Yes. We cannot photograph your work while you wait in most situations. Furthermore, if we do not have the work here during the editing process then we will not have the original for color reference. If there is a particular rush then we may be able schedule a time to shoot your work while you wait for an hourly charge where time permits. Just ask!

Shorter answer: Yes, though if you create the file yourself please understand that we cannot be responsible if you are unhappy with aspects of the prints such as color, brightness, sharpness, etc. If we didn’t create the file then we have no way to know how faithful to the original it is. Proper color management is crucial to a faithful print so make sure you’ve taken the proper steps to ensure file accuracy. 

Longer answer: We do not suggest doing this. There are a lot of details that go into making a faithful reproduction of a painting that you are not going to have at your disposal at home. In fact, even most professional photographers will not be set up to do this as well as possible. This isn’t a comment on their skill as a photographer, it is simply that painting reproduction requires some extra steps that wouldn’t otherwise come into play with other photography. The file creation process is the most important part of ensuring color accuracy, and if we didn’t create the files then control of that color is largely out of our hands. A digital file contains color information, and that information can be displayed differently on different systems. If you send us a file created by you or someone else then we can tell you that we will make a faithful reproduction of the color information in the file, but we’ll won’t have control of whether or not that color information is accurate. If you’d like to understand more about why this is then read our article on art reproduction here.

Shorter answer: Yes, though if you create the file yourself please understand that we cannot be responsible if you are unhappy with aspects of the prints such as color, brightness, sharpness, etc. If we didn’t create the file then we have no way to know how faithful to the original it is. Proper color management is crucial to a faithful print so make sure you’ve taken the proper steps to ensure file accuracy. 

Longer answer: We do not suggest doing this. There are a lot of details that go into making a faithful reproduction of a painting that you are not going to have at your disposal at home. In fact, even most professional photographers will not be set up to do this as well as possible. This isn’t a comment on their skill as a photographer, it is simply that painting reproduction requires some extra steps that wouldn’t otherwise come into play with other photography. The file creation process is the most important part of ensuring color accuracy, and if we didn’t create the files then control of that color is largely out of our hands. A digital file contains color information, and that information can be displayed differently on different systems. If you send us a file created by you or someone else then we can tell you that we will make a faithful reproduction of the color information in the file, but we’ll won’t have control of whether or not that color information is accurate. If you’d like to understand more about why this is then read our article on art reproduction here.

We will not promise you a perfect color match, but we will get you prints that look great and do your originals justice. In short, some colors cannot be exactly reproduced and others can simply be very difficult to fine tune. The world of color we see and paint in doesn’t perfectly align with the world of color we print it. What we will do is tell you that we will give you a good file that is a reasonable match to your original. Does this mean that it will look drastically different from your original? No, definitely not! You don’t have to worry about your reds coming out blue. It means that there will simply be some variation in your prints relative to the original, that’s just part of the process. This distinction comes only when talking about a 100% exact match to every color in every way (which is generally not realistic). If you want your prints to look as close to your originals as possible then it’s crucial that you bring your originals to us to be digitized.

It’s very important to note that unless you are viewing the files properly on a color calibrated monitor then what you see on your end is not going to be an accurate representation of the color and brightness of the files. In short, a digital file contains color information, but the way that information is displayed can vary drastically from monitor to monitor. As a general rule most monitors are way too bright and have too high of a contrast ratio where color accuracy is the goal. While this may make the monitor look good, it works in the opposite direction of achieving color accuracy. Furthermore, out of the box, monitors are not profiled to a color standard. So, if you want to get the most accurate view of your files possible then you will need to properly calibrate your monitor, and this remains true no matter how nice or expensive your monitor is. We work on an Eizo monitor specifically made for color work and still must color calibrate it. If you want to read a more in depth explanation of how monitors show color and the struggles with getting a good color match then you can read our post about that here.

You can read more details about what we use above and on our about us page.

No! There are no prints that will last forever. While we use archival materials it is important to understand both what archival means (there’s no universal standard) and the part that you and your customer play in it (it’s a very big role). Always be cautious if someone promises you a print is going to last hundreds of years and, even if you aren’t told that, be sure you understand what is meant by being told something is archival. We offer some paper options which are archival certified and some which are not (we’re happy to discuss what that means for you). Our inks are archival inks, our canvas is archival certified, and our canvas varnish is archival. We have a post we’ve made about archival prints that we highly suggest you read. You can find that here.