Getting the Best Wood Print Possible

We have been producing wood prints for a while now. We recently made some changes to a maple wood veneer panel. The new prints allow us to produce a superior quality product which is more durable and has greater image saturation and detail. Our natural wood maple panels, are ready to display. The back of the panels includes a pre-cut keyhole, so it will hang flush on any wall.
At a little more than ½” thick these panels are an ideal choice for many applications and settings without the need to be framed. The refined natural wood sides give it that finished look you require. With wood prints your image is sublimated / fused directly onto the surface. It allows for incredible detail to show while also having the wood grain look required. The surface can be dusted or even cleaned with a soft damp rag without danger of scratching or harming the image. But even with these improvements some of the same practices apply to produce the best wood print possible.

A this time we have about 8 very popular sizes. These range from 5×7 which are perfect for a table top display to 30×40 which is ideal over any large wall space. You can see and order these at the following link:

View & Order Wood Prints

So, how do you know if your image will look good on wood or not? All the images we initially tested and made into our new wood prints have looked fantastic! But we have seen some images really stand out above others. It has nothing to do with the image quality of the artwork or the photography. It has to do with the tones in the image. Fortunately we have invested a lot of time in testing the process which allows me to share with you what we have learned. If that is not enough, our print setup tool attempts to simulate a wood print before you order it so you can get a bit of a preview to help you decide.

Let’s first look at what really helps a photograph or artwork take advantage of the wood textures and grains that you want to show in your wood print. Images with a lot of whites or lighter colors will work best if your desire is to show the wood pattern. Images where you have darker tones may start to cover up the natural wood texture so if it it has black or really dark colors, you may not see the wood pattern very well.

The reason lighter colors show the wood pattern better is  because the way printers work. With some exceptions, most printers don’t print with white ink. At least this is the case in the photo and art printing world. Rather than printing white, these printers rely on the whiteness of the paper the image is being printed on. A classic example is when you print a gray-scale image such as black and white photograph. With that black and white you can sometimes get a warmer tone to the print on certain papers over others if the paper you are making your print on is too off-white.  First you won’t have any pure whites because the wood is not white. But this is what we want to make a wood print in the first place. We want the the hue of the underling wood with the natural wood pattern to be visible to some extent. Keep this fact about whites in mind with wood prints. Even though we are not printing direct to wood but instead sublimating and image to it via heat and pressure, any whites in the image don’t transfer.

As previously mentioned, where you loose the ability to show some of this potential wood hue and natural wood pattern is with an image that may have a lot of dark colors. For instance, when we were first testing the development of wood prints, we produced a number of test prints using various imagery from our stock imagery and staff created collections. It allowed us to see how different types of images would look. One particular image was an abstract art piece. The tones tended toward either deep red, browns and blacks with a few hi-lights in yellow and white. White the print came out looking really nice it did not really show the underlying wood. Because of that I would have probably been better off just printing it on one of our fine art papers and then mounting it on masonite.

So what kind of images look great on wood? Here are some examples of what I think looks really good:

  • Photos and portraits taken with lots of light
  • Illustrations or line drawings
  • Artwork on pure white backgrounds (my favorite)
  • Paintings with bright colors

Photo and portraits taken with lots of light

These give the photo a very vintage look. If this is of interest to you, you will notice the image takes on a somewhat sepia tone. Not completely but just enough of a hint. Because the wood is somewhat yellow in color, you colors are influenced by this yellow tone.

Illustrations or line drawings

These look incredible. It gives the artwork a look as if it was created directly on the wood itself. While making an interesting piece to frame or display, we are already seeing what we suspect are artists intending to simply use these as under paintings which they will later hi-light or paint over with actual paints.

Artwork on pure white backgrounds (my favorite)

Think of say a flower by itself with white in the background. Or a seashell which one customer just did the other day. It looked really incredible. The artwork was centered on the wood print but the white background was not visible. I could see a series of wood prints done displaying various subject matter.

Paintings with bright colors

A good example of on our site is a faerie sitting on a log in a forest. The background sky was a very light shade of color so the natural wood texture coincidentally looked like clouds. Again, you want the wood to show up so if you have too many dark colors, you won’t be able to take advantage of this as intended.

The bottom line is any image can look good on wood but if you want your wood pattern to show up make sure you have images with a good balance of brights, mid-tones and darks. Artworks and photos that best take advantage of the underlying wood patterns will have lots of lighter colors.

Now if this is not enough information for you how about simulating the entire wood print process. It is actually quite easy with a program like Photoshop. We will have to do a video tutorial later on this but for those somewhat versed in Photoshop or Photoshop Elements simply locate or even create a wooden like pattern, complete with a small amount of yellowish hue. Then drag the image  you want to print on top. This should create a layer over your wood background. Set this image layer as “multiply” and it will make your lighter tones turn translucent so the wood pattern underneath shows. Use this to get a general idea because each wood panel will be a little different from each other.

