I’ve showcased a bunch of Father’s Day gifts on this blog; from novelty items, to alcohol to chocolate. All of these come highly recommended by the daddy of this household (I mean, name a dad who would turn down beer!) but none of them would last a lifetime.

Photo gifts do exactly that. Whether it’s a mug or a placeholder, canvas or photobook, these are the pressies that really make an impact and will find themselves permanently on display, or eventually stored in a memory box, to be cherished ad infinitum.

It might sound cliche, but a picture really does say a thousand words. This is especially true if you have children and they constantly change before your eyes; Chubby cheeks hollow out, baby curls give way to scruffy barnets, and gappy smiles are filled in with the adult teeth they’ll have forever. Hovering with your camera when they’re young is the best possible way to preserve those memories, and just flicking back through pics taken a few months before can make you well up.

We made those smiles, we made those gangly legs, we made those sticky-out ears - it’s the closest thing to a miracle we’ll ever experience

(every mum & dad I know have had this very same conversation)

Truprint have a great range of Father’s Day presents that really embrace this sentiment. Gone are the days of expensive photoshoots with professional photographers, then flicking through proofs to pick out the ones where you all have your eyes open. Nowadays, most of us have access to a digital camera or camera phone and can capture the expressions and memories that really mean something to us - that aren’t staged in a studio somewhere.

When you have the perfect snap, you can add it as a screensaver to your laptop or your phone, or go one better and get it on canvas. And for this Fatther’s Day we’ve done just that.

This picture of Heidi is the first we’ve had blown up of her. I had a thousand to choose from, but this one means something extra special to us as it’s the first proper smile we managed to capture on camera. She was quick to do everything - crawling, walking, talking - she’s only 13 months and this little girl is well on her way to getting a masters degree. But this smile, at 4 weeks old, just melts our hearts.

CREATING IT

For a canvas project, uploading a photo is simple and there are even pop-up tips to help you get the best out of the experience. The project screen is easy to navigate with all your core options in drop downs on your left hand side and handily, your project sub total is always displayed top left so you can see what your creation costs as you create it.

Hovering over the photo, you’ll also be given the opportunity to further edit it (zoom, effects (sepia, black and white, tint etc), brightness, colour enhancement and red-eye correction). It’s a very simplistic editing suite compared to some others I’ve come across, but perfectly adequate and easy-to-use.

I have only one criticism. I opted for a sold wrap canvas rather than a gallery wrap (e.g. my canvas edges would be a block colour rather than having my photo wrap around them). This was necessary as the image I had selected was a close-up of Heidi and I didn’t want to lose some of her head. Unfortunately however, Truprint only have black available and it would have been nice to have picked out a colour contained within the image to make the edges less of a contrast.

THE QUALITY

I’m really impressed by the quality of the canvas. it’s stretched and secured better than others we’ve come across before, with heavy duty staples that won’t scrape your paintwork. I’m also pleased with the chunky 37mm pine frame which, in my opinion, looks so much better than thinner frames we received from other printers. It also comes with wall fittings and was perfectly packaged.

The colours are great and really pop (despite this being a non high-res pic), and there’s no blurring or bleeding of the print. I’m just completely delighted with it and can’t wait to show Craig on Father’s Day.

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In conclusion, I’d happily recommend Truprint for creating canvasses. I’d always advise you shop around for the best deal but it’s always worth reading reviews too. The quality really does vary from printer to printer so if you want the best bang for your buck, make sure you won’t be disappointed by seeing what customers have to say. In this example, for the second time running Truprint have aced it.

You can stay informed about special offers and deals via Facebook and Twitter and check out all their other Father’s Day photo gift ideas on their website.