Tofino and Kamloops are the same province, which is the whole problem. BC holds five genuinely different light environments, and the light a photo was taken in — far more than the subject — decides how it prints and which finish you should order.
Coastal rainforest and the Okanagan need semi-gloss, for opposite reasons — one has no contrast to lose, the other has too much light in the room. The open Pacific coast and the Interior both want high-gloss. The Island goes either way depending on the subject.
Find the zone your photograph came from. If the print is going somewhere other than where the photo was taken — a Tofino storm shot hanging in a Kelowna living room, which happens constantly — go with the finish for the room, not the photo.
Flat and diffuse under cloud for much of the year, with very little contrast and a strong green cast from the canopy.
Commonly printed: Old-growth, moss, creeks, trails in mist
Why semi-gloss: Low-contrast green is the hardest thing we print. Gloss pushes it toward a flat cyan mass; semi-gloss keeps the separation between fern, moss and bark.
Enormous dynamic range. Bright sky and spray against dark wet rock and timber, often in the same frame.
Commonly printed: Storm watching, surf, driftwood, long exposures
Why high-gloss: Deep blacks are what hold a storm frame together. Gloss gives you them, and smooth water renders as a clean gradient without banding.
Mild, often hazy, with long low evenings across the Strait and more sun hours than the mainland coast.
Commonly printed: Harbours, gardens, ferries, sunsets over the water
Why either: Golden-hour frames suit gloss. Garden and heritage subjects, with fine mid-tone detail, do better on semi-gloss.
The most intense light in the province. Hard shadows, deeply saturated colour, and high UV through big south-facing windows.
Commonly printed: Vineyards, orchards, lake, wine-country sunsets
Why semi-gloss: The photo would suit gloss, but the room usually will not. Okanagan living rooms are bright, and a gloss panel opposite that light becomes a mirror.
Dry, clear and warm-toned over grassland and sagebrush in the south; cold, blue and short-dayed in the north.
Commonly printed: Grasslands, river confluences, big skies, winter and aurora in the north
Why high-gloss: Warm earth tones and clear skies gain from gloss, and northern night frames need the deep blacks that only a gloss panel really delivers.
More on cropping, resolution and colour for your own file is on the custom metal prints page.
Because rainforest green is dense mid-tone detail with very little contrast, usually photographed in flat light. There are no bright highlights or deep shadows to anchor it, so it can print as one muddy or oversaturated mass. Semi-gloss plus restrained saturation keeps the separation between moss, fern and bark.
Most photographs give a printer something to anchor on — a bright highlight, a deep shadow, a saturated accent. A stand of old-growth on an overcast day gives you none of that. It is thousands of similar greens at similar brightness, and the differences between them are tiny.
Two things help. Pick semi-gloss, because the reflections on a gloss panel sit right on top of the mid-tones where all your detail lives. And resist the urge to push saturation before uploading: on a metal panel, green that looked slightly flat on screen usually arrives looking right, while green that looked right on screen can arrive looking artificial.
If you have one rainforest frame you really care about, email it to info@metalprintscanada.com before ordering and we will tell you honestly how it is likely to come out.
Better than anything else we make. Salt air and year-round damp are what wreck wall art on the coast, and both work on the materials rather than the image. A metal print has the photograph sealed inside a coating on aluminium, which does not rust, absorb moisture or support mould.
There is one caveat worth knowing, and almost nobody mentions it.
Stainless steel, not the zinc-plated screws that come in most kits. The panel itself is fine in salt air, but ordinary plated hardware will rust and streak down a wall within a season or two in Tofino, Steveston or along the Strait. A handful of stainless screws costs a couple of dollars.
Aluminium does not rust. The coating is sealed, so there is nothing for mould to grow on and nothing to absorb damp. In a seafront home the print will outlast the wall it is hanging on.
All fine. For anywhere fully exposed to rain and direct sun, order our outdoor panels rather than a standard print.
Basements and north-facing rooms on the coast grow mould on the back of framed art. A metal panel on a hanging strip sits flat with air behind it and gives mould nothing organic to work with.
The Lower Mainland is 1–3 business days in transit. Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands are 2–5, because everything crosses by ferry. The Okanagan, Interior and North run 2–6. Shipping is free everywhere in the province, ferry-served addresses included.
BC is the one province where geography genuinely changes the delivery picture, so it is grouped that way rather than as a list of cities.
