If you are sending us your photo to be printed as canvas art, desktop photo block or as a tasty acrylic wall print, there are a few things you can do to ensure you get the best out of your picture. An understanding of your digital camera and a bit of tweaking to your photo in an image editing application will help us get the most quality from your pictures. Here are a few tips to help you achieve a great picture…

Picture Quality
Digital cameras improve every year and todays cameras will give you great results thanks to sophisticated technology and sensor size. If you are using an older digital camera it’s best to ensure you are shooting in the highest quality possible. In the camera settings menu ensure the picture quality is set to maximum. This may also be called ‘finest’ or 8mp (depending on the maximum megapixel your camera can shoot at. Not only will this mean we can print at a larger size for you, but also if you decide to crop the image it will still retain plenty of detail. If your photograph does not have enough resolution we won’t be able to print from it, especially if you are looking for a large canvas print for a wall. The larger the original photo is, the crisper the printed image will be.

Camera Scenes
Modern cameras have very clever technology that aims to take a photograph with the optimum settings for the given scene, but it doesn’t always work 100%. If you find a photo doesn’t look like it should then try one of the preset scene modes, such as landscape, portrait or party scene. These may be more suitable for the scene you are trying to shoot.

Something that can blight digital photos is the dreaded flash. It can produce washed-out faces that ruin the shot. The built-in flash of point and click cameras is not brilliant by any stretch of the imagination. If you are shooting in less than optimal light you may be able to turn the flash off to get natural looking pictures. This works particularly well if the subject is relatively still. Fast moving scenes will just blur so a flash will be needed on those.

Editing You Photo
Once you have uploaded your picture to your computer you can tweak it using free or professional image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. Just a few small changes here and there to a picture can make a great improvement. You can also get creative and some image apps provide you with really nice built-in effects. How about making a black and white canvas print? Maybe a sepia effect wall print? The possibilities are endless so get creative!

Saving Your Images
Make sure you save your picture at the highest quality setting to retain as much information in the file as possible. JPEG files are fine for printing on canvas or acrylic as long as you save them at the highest quality. File sizes should be anywhere from 2mb upwards.

When you choose one of our printing services please make sure you give your image a title that will allow us to see which is yours. Even something like ‘New born baby’ will suffice. If you have any questions about your picture just contact us and we can advise you.

We hope those little tips will help you get the best from your digital pictures. Remember, the best photo you can send us, the best print we can send you!

We’ve been working behind the scenes for a few months now developing a snazzy new look for Fotoviva Art Prints and are now delighted to make it live. It brings the gallery to a whole new level and includes some great new features that you are going to love!

Starting off we have a lovely new logo and colour scheme which compliment the images we offer. This helps to give the gallery a more cohesive look that ties everything together in a more creative way. On the homepage you can see a new Flash animation that revolves around, revealing a mosaic of pictures and details of what we offer, such as the prints on canvas and acrylic.

We also have a new footer section at the bottom of the page. This includes a row of thumbnails which are randomly generated from our image collections. Like one of them? Simply click it to go through to the product page. Simple. It’s also a great way to find wall art that may be a few pages down. Simply refresh the page to see a new set of wall prints.

Our Latest Art Prints page is now fully interactive. It shows the most recent print editions we have added to the galleries and now you can click on each picture to fly through to the detail page. This page is automatically updated whenever we add new art prints so check back regularly.

Another great feature is the “You may also like…” segment on the product pages. This is a scrollable feature that offers a selection of other art prints you may be interested in purchasing. We even now have a measurement conversion tool so if you’re not sure how many inches the wall print is, you can convert to any number of other measurements.

We hope you like our fresh new look. The feedback we’ve received so far has been extremely positive from our customers and other industry professionals. Dive in and explore the world of Fotoviva from a new angle – your perfect wall picture is waiting inside…

Christmas is hurtling towards us and as usual most of us will be left wondering what to buy our family and friends at the last minute. Fear not because we have a great selection of wall art for you in a range of flavours such as Seascape art, Automotive Art, Landscape Art and Wildlife Art.

Brew yourself a coffee and take a few minutes to browse through our extensive range of professional print images by our team of creative photographers. Each image can be purchased as a canvas print, art poster or acrylic wall print. We have award-winning photography that you can only buy at Fotoviva Art Prints which ensures your Christmas gift will have that unique feel to it.

If you would like some more personal wall art how about trying our printing service where you can have your photos printed on canvas or acrylic – talk about bringing your pictures to life! Once you see a photo you took hanging on a wall as a canvas or acrylic print you will be amazed at how good it looks. Got a great photo of a friend? Let us print it and you can give it them as a unique Christmas gift this year! They’ll love you for it. They’re the kind of gifts that show you have put a lot of thought into it.

Our desktop acrylic photo blocks are really hot right now and with prices starting from only £30 the are ideal as unique art gifts if you are on a budget. Our photo blocks look terrific standing on a coffee table, desk or shelf.

Currently we have a great deal on all print orders
but it only lasts until the end of November so hurry!

