ThinWrap Splits

I thought I’d share my recent on-line printing experience.

There’s one wall in our family room which has been designated for hanging my photograph prints. It’s been occupied by a trio of common themed framed photos of early morning sunlight over dark Alaskan coastal waters since late 2008 — time for a change.

I’ve been intrigued by the Wall Clusters (individual image on each panel) and Splits (single image mosaic across multiple prints) advertised by Bay Photo. After reviewing my photo archives I decided on an image of the Florida wetlands for printing as a ThinWrap Split across three large panels.

I felt this selected image, being somewhat abstract in nature, would handle printing poster size better then some. It also had the color pallet we were looking for and the horizontal and diagonal water/wave lines would pull the Splits together giving common paths for the eye.

I selected the options, uploaded the image file and placed the order.

My first effort wasn’t successful as a Bay Photo technician called me and said they didn’t feel the image I’d sent was of high enough resolution to be split across three 24″ x 36″ panels — my miscalculation. I thanked them, asked them to cancel the order and told them I’d resend with a new image file. Big kudos to Bay Photo on calling when they recognized the results were not going to be satisfactory!

Looking over my archives again I still came to the conclusion I wanted to use the original image, which was about a 30% crop.

I’ve never been impressed with Adobe Photoshops image enlarging capabilities so I ended up using “Genuine Fractals 6” from OnOne Software to increase the image to 6′ x 3′ at 240dpi — about a 160mb JPEG file. This was definitely pushing the limits at over 300% enlargement but when I viewed the enlarged image I felt positive about the results for this application or use, and the finished product supports that feeling — the print came out well.

I’m sure the results of such a drastic enlargement would vary depending upon the particular image.

The ThinWraps are very attractive and come with a 1/2″ spacer on the back that allows the images to be hung and appear to float from the wall. Since my image was of water I also chose the metallic paper with gives it a shimmer as the light plays across it.

All-in-all, I’m happy with the results. Everyone who has seen the splits have given very positive feedback (my daughter has already stated when we decide to change these out she wants them.) I feel the cost of the prints and shipping was reasonable. The finished product was delivered less than a week after ordering. Of course cost varies depending upon the options you select and there are a variety of panel sizes and configurations for Photo Splits or Clusters.

Overall a positive and successful experience — Kudos to Bay Photo and Genuine Fractals.