging staff carefully checks each image before printing. But we don’t just stare longingly at your photo. We make sure your image is suitable for enlargement to the canvas size you've requested. We check it to see if cropping will be necessary, and if so, we make sure that the final composition will work at the size and orientation you’ve requested. And, if we find any issues or any size, shape or technique recommendations — we contact you.

Basic touch-ups are complimentary. That’s right — exposure correction, date stamp removal, color correction and red-eye removal — all free. Even repairing minor scratches or blemishes is on the house.

But unlike the other photo to canvas shops, our retouching isn’t automated. Our digital imaging technicians put their skills to work so your images look their absolute best before reproducing them onto canvas. The results speak for themselves.

You bet. We offer three levels of Advanced Retouching: ‘Minor’ for relatively simple tasks, ‘Moderate’ to meet your more challenging objectives and ‘Major’ for circumstances where our art department jumps through serious hoops.

So what might Advanced Retouching include? It could entail removing or replacing people or objects. Perhaps it’s a special mission to restore an old or damaged picture.

And what might this cost? It starts at 29 bucks. We know, crazy affordable given the fact that we’re putting a real, live image editor on the mission. Don’t worry if your project is going to require an extended mission that will exceed 29 bucks — we’ll let you know before we start any retouching.

With our jedi image editing skills, we can work with just about anything. That said, the less time we spend doctoring your image — the quicker it will be in your hands.

Here are a few tips for the best possible canvas in the shortest possible time:

• Whenever possible, upload the original, uncropped image from your digital camera. If you crop your image, you may unwittingly limit your gallery wrap options. So it’s better to describe how you’d like the image cropped.
• When selecting your upload, try not to mistake a thumbnail for the real image. The easiest way to tell is by the file size. If it’s under 100KB it’s probably a thumbnail. Generally speaking, the original version of your image has a file size near 1MB — and, if you're using a late-model digital camera and/or high quality settings — considerably larger.
• If you’re using an emailed photo, or if you downloaded it from a photo sharing website, see if you can get the original size version instead. Email and web photos may look great on a computer monitor, but in many cases they’ve been stripped of the data that makes the best possible print.

Rest assured, we’ll let you know right away if there is anything about your file that would jeopardize the quality of your finished canvas.

If you would like to scan your own photo or original art to convert it to a digital file, please carefully clean both the original print and the scanner glass. Set your scanner software’s scan resolution to a minimum of 600 ppi (pixels per inch). Preview and crop to the borders of your image if your scanner does not automatically detect the edges of your original. If you have the option, try scanning at 800 or 1200 ppi. This will result in a higher quality file containing more data to support your enlargement.

How you save your image is pretty important too, so choose a good format (such as TIFF or JPEG) and make sure that the “quality” options in the “Save” dialog box are set to the equivalent of “best” or “high.”

Regardless of the finished size of your gallery wrapped canvas, we need either 1" (for Thin Gallery Wraps) or 1-3/4" (for Thick Gallery Wraps) on each side to wrap the image around the sides. If the composition of your image won’t allow for an “image wrap” at the canvas size you want, we offer several alternatives that work great. No matter what edge treatment works best for your photo, we’ll do all of the work for free if you ask us to during the Create a Canvas process. Pretty cool, eh?

But what if you’re a pro with digital editing software and you want total control over the final composition of your gallery wrap? No problem. Here are some tips on preparing and previewing your image for a Thick Gallery Wrap:

1. Upsample your image using your preferred software to 180 ppi. Inspect your image for unwanted pixellation or excess sharpening by zooming in on it tightly.
2. Crop your image (retaining 180 ppi) to the desired dimension of your custom canvas plus 3.5 inches both vertically and horizontally.
3. Position guides at 1-3/4" in from all four sides. Position another set of guides at 1/4" in from all four sides. The 1/4" sections are “production excess” representing the parts of your image that will be unseen on the back of your canvas. The 1-1/2" sections represent what you will see on the edges of your gallery wrapped canvas. The remaining image inside the guides is what will appear on the front side of your canvas.

To work the same magic for a Thin Gallery Wrap, just substitute 1" everywhere you saw 1-3/4" referenced above.

Yes. We offer two other options that give you a contemporary look and the ready-to-hang benefits of gallery wrapped canvas.

One option is to sample or pick a complementary solid color for the gallery wrap edges. Many customers love the look of simple black or white edges. Another option is ‘Reflected Edges,’ in which the edges of your gallery wrap are actually ‘reflections’ of the outermost content of the original. If you're a pro, you can probably prepare the file yourself. If not, we offer both of these options – at no additional charge. Check ’em out.

Photographs and artwork are protected property of the original artist. If you took a photo or created a piece of artwork yourself, you already own the copyright. If you had a picture taken by a professional, or if you purchased a photo or artwork from someone else, it is likely that you don’t own the copyright. We are happy to reproduce images created by a professional, but we expect our customers to obtain written permission first.