A couple things I want to point out to the very color conscientious. Let’s be realistic. If you are after that specific shade of blue, orange or green that you spent hours trying to tweak and get right on your screen,  you won’t necessarily get it in a wood print. A wood print is not going to be accurate because the wood being printed on can vary. While we currently only offer birch hardwood, slight variations in it’s natural hue will occur. While I am not an expert, I know this can be attributed to things such as the age of the wood and even where the wood originated.  So if you tend to get hung up on colors, don’t with wood prints since you can never predict how the underlying wood will will affect the color. Finally on a similar note, you can’t soft proof a wood print. Soft proofing relies on a white point of the paper or media the image is being printed to. Since we can’t create a color profile with a consistent white point on wood, it is impossible to provide you one.

Hopefully this will give you some insight on wood prints. If you want to test the concept out with your artwork or photography, feel free to start off with something small. I will be surprised if you are disappointed.  Be sure to let us know what you think of your wood prints when you get them so we can share your own insights with others.

Wood Prints FAQs

My Account

Each registered account is intended for those who wish to print on demand, have the option to store their images with FinerWorks, and maintain a gallery. Users may opt to create personal galleries, sell prints from FinerWorks via their PayPal account, as well as sell from the Main FinerWorks Gallery.

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

Category: My Account

If you are unable to locate a recent order in your order history, it is likely you may not have been logged into your accounbt prior to placing your order. To fix this, simply contact us and we will be happy to add the unassigned order to your account for you.

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

Yes, if the image was saved in your Inventory Files. From there you will find under each image of the file you will find a “Create Download Link” for a small fee of $1.50 USD.

See Video

Order HD Face Mounted Acrylic Prints

Printed on high quality photo paper and face mounted to 1/4″ acrylic with polished edges. Choose between satin luster or metallic photo paper. Included is easy to install hanging hardware in the form of a French cleat.

Learn more…

As an on-demand printer, we must adhere to the same regulations and standards that anyone else does. To learn more about protecting your intellectual property, take time to read over one of our recent blogs here.

Order HD Face Mounted Acrylic Prints

Printed on high quality photo paper and face mounted to 1/4″ acrylic with polished edges. Choose between satin luster or metallic photo paper. Included is easy to install hanging hardware in the form of a French cleat.

Learn more…

We no longer differentiate between the two. A basic account is now the same as a gallery account.

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

Category: My Account

Virtual Inventory gives you the ability to store “virtual” prints. Create and store as many prints as you wish, and when you are ready for us to print one, its only a matter of checking out.  Read more…

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

Virtual Inventory gives you the ability to store “virtual” prints. Create and store as many prints as you wish, and when you are ready for us to print one, its only a matter of checking out.  Use this quick video tutorial for a walk through the entire process.


One of the largest ranges of paper selections, while using the highest level of archival print technology allowing superior detail and color, you can create custom giclee prints of your artwork and photos.
 

Giclee Printing at FinerWorks

One of the largest ranges of paper selections, while using the highest level of archival print technology allowing superior detail and color, you can create custom giclee prints of your artwork and photos.

Learn more…

Aside from having artistic value, the image must be a suitable print quality/resolution. It must also be properly titled,  include a well written description, and be submitted to the appropriate category and assigned to a collection.

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

Absolutely. Our goal is to represent you, and we wouldn’t be doing that very well if we didn’t advertise your brand for you! Find out how to add your logo to your account here.

Order HD Face Mounted Acrylic Prints

Printed on high quality photo paper and face mounted to 1/4″ acrylic with polished edges. Choose between satin luster or metallic photo paper. Included is easy to install hanging hardware in the form of a French cleat.

Learn more…

Currently, we do not offer custom URLs.

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

When someone buys one of your printed products, the order is automatically forwarded to FinerWorks for fulfillment and shipped to the buyer. Within 30 days, once the order ships, details of the order (including the buyer) will be available to you.

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

We will not notify sellers when a sale is made. FinerWorks is not involved in your sales and has no knowledge of transactions relating to gallery sales. Read more

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

We do offer COAs as an option at checkout. You will see an option to order a COA once you add a print to your shopping cart

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

This can be done using your gallery’s URL. The link will look something like this

https://geogalleries.com/my_username

Make sure you replace “my_username” with your actual name.

Note: If you used to use FinerWorks old gallery, your FinerWorks gallery url now automatically redirects people to your Geo Galleries link.

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

Only lower resolution web versions of the images are shown. These contain a watermark which provides some protection. If you are too worried that people will copy your web viewable images, we recommend not participating in the gallery experience.

Order HD Face Mounted Acrylic Prints

Printed on high quality photo paper and face mounted to 1/4″ acrylic with polished edges. Choose between satin luster or metallic photo paper. Included is easy to install hanging hardware in the form of a French cleat.

Learn more…

No. Buyers can only purchase printed works.