Our busiest part of the province, and the easiest to reach.
Glass towers, Kitsilano character homes and mountain-backed views — three very different kinds of wall in one city.
One of BC’s fastest-growing cities: established neighbourhoods on one side, new high-rise around City Centre on the other.
Metrotown high-rises at one end, quiet streets near Deer Lake at the other.
Steveston fishing village and a Fraser delta setting give the city a maritime character the rest of the region does not have.
Fraser Valley farmland framed by Mount Baker across the border — agricultural, big-sky country half an hour from the city.
Everything here crosses water, which is the single biggest difference between shipping in BC and shipping anywhere else in Canada.
Heritage character homes in Fairfield and James Bay, and the mildest gardens in the country.
A harbourfront city with ferries crossing to Departure Bay and Newcastle Island sitting just offshore.
Hot and bright in the south, long and cold in the north, and nothing like the coast in either case.
Lakefront homes and wine-country properties along Okanagan Lake, with the brightest interiors in the province.
Where the North and South Thompson meet, surrounded by dry grassland hills that look like nowhere else in BC.
We also ship to the Sunshine Coast, Powell River, Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Vernon, Penticton, Cranbrook, Nelson, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Terrace, Smithers, Fort St. John and Haida Gwaii. Ferry-dependent addresses add a few days and can be affected by winter sailings, so order earlier than you think you need to for a gift or a deadline.
These are the BC-specific ones. Price, durability, cleaning and returns are on the main page and in the full FAQ.
Email info@metalprintscanada.com or call +1-825-977-3451.
Better than anything else we make. Salt air and year-round damp are what wreck wall art on the coast, and both work on the materials rather than the image. A metal print has the photograph sealed inside a coating on aluminium, which does not rust, absorb moisture or support mould.
Stainless steel, not the zinc-plated screws that come in most kits. The panel itself is fine in salt air, but ordinary plated hardware will rust and streak down a wall within a season or two in Tofino, Steveston or along the Strait. A handful of stainless screws costs a couple of dollars.
Because rainforest green is dense mid-tone detail with very little contrast, usually photographed in flat light. There are no bright highlights or deep shadows to anchor it, so it can print as one muddy or oversaturated mass. Semi-gloss plus restrained saturation keeps the separation between moss, fern and bark.
ChromaLuxe panels are rated to resist fading for 75 years or more indoors, which covers an Okanagan living room comfortably. The bigger practical issue there is glare, not fading. South-facing rooms in Kelowna and Penticton are bright enough that semi-gloss is almost always the better choice.
Semi-gloss. A floor-to-ceiling window opposite the artwork turns a high-gloss panel into a mirror for most of the day, and no amount of colour depth makes up for not being able to see the photograph. Keep gloss for interior walls and corridors that do not face the glass.
Usually 2–5 business days in transit after production, because everything crosses by ferry. Victoria and Nanaimo are at the quicker end, Port Hardy and the west coast of the island at the slower end. Shipping is free regardless.
Yes, including Salt Spring, Gabriola, Pender, Powell River, Bella Coola and Haida Gwaii. Ferry-dependent addresses add a few days and can be affected by weather and sailing schedules in winter, so order earlier than you think you need to for a gift or an event.
They are among the best subjects for metal. Smooth water is a long, delicate gradient, and a dye-sublimated panel holds those gradations without banding. Upload the original full-resolution file; an export sized for social media will show stepping in the water that was not in your original.
A panoramic panel, and wider than you first think. A shoreline cropped to a standard 3:2 rectangle usually ends up as a thin strip of interest with a lot of empty water and sky. Crop to 3:1 and the composition reads as one sweep.
Yes — Prince George, Prince Rupert, Terrace, Smithers, Fort St. John, Dawson Creek and the smaller communities between them. Allow longer in transit than the figures above, and a little longer again through winter. Shipping is still free.
Bathrooms and covered decks are fine, and so are boathouses. The image cannot absorb moisture because it sits inside a sealed coating. For somewhere fully exposed to rain and direct sun, order our outdoor panels rather than a standard print.
Upload your photo, choose the size and finish, and we’ll print it on ChromaLuxe aluminium and ship it free anywhere in BC — ferries included.
Start your BC print From $50 CAD. Free shipping province-wide.We ship free to every province and territory. See metal prints by province, or Alberta and Ontario.