· 2 min read
Canvas or metal: which print is right for your room?
How canvas and metal prints differ in look, light, durability and price, and which photographs suit each, so you can choose with confidence.
Every print here comes on canvas or metal, and both are made locally on Oʻahu. There's no wrong answer, but they do look different on a wall. Here's how to choose.
Canvas
Canvas prints are made with archival pigment inks on museum-quality canvas, then stretched and gallery-wrapped so the edges are finished and there's nothing to frame. The surface has a soft, fine texture and no glare, so it looks the same from any angle and in any light.
Canvas suits photographs with soft light and gentle color, like long exposures where the water turns to silk.
Metal
Metal prints are made by dye sublimation. The image is printed onto transfer paper, then pressed into a coated aluminum panel with heat, so the color sits inside the coating rather than on top of it. The panels are ChromaLuxe, made in the USA. The result is deep color, bright whites and crisp detail.
Metal suits photographs with a lot of blue and a lot of light: aerials of reef and open ocean, or a wave lit from behind.
Metal is also tough. It resists water and scratches and wipes clean, which helps in a kitchen, a humid bathroom, or a room that gets the sea air.
Light and glare
Canvas never glares. Metal's smooth surface can pick up a reflection from a bright window across the room, so if the print will face a big window, canvas is the safer pick. In softer light, metal glows.
Price
Canvas costs less at most sizes, and the difference grows as the print gets bigger. The sizes and pricing page has every price side by side.
The short version
- A bright room with a big window across from the wall: canvas.
- Ocean, reef and sky: metal.
- Soft light, long exposures, quiet scenes: canvas.
- Kitchens, bathrooms and humid rooms: metal.
- A large print on a budget: canvas.
Still torn? Get in touch and tell Kawika about the room. He'll tell you what he'd hang there.