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

If you plan on using Finerworks to fulfill your order, you should check the shipping page for shipping rates to determine the shipping cost and then charge accordingly. Also consider reviewing our blog post titled What to Charge Your Customers for Shipping.

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

When someone completes the purchase of one of your offered prints, PayPal will send you a notification of the order details as well as your customer information. It is your responsibility to fulfill this order in a timely fashion by either having us fulfill the order or you ship it out yourself.

Order HD Face Mounted Acrylic Prints

Printed on high quality photo paper and face mounted to 1/4″ acrylic with polished edges. Choose between satin luster or metallic photo paper. Included is easy to install hanging hardware in the form of a French cleat.

Learn more…

No, you can create as many items as you’d like.

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

Occasionally, print products we have offered in the past have changed or have been discontinued. If those items can no longer be offered with the options selected then the item might automatically be removed.

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

Only images that are stored in your virtual inventory / my images can be used. Files you upload to temporary storage cannot be used.

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

Posting and Selling Prints

Currently, we do not offer custom URLs.

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

When someone buys one of your printed products, the order is automatically forwarded to FinerWorks for fulfillment and shipped to the buyer. Within 30 days, once the order ships, details of the order (including the buyer) will be available to you.

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

We will not notify sellers when a sale is made. FinerWorks is not involved in your sales and has no knowledge of transactions relating to gallery sales. Read more

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

We do offer COAs as an option at checkout. You will see an option to order a COA once you add a print to your shopping cart

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

This can be done using your gallery’s URL. The link will look something like this

https://geogalleries.com/my_username

Make sure you replace “my_username” with your actual name.

Note: If you used to use FinerWorks old gallery, your FinerWorks gallery url now automatically redirects people to your Geo Galleries link.

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

Virtual Inventory gives you the ability to store “virtual” prints. Create and store as many prints as you wish, and when you are ready for us to print one, its only a matter of checking out.  Read more…

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

Only lower resolution web versions of the images are shown. These contain a watermark which provides some protection. If you are too worried that people will copy your web viewable images, we recommend not participating in the gallery experience.

Metal Prints

Order HD Chromaluxe® Metal Prints

Print your artwork or photography as custom-size metal prints. Using the dye-sublimation process, your image is fused to the surface of rigid aluminum panels. These provide a modern look when decorating your home or office. Choose from multiple metal surface options. Order it framed, with a float wall mounting or even with a tabletop easel back.

Learn more…

Aside from having artistic value, the image must be a suitable print quality/resolution. It must also be properly titled,  include a well written description, and be submitted to the appropriate category and assigned to a collection.

Order HD Face Mounted Acrylic Prints

Printed on high quality photo paper and face mounted to 1/4″ acrylic with polished edges. Choose between satin luster or metallic photo paper. Included is easy to install hanging hardware in the form of a French cleat.

Learn more…

No. Buyers can only purchase printed works.

Order HD Face Mounted Acrylic Prints

Printed on high quality photo paper and face mounted to 1/4″ acrylic with polished edges. Choose between satin luster or metallic photo paper. Included is easy to install hanging hardware in the form of a French cleat.

Learn more…

If you plan on using Finerworks to fulfill your order, you should check the shipping page for shipping rates to determine the shipping cost and then charge accordingly. Also consider reviewing our blog post titled What to Charge Your Customers for Shipping.

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

When someone completes the purchase of one of your offered prints, PayPal will send you a notification of the order details as well as your customer information. It is your responsibility to fulfill this order in a timely fashion by either having us fulfill the order or you ship it out yourself.

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

Virtual Inventory

No, you can create as many items as you’d like.


One of the largest ranges of paper selections, while using the highest level of archival print technology allowing superior detail and color, you can create custom giclee prints of your artwork and photos.
 

Giclee Printing at FinerWorks

One of the largest ranges of paper selections, while using the highest level of archival print technology allowing superior detail and color, you can create custom giclee prints of your artwork and photos.

Learn more…

Occasionally, print products we have offered in the past have changed or have been discontinued. If those items can no longer be offered with the options selected then the item might automatically be removed.

Canvas Prints

Order Giclee Printing on Canvas

Printed using some of the highest archival standards in the industry, your photos or artwork will last for decades to come.

Learn more…

Only images that are stored in your virtual inventory / my images can be used. Files you upload to temporary storage cannot be used.

Order HD Face Mounted Acrylic Prints

Printed on high quality photo paper and face mounted to 1/4″ acrylic with polished edges. Choose between satin luster or metallic photo paper. Included is easy to install hanging hardware in the form of a French cleat.

Learn more…


One of the largest ranges of paper selections, while using the highest level of archival print technology allowing superior detail and color, you can create custom giclee prints of your artwork and photos.
 

Giclee Printing at FinerWorks

One of the largest ranges of paper selections, while using the highest level of archival print technology allowing superior detail and color, you can create custom giclee prints of your artwork and photos.

Learn more…


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