how to acquire an image

Most of my images are available to either license as a digital image to re-use or to purchase as a hardcopy print. Licensing a digital image is dependent on several variables so please contact me via email at paumalinowskiphotography@gmail.com to start the process. If you’d like to purchase a print please email me at paulmalinowskiphotography@gmail.com.

Tips for Ordering Prints

I am, of course, always honored when I get an email with the magic words, “I’d like to order a print”. Some folks know exactly what print medium they want at exactly the right size but that is rare. Most of us just know we love a piece of art but don’t really know where to start. I wrote this to hopefully help you figure out the best print and framing solutions for you.

There are two overall decisions to make first: the print medium and the print size. By print medium I mean do you want the image printed on paper (the most common and a standard way to get your piece of art shown) or on a specialty product such as metal, canvas, wood or acrylic? Every image I sell will look good on paper; not everyone looks good on every other medium, though. For example, I feel detailed, colorful images work well on acrylic whereas a moody, almost “Impressionistic” image is best suited for canvas. If you’re intrigued by a specialty product, let me know and I’ll tell you if I think it will look good or not on the particular medium, you’re interested in. Since I am only interested in your satisfaction, I will be totally honest if I feel something won’t work, even if it leaves us both disappointed.

The first thing to consider when specifying a size, is to consider the wall space you want to devote to each print. That means the outside dimensions of the frame. If you are planning on having the print matted and framed a ballpark rule of thumb is to add three inches to every side of the actual image to get a likely set of exterior dimensions. So, for example, when I print a 13”x19” print, the actual image is 12”x18” because I leave a ½” white border (the paper) showing all the way around for easier framing. Using my rule of thumb, the exterior of the frame for that would be 20”x24”. I arrived at that figure by adding 3” twice (top and bottom) to the height of 12” to get 20”; and then 3” twice (left and right sides) to get the width of 24”. Of course, a narrow mat or frame will shrink that size while a wider mat or frame will likely increase those dimensions.

The next consideration is the specific print size for your image. This is a function of three factors: 1) the maximum frame size (see above); 2) the resolution of the image; and 3) the image aspect ratio. We covered #1 but what do I mean by resolution? Well, not all images can be printed extremely large due to the resolution they were shot in. I shoot with fairly high-resolution cameras so I can generally print fairly large images, but some do have limitations. I’m usually safe to print up to 20”x30” on any photo of mine and some I can safely go higher. But occasionally the resolution isn’t high enough to do a large print. The picture becomes “pixelated” and loses its sharpness if it gets printed too large for its resolution. I will let you know when you order if the resolution can sustain a large print. It is safe to assume every print I sell will work at a maximum of 12”x18” and many can be larger than that.

The final consideration is a bit technical but very important to get what you originally saw correctly. It is called the aspect ratio. It means nothing more than the height to width ratio of the original photograph. I shoot almost exclusively in a 2:3 aspect ratio. That means that for every 2” of height, there will be 3” of width. So, for any images that are in a 2:3 ratio, it can be printed in dimensions that meet that ratio, such as 8”x12”, 12”x18”, 16”x24”, 20”x30”, etc. without losing any of the content of the original image. To print in any other ratio, I would have to “crop” something out of the image. Sometimes this is perfectly fine as, for example, my images of birds in flight that have nothing but sky around them. But other times this removes a key element of the photo and I won’t print it in that ratio because it alters the actual artwork too much. Again, I will let you know what ratio the image you select comes in.

Just a word about custom framing vs. off-the-shelf standard frames. In custom framing, you get to pick the mat and the frame to go with your print in a wide variety of styles and materials. Also, the size of both the mat and the frame can be cut to exactly whatever size you’d like (that the print fits into). You will also have the option to decide if you want glass or acrylic (or neither) protecting your print. And within that choice, you can go with standard glass or acrylic or you can use a non-glare version of either, generally called “museum” or Masterpiece” glass/acrylic. Of course, all this flexibility in custom framing comes with a price – price. A high-quality frame with a textured mat and “masterpiece glass” at Michael’s for instance for a 12’x18” print can quickly add up to $200+, even with their myriad selection of coupons.

The alternative is to purchase an off-the-shelf “standard” frame at a craft store such as Michael’s. These “standard frames” include a frame, mat and glass or plastic protection in a limited variety of styles and sizes at a cost less than a customized package. Of course, the opposite is true here because the trade-off for that favorable price is flexibility and overall cheaper quality of materials used. If you can afford the custom route (and I realize not everyone can for every piece of art they purchase), I do recommend going the custom framing route. You have purchased a piece of fine art and, to me, the frame, mat and glass/acrylic are all an extension of that piece of art.

Lastly, you don’t need to worry about color when ordering but occasionally the final print you receive may have a slightly different color than what you saw on my website. In the vast majority of the cases that is because your monitor is not professionally calibrated. Most monitors that we purchase from a typical vendor like Best Buy are set to a very bright setting by the manufacturer so that the colors will “pop” and you will be impressed. In reality, that is not the true brightness of the photograph. My monitor is professionally calibrated so that the print will always match what is on my screen. Of course, you didn’t see the image you’re interested on my screen so there could be a variation. To compensate for this, I purposely increase my brightness setting when printing so that the finished product is more likely to match what you saw. The other possibility for color variation is that my professional monitor has the ability to show a wider range of colors than the average monitor does. Still, it is rare to find any significant and/or noticeable variation in the color that you would not find pleasing.

I want you to be 100% satisfied with your final print and enjoy it for years to come so please reach out to me if you have any questions before your order.