Photos Into Art

Print your photos on canvas pro style with CanvasPop. From any source, any resolution or size - and customized to your wishes - your photos and digital images become stunning custom art. Upload an image from Facebook or virtually any other website and surprise that special friend with a beautiful portrait without having to ask them for the original source files. That's one of the things that makes CanvasPop different-they can work with files of almost any resolution.

Stunning photo mosaics make unique photo gifts--ones that'll keep wowing everyone who sees them for years to come. At Design A Mosaic, they make it easy for you to take all your favorite digital pictures and create your own personalized photo mosaic. Simply upload your images (as few as 20 is fine), select your options, and they'll take care of the rest. You will get a digital preview of your photo mosaic.

A canvas from CanvasPeople makes a perfect keepsake and a thoughtful gift. You can get an artistic effect, such as black & white, pop art or sepia & a variety of cool frames. Any photo is perfect for a canvas!

Their deal is for the smallest size canvas which is an 8 by 10 and shipping is $14.95. Alternatively, you can apply a $55 discount to any of their larger canvas sizes.

The Internet can make your window shades and wall coverings less boring. A new service called OrangePiel lets you create custom-designed window treatments and wallpaper using any digital photograph you choose. To get started, just upload a JPEG of the image you want-a photo from your trip to the beach or a scan of a drawing your kid drew in art class. Once you've selected an image, decide whether you want it on roller shades, seamless wallpaper or a fine art print. Fill in your measurements (they can create images up to 16 feet x 16 feet in size), then use their scaling tool to customize the image to your liking. Designs start at $79, and shipping is free.

Photofiddle.com allows users to create art from photos with free online photo effects software. Photofiddle will transform any picture into art with over 50 photo art styles to choose. Select from oil painting, Warhol pop art, watercolor painting, modern art, abstract art, Leroy neiman art style, Lichtenstein art style, outline sketches, color pencil sketches, photo collages, impasto art, film strip photo collages and more. Have them add a photographic tint like a sepia tint, blue tint, red tint, or green tint to any photograph.

Wall size canvases can get expensive, but I was surprised and pleased that smaller sizes are well within reach - particularly as a nice gift.

Bumblejax is a digital printing company that started with the idea to have a vacation photos from a trip to Thailand enlarged, printed and then mounted to a piece of MDF board I found in my garage. From that small idea you can print photos mounted to Aluminum, MDF and Gatorboard (all protected with a satin laminate). The acrylic print will be protected by the acrylic itself. All prints ship ready to hang, no tools required!

Simplifying the photo-mounting process, Bumblejax boils it down to a few clicks with their online system that requires little more than uploading a high-res image and choosing a material. From the slick look of metal to lightweight foam, the digital printers offer Gatorboard, acrylic, aluminum or MDF board for a range of effects.

In 1997, the owner of Photowow, Robert Schiff, wanted to decorate a large wall space by combining different photos and images into a big piece of art - without paying a fortune. Not having the benefit of the Internet, he picked up the Los Angeles Yellow Pages and started calling print shops. No shop was interested in creating his artist idea. But, as luck would have it, he was reading an article in a magazine within a week of his search about companies competing in the brand new large format printing business. A light bulb went off and Photowow, the original photo into digital art business, was born. The first Photowow retail store creating custom art from favorite photos was opened on December 4, 1997. That same fun capability became available to anyone in the world with access to the Internet on September 12, 1999.

Portraits, pet portraits, a portrait sketch image as a memorial, a child portrait...these are just some of the possibilities with yourartisticside.com. A watercolor photo style makes a great home portrait. Even an artistic image of a classic car. (or not so classic car) can be done using artists sketch technique. Art from a photo of your favorite spot at the mountains or coast ....

Whether it's a housewarming gift, graduation gift, anniversary gift, birthday gift, retirement gift or just a treat for yourself., an artists drawing or a custom portrait from your photo is a
great personalized gift and will be a cherished Image to enjoy for years to come!

I love editing photos, but when you have the photos say from a wedding, a reunion or a graduation you might want a professional touch. Tucia can add a person into a family portrait or remove an unwanted stranger from your photo. They can digitally open up closed eyes or fix hair. They can also offer glamorize and digital cosmetic enhancement options - get a tan, clear acne or remove braces. Simple touch-ups such as digital camera mark or red eye removal and cropping are also available.

I love editing photos, but when you have the photos say from a wedding, a reunion or a graduation you might want a professional touch. It was the photo of the windy hair that convinced me to try out this service from Wowapic.com.