Of course. We understand any original photography and artwork you choose to print on canvas is special to you. We take great care with your originals to create your canvas. Any materials you send us will be safely packaged and shipped back to you with your order. While we can’t take responsibility for submissions before they arrive or after they leave us — they’re in good hands here at APC. If you’re worried about your original being damaged or lost in transit, just send us a copy and hold on to the original.

Absolutely! If you are uncertain about the quality of your original or just want some advice on sizes and techniques that would work well with your image(s), we would be happy to share our wisdom before you place your order. To get started, send us your digital image file using the uploader on our Contact APC page. You will receive a detailed review of your submission along with some helpful suggestions from our imaging experts.

Our secure checkout accepts MasterCard, VISA, Discover, American Express and PayPal. You can also pay from your checking account if you've enrolled it through PayPal. If you don't have a PayPal account and are uncomfortable entering your credit card or checking information online, we’ll also accept your credit card details by phone or your personal or business check by mail (but a check will need to clear the bank before we can begin work on your order).

Yes. If you would like to order multiple canvases created from a single original, you qualify for quantity discounts of 10/15/20 percent as detailed on our Prices page.

Got an exceptionally large project in mind? We’re up to the challenge. Contact us for a custom price quote.

Are you a professional photographer, graphic artist, interior designer or retailer that’s ready to sell canvas? For special discounts and perks, consider applying for membership in the APC ProZone .

Join our newsletter list. Not only will you be privy to specials, we’ll share tricks from the pros and plenty of canvas inspiration each month. Go ahead and throw your email address in the hat — there’s a handy sign-up form at the top of this very page. Easy breezy.

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Our prices are surprisingly competitive given our fanatical customer service, handcrafted construction and superior, eco-friendly materials. Sure, there are cheaper canvas prints out there but they look… well, cheap. The canvas corners are bulky. The surface sags. And don’t even get us started on the lackluster colors that yellow in just a matter of months.

Here are some of the common shortcuts that bargain canvas print shops take:

• Unskilled labor — essentially button-pushers that click ‘print’ without checking your files or consulting with you about potential issues.
• Cheap materials — like subpar canvas that can’t be stretched tightly without ripping and is made with optical brighteners that yellow over time, or worse – canvas knock-offs that are paper or plastic masquerading as canvas. Some even use stretcher bars made of warped wood or plastic.
• No protective coating — without it, a canvas is almost guaranteed to chip and crack as well as fade prematurely and smear when wet. Good archival coatings are expensive and worth every penny. No respectable canvas printer skips this step.
• Overseas manufacturing — Some photo canvas printers trick customers into believing they have U.S. facilities. But they actually transmit your order overseas to take advantage of hazardous and even shoddy materials as well as child labor and sweatshop wages.

Most customers pay under 9 bucks to ship an APC canvas within the U.S. via FedEx Ground or Home Delivery. We also offer options for Express shipping and most international addresses.  See our Prices page for more details.

We ship anywhere in the U.S. for low flat rates. We also offer extended international shipping. But be prepared; international shipping can cost more than the canvas itself. To obtain an international shipping quote from us, simply configure a canvas and add it to your cart. (You’ll see an “Estimate Shipping” widget just below your cart summary.)

Every canvas print travels in cushioned luxury. That’s because their accommodations are custom-engineered to cradle and protect them throughout their journey. This way they arrive well-rested and flawless at their final destination.

We only collect sales tax on orders shipped within the state of Florida. We waive sales taxes for Florida customers that furnish us with a valid Florida Resale Certificate. (You can attach a scanned copy of your Resale Certificate right to our contact form .)

Of course. We’ll even include a personal message if you like. Just let us know when you order. And we know a thing or two about gift giving so, when we ship to an address that’s different from the billing address, we leave the receipt out.

We know our limits. Can you imagine the production process of handcrafted ribbons, bows and wrapping paper? No, we stick with canvas printing. But we’re happy to include a note from you in the package. Just let us know.

We serve customers from all over the U.S. and Canada from our Venice headquarters on Florida's “Cultural Coast.”

We live and play among some of the world’s best beaches so preserving natural resources comes natural to us. Things like using canvas without optical brightener additives (OBA), creating water-based protective coatings and purchasing wood from managed forests for our stretcher bars make sense because it’s better for our customers, employees and environment. Want to know more? Read “Canvas with Conscience .”

No one likes a peeping tom. Our policy is pretty simple. Protect your privacy like it’s our own. That’s why we won’t sell or lend your information to anyone at any time. Read our Cross Our Hearts Privacy Policy here .

Yes. Our store uses VeriSign’s Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol and 256-bit strong encryption to provide maximum security. Our servers also are tested daily and must pass known threats by McAfee Secure. The McAfee Secure and VeriSign badges on our site are your assurance that we follow the most up-to-date internet security practices and protocols.