Enter the voucher code  5YEARS at checkout

to receive 10% OFF EVERYTHING!

One-77

DB4 GT

Zagato

Iconic car marque Aston Martin has once again been crowned as the ‘coolest brand in the UK’. The company that are famous for making classic sports cars such as the DB4, Vantage, Vanquish and One-77 just beat Apple to the top spot for a second year running, according to the annual CoolBrands survey.

The carmaker shot to fame due to its association with James Bond films, first appearing in Goldfinger in 1964.

The cool results are based on the opinions of marketing experts, businesses, and thousands of consumers. Here are the top 10 coolest brands:

Here at Fotoviva Art Prints we have around 30 images of incredible Aston Martin images by Tim Wallace. Well known for his automotive images, Tim is an official Aston Martin photographer and has been given access to many of the great Aston Martins from over the years to photograph. All of these super car prints can be purchased on acrylic, poster and canvas.

Vanquish

Vantage 550

DB6 Patriot

We have just added some really beautiful images to our landscape prints section thanks to new work by Don Tiffney. Don is a professional landscape photographer and loves to get out and about with his camera especially in his native Lincolnshire which is where most of these new art prints were taken. As with all our photo art, they are available in three tasty styles to suit your home decor – canvas print, acrylic print and poster print. Click on an image to see a larger picture and see our purchase options.

Beesby Poppies

Great Tows

Farmers Delight

Poppy Dream

Buachaille Etive Mor

Jon Gibbs is a well respected member of the Fotoviva photography team and offers a great selection of his imagery in our store. It’s always interesting to get behind the scenes with photographers and find out what makes them tick so we decided to interview Jon for our readers and here is the article…

How long have you been taking photos and how did you become a professional photographer?
I started taking photographs in my teens but got back into it at the turn of the millennium. I only turned full time professional last year. I felt it was a better decision to slowly chip one day off at a time from my regular full time job and see where it took me. I’d be lying if there are not days when I think ‘what have you done?’.

What type of photography is your speciality?
Landscape is my real love though I am always photographing the kids and have recently started taking on commercial work such as architectural and interior work which I enjoy as I am learning new skills. I would also like to learn more about making video.

Where would you most like to visit with your camera?
The Outer Hebrides.

Beer or wine?
Real Ale.

You have a gallery in Norfolk, how is that working out?
Myself and my colleague Gareth Hacon started the Saltmarsh Coast Gallery at Wells next the Sea in October 2008. Year on  year sales have improved and our portfolio of North Norfolk has just got better and better. Secrets to our success? Running the gallery ourselves and charging reasonable prices.

Which other photographers do you most admire?
Hans Strand is a big favourite. Above all I appreciate those who produce realistic looking images without resorting to over processing on the computer.

Marmite – yes or no?
I don’t hate it but it never goes in my sarnies!

What computer and software do you favour?
I work on PC and I use Capture One Pro to process my raw files which then go to Photoshop for tweaks and the dreaded dust spotting.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Being with the family. Listening to music, attending the odd gig. Reading books on art, travel and Scandinavian crime novels.

If you had to choose one lens what would it be?
My Carl Zeiss 21mm 2.8, beautifully made and stunning optics.

Do you follow any photography blogs or websites regularly?
I do check out the photographers I admire but I musn’t get too involved, the internet can really eat your time up. I do like a good blog though but I cannot stand geeky technical photography speak.

You offer Photography workshops on the Norfolk coast – tell us a bit about them
They are one day workshops in a very underated part of the British coastline. I can take a client out and they can learn about the basics of landscape photography or they can merely come along on a tour of the best locations. What they will encounter is a very varied coastline from fishing villages to seaside resorts to vast dune systems and crumbling cliffs, all the subject matter they could hope for.

Which famous person, dead or alive, would you like to have dinner with?
I’m going to have to put a couple of answers:

Dead = Rameses the Second
Alive = Steve Harris of Iron Maiden
Fantasy dinner date = Christina Hendricks from Mad Men

I may get into trouble for that last one!

Describe a typical day in the life of Jon Gibbs
Rainy Day = Processing images, keywording images, dust spotting images, avoiding eating too many biscuits all whilst staring hopefully out of the window for a change in the weather.

Decent weather day = Hopefully out in the landscape taking images, practice is very important, if I can get one decent image from every shoot I’d be a happy man.

Relax and wind down in the evening playing with the kids and cuddling up with my wee woman.

Ferrari or Porsche?
Not a big car fan but I am an Italiophile so it will have to be Ferrari.

What are your plans for the future?
I long ago realised that I am not going to be a globe trotting photographer. The UK has an embarrassment of riches in terms of it’s landscape photography, I am happy to make a plan to photograph as much of it that is possible. I would also dearly love to produce a book on the Isle of Skye which is a place that is very dear to me. In the non-photographic world to ensure my family are happy and healthy.

