Nature and landscape photographers are known for their pursuit of perfection when it comes to printing, displaying, and selling their fine art photographic prints, and rightfully so! A lot of blood, sweat, and tears goes into the making of our artwork, and we want the best for our customers and collectors. In fact, oftentimes our reputation is on the line when we print and sell our work and so we are always looking to use the highest quality materials to meet the exacting standards our customers have for our artwork. Because of this fact, I have chosen to use TruLife® Acrylic for all of my high-end fine art prints that I sell to my collectors. TruLife Acrylic has countless benefits over traditional print presentation mediums and the added expense is more than worth it. Let’s explore the myriad of reasons as to why this is the case.

 

 

Comparing Fine Art Print Face Mediums

 

Before we look at all the benefits of using TruLife Acrylic, it would be good for us to showcase the various alternatives that exist in the marketplace. Traditionally speaking, many photographers use standard glass with various degrees of Ultraviolet (UV) protection ranging from 30% to 99%. Glass can also be made to be non-glare, at a much greater expense. While this can be a great option, traditional glass has one significant problem: it breaks easily. This makes it a relatively poor choice for those looking for longevity in their print investment or for those looking to install a fine art print in a location where it may get bumped into, etc.

Many photographers and print vendors selling acrylics use a standard acrylic, which again, can be a good choice; however, standard acrylic lacks many critically important features that make it a poor choice for those looking for a protective way to encapsulate a fine art print meant to last a lifetime. Standard acrylic is not shatter resistant, nor does it prevent glare.

 

 

Why TruLife® Acrylic is the Best Choice for Photographers

 

TruLife Acrylic has many benefits over traditional face-mounting mediums or framed glass that are important for fine art printmakers looking to create and sell their work to the most demanding of clients. Let’s break them down:

 

1. TruLife Acrylic eliminates nasty reflections, which are the bane of almost any art installation. TruLife allows only up to 1.5% reflectivity as compared to nearly 10% on traditional glass or acrylic.
2. TruLife Acrylic transmits 99% of available light, meaning, no light loss occurs through transmission of light through the material. Traditional glass only transmits up to 90% of available light, which causes prints to look darker than they really are.
3. TruLife Acrylic blocks up to 99% of UV light – helping to preserve your fine art print from the harsh effects of radiation caused by sunlight. Compare this to 30% on traditional glass and you can see why photo prints easily fade when using inexpensive framing materials.
4. TruLife Acrylic is abrasion resistant which makes it a great candidate for heavy traffic areas, including living rooms, kitchens, bathrooms, or hallways. Traditional acrylic is easily scratched, and when this happens, the entire print must be re-done. Yikes!
5. TruLife Acrylic is shatter resistant, making artwork more easily transported or moved to a new location, and more home-proof for those with young children or other things that may put your fine art print at risk of damage. Traditional glass… well, it breaks easily!
6. TruLife Acrylic is anti-static which means it will repel dust on the viewing side of your artwork. If it somehow does get a little dirty, it can easily be cleaned using regular glass cleaners, unlike traditional acrylic which requires a special cleaning agent.

 

 

What Does TruLife Acrylic Look Like in Real Life?

 

I’ve printed a lot of large format fine art prints for my collectors using TruLife Acrylic and they rave about the results. Without being able to see them in person with your own eyes, some photographs showcasing the awesome visual benefits of TruLife Acrylic are the next best thing.

 

Here is a 40” x 60” fine art print of one of my favorite photographs that I have hanging in my office. I have an open window will full sun shining into the room and three overhead LED lights shining down onto the print at approximately a 30 degree angle. I purposely did not close the shades or turn off other light sources so you can visualize how great TruLife Acrylic is at reducing glare and increasing the visual impact of your fine art prints.

 

 

As you can see, the TruLife Acrylic does a wonderful job of allowing light to transfer onto the print surface and then allow the light to shine back through the acrylic for a vibrant display of color.

 

 

In the below image, I purposely included the brightest light source in the upper left at an angle to further show how little reflection is allowed by the TruLife Acryic face.

 

 

Lastly, in the below image, I made sure to include my five overhead LED lights in the upper left, again at an angle. These lights are quite bright, which illustrates how well TruLife eliminates bright reflections, which makes viewing the fine art print at any angle a true joy.

 

 

 

Where Can You Get TruLife Acrylic?

 

TruLife Acrylic is distributed to fine art printers and face mounters across the world. In the United States, this includes Artful Printer, Artmill, Artisan HD, Bumblejax, Colorado Canopies, High Desert Frameworks, Image Craft, Impact Visual Arts, Max Art Productions, Nevada Art Printers, Proto Craft Imaging, Prints Giclee Shop, Robin Imaging Services, Scale Up Art, Ultimate Image Printing, Work of Art Gallery & Framing, Acorn Editions, Laumont Photographics, Mount Brooklyn, Reed Art & Imaging, and Weldon Color Lab.

 

Outside of the United States, this includes Print Partner, Colourgenics, Artproof, Authentic Visual Communication, AVS Printing, Eyes on PhotoArt, Fine Art Colatec SL, Gallery Color, Grafik & Foto, Grieger GmbH + Co. KG, Lollipopart, and Wilcovak.

For the full list, please visit our TruLife for Photographers page and scroll to the bottom to the “Find a TruLife Printer, Face Mounter, or Diasec Mounter” section.

 

 

About the author: Matt Payne is a fine art landscape and nature photographer living in Durango, Colorado. He has climbed the highest 100 mountains in Colorado, where many of his photographs were created. He prints his fine art prints of Colorado mountains at very large sizes and uses TruLife Acrylic exclusively for his large fine art face-mounted prints.