Why I Love Metal Prints

16" x 24" Metal Print - Stairway to the Sunset

Framed & Canvas Prints

For years, I printed using traditional mediums, such as matte and frame combinations or framed canvas. When I saw my first photograph illuminated as a metal wall art print, I was sold. However, there more objective reasons that metal prints are a good way to go. Let me describe a few. 

A Contemporary Feel

Metal Prints have a sleek & modern look to them. Their "float mount" mounting system causes them to float about 1 inch off the wall. It is a very sleek and sexy look. 

Magical Luminescence

Metal Prints represent a new art medium for preserving photos by infusing dyes directly into specially coated aluminum sheets. Images take on a magical luminescence. Metal prints make the colors pop. As a photographer, I feel no other medium represents my work as well. I try to encourage customers to buy metal prints, because I know they will get ooh's and ahh's when friends and family see them.

Life Guard Towers in Winter - 20" x 30" Metal Print

The Window Effect

Metal prints create the effect of having a window onto the scene they portray. By comparison, framed & canvas prints look like art work hanging on the wall, which may be suitable in given scenarios. The "window effect" makes rooms feel bigger, similar to putting a mirror on the wall.

Cement Ship - 30" x 60" for local Santa Cruz hotel

Durability & Colorfastness

Metal prints are more colorfast and fade resistant than any medium I have printed on. Simply stated, the color never fades. They can be cleaned with soap and water. They are the moist durable print for commercial use.

A Real Test 

At one point, I was so impressed with the colorfastness of metal prints, I decided to put it to the test. So, I took a metal print home and taped cardboard across one half of it. Then I put it on my back porch and set it in an out of the way place, facing directly into the summer sun. Honestly, I forgot about it being there. Three months later I came across it again and removed the cardboard, which itself was bleached and damaged by the sunlight. You could not tell which half of the print had been covered. Try that with a mounted, framed or canvas print and it would be completely bleached out and destroyed.

In Closing

I am personally sold on metal prints. They have an almost magical luminescence.  They look great on the wall. And, they are pretty much bullet proof. What is there not to love? Perhaps, you just like framed prints? No judgement here, I get it. Just make sure to keep them out of the light.

Check out my coastal metal wall prints.

Greg Milligan
Photographer & Owner
Santa Cruz Art Prints