Master your prints with expert guidance
Everything you need to know about our paper types, image sizes, and expert printing advice—all in one place.
Paper
We don’t offer a huge range of different papers on printairt as we found that too wide a choice can be a bit overwhelming. Instead we have selected our pick of high quality papers with a focus on superior finishes, varied weights and affordable budgets.
Choosing the right type of paper
Most of our chosen paper finishes are self-explanatory. Gloss for glossy prints, Matte for non-glossy prints, Satin / Lustre for somewhere in-between Gloss and Matte, and finally Rough Cotton which is a textured paper that makes watercolour and oil painted type images look really special. If you’re unsure of which paper to choose, feel free to contact us and we can offer you some advice.
Budget Range
Even in our budget range we use excellent papers! This is a smooth matte coated paper with a bright white finish for non-reflective images. This heavyweight paper offers excellent sharpness and clarity.
A high gloss paper with an exceptional tonal range and supreme sharpness. This branded paper has a smooth, glossy finish and is especially good for photographic images. *The paper weight is dependent on the size of the print.
This lustre photo paper has a subtle semi-gloss finish giving you beautiful results with no reflective issues. A great paper for illustrations & photography. *The paper weight is dependent on the size of the print.
We will soon be offering a great value canvas printing service. Sign up to our email newsletter or follow our socials to be informed of when we will be going live with this exciting venture.
We will soon be offering a great value postcard printing service. Sign up to our email newsletter or follow our socials to be informed of when we will be going live with this exciting venture.
Premium Range
A smooth matte coated paper with a bright white finish for non-reflective images on a mid-weight base. This archival paper has an alpha cellulose base and is designed to last more than 100 years.
A high gloss paper with high tonal range and resin coated base. This paper has a smooth finish and is good for typography and artwork and especially great for photography.
This satin photo paper has a finish midway between gloss and matte, giving you a highly saturated result but no reflective issues when displayed. Another great paper for photography and illustrations.
A rough textured, natural white paper that lends a traditional ‘watercolour’ paper feel to your art prints. This paper is perfect for oil and watercolour type pictures where the image really benefits from the authentic texture. It costs a bit more, but it is well worth it!
Printing
We offer two ranges of poster printing – Budget and Premium.
Budget Range: Our range of budget posters are produced on 6 colour inkjet printers using genuine Epson Claria Premium inks that offer up to 300 years colour-fastness (in a photo album). Despite being a ‘budget’ printing service, we still use superb quality photographic papers. We have done extensive testing to ensure that the media we use gives super-sharp prints with superb tonal ranges and clarity. There is a smaller choice of print sizes available in the budget range, although we hope to expand this soon.
Premium Range: For our premium range we employ giclée printers. Modern giclée printing is a process that involves printing from a special inkjet printer. The giclée printing machine uses permanent pigment inks for longevity without fading, and a wide range of colours, often 10 or more. Archival paper is often used and has been designed to last for over 100 years without yellowing or fading. Giclée printing costs a bit more but the extra colours produce a broader tonal range. You also have a much wider range of sizes available to you in our Premium Range.
In the future, we will be offering both a Canvas Printing and Postcard Printing service on our 6 colour machines. Join our email list *link* to be informed of when we launch these exciting ranges.
Size & Picture Ratios
We offer a range of sizes for your art, from 4″ x 6″ (approx. 10cm x 15cm) up to a massive Maxi Poster size of approx. 24″ x 36″ (61cm x 91cm).
Depending on your choice of AI image generator, you will often find that images are created in Ratios, e.g. Cinema (16:9), Landscape (3:2), Computer (5:4), Square (1:1), Portrait (4:5), Tablet (2:3), Phone (9:16), etc. Different generators offer many different ratios. On Printairt we have chosen the most popular ratios for your prints relative to the most common paper sizes available. You may have to crop a little depending on your image, which can be done in the image upload section before finalising your print.
Image ratios - Portrait
- 5:7 = Most commonly used for 'A' sizes and 5” x 7” posters
- 2:3 = Use for 4” x 6” prints and 40cm x 60cm posters
- 3:4 = Use for 6” x 8” prints and 30cm x 40cm posters
- 4:5 = Use for 40cm x 50cm prints. Closest ratio for 10” x 12” and 11" x 14" posters
Image ratios - Square
- 1:1 = Use for all square prints
Image ratios - Landscape
- 7:5 = Most commonly used for ‘A’ sizes and 7” x 5” posters
- 3:2 = Use for 6” x 4” prints and 60cm x 40cm posters
- 4:3 = Use for 8” x 6” prints and 40cm x 30cm posters
- 5:4 = Use for 50cm x 40cm prints. Closest ratio to 12” x 10” and 14" x 11" posters
Image Info and Advice
It is important that we have a decent sized image to make your print from. What looks large on your screen might not give the best results on paper so please take a note of the following information. We will try to keep it concise!
Big is best!
Please upload the largest file size possible. It’s not quite as simple as this, but it helps.
If you have created your image on an AI image creator website, make sure you choose to download your image at the largest size available. Some of these websites offer an upscale feature to enlarge your image which may cost you a couple of credits, but it’s worth it.
Note: When printing Maxi Posters and A1 prints even upscaled 8k images will be printed at a slightly lower dpi to accommodate for the size but you wouldn't notice. e.g Maxi Poster @ 7200x10748px = 300 dpi > 222 dpi and A1 @ 9927x7020px = 300 dpi > 241 dpi.
Part of the Printairt process
There is some good news though. At Printairt we check and process every image sent for printing. We will change an image with 72 dpi/ppi resolution to 300 dpi/ppi (the print standard), and we will also upscale your image to printable dimensions using the excellent Photoshop Resample tool that uses advanced AI to make image upscaling almost flawless.
File upload limits and file formats
Our maximum file upload limit is 6 mb. If you have problems uploading your files, get in touch and we’ll be happy to help.
We can work with a variety of image file formats however our preference is for high-quality JPG files as their compression is very efficient and designed for saving photographic and fine art images.
Minimum quality expectations.
We pride ourselves on producing high quality prints. If we are sent an image that is too low in quality for even us to improve we may put your order “On Hold” and request an alternative, higher quality image file to the one you have uploaded. It’s rare but it can happen. This is basically a quality check to ensure the final product is up to standard. If your order is put “On Hold” we will send an email notification requiring action from you to either upload a new file, or confirm that we have your authority to go to print with the original image file.
If we don’t hear back from you within 48-hours, your order will go into production with the original image file, however, the quality of the final product will be lower than our minimum quality expectations, which would not be deemed as defective and covered by your rights to a refund/replacement by us.
Please also see our Acceptable Image Terms for information on image content that will not be accepted for printing.
For further information
If you have any questions about the information here , please contact us.
Have all the information you need?
Then lets get that print on your wall!
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Help and Advice
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