I had an interesting experience with Fine Art America this past week. I received a personal e-mail from a woman who wanted to purchase my faux postcard “Trout Fishing in America.” The problem was that, based on the picture’s original size, FAA couldn’t print it as big as she wanted it.
She wanted the picture 48” across, and my picture didn’t have enough pixels to blow it up that big without it disintegrating. Could I make the picture bigger?
My original image was 3600 pixels across. I needed it to be 6000 pixels across. If all the bits I used in my original image were too small to blow up, then I was screwed. So I went back to my original and looked at each piece to see where it came from and to see if each piece was large enough to blow up.
In Photoshop I looked at all my layers, found the originals, and yes! I saw that I could re-create my photomontage and make it lots bigger without losing any definition. I just had to gather up all the individual bits and size them to fit in this larger format.
I told my customer that yes, I could do it. It might not look EXACTLY like the original, but it will certainly be close enough. (And above you see my first version and then the larger version. Not exact, but close.)
I created a blank canvas 6000 pixels across and began re-building my photomontage, same scale as my first go-round, just a lot bigger. (Why didn’t I build it big to begin with? When I originally made it? Well, hindsight is great, isn’t it?!)
I uploaded the new version to FAA, the client ordered it, received it incredibly quickly (like four days later), and I received an e-mail from her this morning with a photo of the picture on her wall.
She said, “Hey just wanted to let you know we love the picture. It turned out great. Still have to finish the room but this is a great focal. Especially since we live on the lake. Thanks again for your help.”
I love it when things work out like this. Love it when a client is happy. And, frankly, I liked the challenge of seeing how I could make the picture bigger, with no loss of quality, to please the customer and to save the sale.
Art. It’s all about problem-solving, isn’t it?
©Carol Leigh
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