At Fotoviva Art Prints we have been offering our collection of mouthwatering imagery as acrylic wall art for a few years. Now due to popular demand from our customers and professional photographers we are offering this as a print service for everyone! Yes, we can now print your photo and mount it as a modern photo on acrylic to display on your walls.

Visit our Photo to Acrylic page to find out more. It’s really simple to get your favourite photo printed on acrylic. Simply use our upload system to send us your photograph from your computer. Choose your acrylic size from our standard sizes (contact us for bespoke sizes) and add it to your shopping cart. Once we receive your order we’ll do our best to despatch your acrylic wall print within a week.

Acrylic wall art is becoming very popular and the glossy contemporary finish is finding its place in modern interior designs. We sell many acrylic pictures but why not take advantage of our print service and turn your favourite pictures into acrylic art? With prices starting from only £45 you’ll be amazed how good your family photos, holiday pictures and wedding images will look. And don’t forget your pets! Poppy, Rex, Kitty and Duke will all love seeing themselves on your lounge wall!

Our acrylics are printed here in the UK and we have several years experience that means we have perfected our acrylic printing method to ensure your photos come out looking absolutely fantastic, with colours and detail you probably didn’t even realise were there!

We are happy to announce the launch of our own channel on YouTube. The official Fotoviva Art Prints YouTube Channel will feature a collection of videos to highlight our collection of amazing wall art.

The first video is an introduction to the type of images we sell and how you can have them printed, such as canvas or acrylic prints. In the coming weeks we will be adding new videos to our channel to showcase our products and new images.

We hope you like our videos and share them with your friends. Feel free to comment on them on YouTube to help our ratings and spread the love.

Tim Wallace has been on the Fotoviva Photography Team for several years now and has built a strong reputation as one of the best automotive photographers around. His own photography business Ambient Life has grown from strength to strength and as testament to his photography skills, the awards just keep flooding in!

At the latter end of 2010 Tim was announced as the winner of the Professional Advertising Photographer of the Year Award for a piece of work he shot earlier in the year featuring an Aston Martin Vantage.

The 2011 Focus EXPO at the NEC Birmingham was the largest of its kind within the UK photographic calendar and this year Tim Wallace was invited to attend the opening day to have his work displayed by the Royal Photographic Society and Epson as well as hold two special inspirational talks for Nikon UK as their special guest speaker for the day.

“The majority of my day was taken up with our work for Nikon at the event, where I was invited on the opening day to be their guest speaker with two one hour talks that we entitled ‘Inspiration Included’. These were aimed all levels of skill within the audience and were very relaxed and good humoured to talk through some of my own work over the last 12 months as well as discuss the industry in general along with techniques and our own approach to the commissions that I undertake within my business for clients such as Aston Martin, Morgan and many others. A great day that I thoroughly enjoyed and it was wonderful to meet with so many motivated people as well as catch up with old friends.”

The end of January saw the annual EEF Motor Industry Manufacturing Awards being held in London. The awards were given by BBC’s Declan Curry and covered many sectors throughout the Manufacturing Process. Tim was awarded the Best Professional Photography for his work for client Aston Martin. Tim’s award winning photograph will be also used to promote UK manufacturing, and will be displayed in the EEF offices throughout the UK, as well as also being showcased on display in the BIS offices Westminster and other Government offices.

Ambient Life have also been announced as the winner of the Best Creative New Business at the 2011 Annual Business Awards. The awards are held each year in the North East and celebrate the best in new business across the region in categories such as marketing, innovation, creative industry, environment, and manufacturing.

Mid-February saw the Royal Photographic Society launch their new marketing work for show at RPS and Photographic events throughout 2011. This year they have chosen the work of Ambient Life photographer Tim Wallace and have produced a advertising campaign around Tim’s work.

Tim has also been confirmed as reaching the semi finals for this years Hasselblad Masters Awards. The Hasselblad Masters Award is the most prestigious award in the industry, celebrating the best in both established and rising photographic talent. Masters Awards are given in recognition of a photographers contribution to the art of photography. Fingers crossed for this one!

This is just a selection of the awards Tim has won and deservedly so! Take a look at his photographic prints in our Car Photography Collection to see his award winning style.

Fotoviva are on Facebook so if you are a Facebook fiend why not join our group to show your appreciation for our wonderful wall art and help spread the word! By doing so you will also be one of the first to hear about our great offers and latest features.

The world has gone social mad so after adding Twitter to our social reach we are now on Facebook. Actually we have been shouting about our canvas artwork and acrylic images on Facebook for a while but it’s worth mentioning it on our news section incase anyone wants to ‘Like’ our page.

It’s another way to keep up to date with everything at Fotoviva Art Prints, from new contributors to additions to our image collections. Click here to join our Facebook page and spread the love!

You can also click the ‘social’ icons on most of our pages to email, tweet or ‘like’ the pictures and share them with your friends. It’s an easy way to show people the images you like best.

We have some great things in the pipeline for this year, including some fantastic competitions where you can submit your own image and win it printed courtesy of Fotoviva so check back soon for more info.