About Us
Our Mission Statement
Our Technology
Our Staff

About Us
The Best Photo Gifts is a US provider of unique 3D laser crystal engraved products and other customized photo related gifts. We are the World's largest custom sub-surface laser etching company. We started business in 1997 with a mission to offer a unique fusion of photography, 3D CAD, computer software and LASER technology. We offer a full line of photo image gifts and keepsakes.

We opened our first retail location at Walt Disney World's Epcot© theme park, Orlando, Florida in 1999. This was the first location in the world to etch a person's face in a crystal within minutes after taking a digital photo of the customer. We currently have multiple locations at Disney parks in both Florida and California and continue to open additional locations. We opened at Universal Studios parks in Orlando in 2000. Our first international site opened at Universal Studios in Osaka, Japan. Multiple partner locations are now opened in Las Vegas. We have etched over 1,000,000 faces.

Our Mission Statement
The Best Photo Gifts' mission is to please our customers. We will do everything possible to serve, guide, and help our customers find the perfect personalized gifts for all gift-giving occasions by:

• Providing gift solutions for all gift-giving occasions. Whether it’s a sweet 16 or a 50th birthday, a first baby or a promotion to a new job, we will help you find that special gift.
• Offering exceptional customer service, not only to help customers find the right gift, but to help with the personalized message to make that gift even more special and memorable.
• Building lasting relationships with our customers.

Our Technology
The laser etching process uses a computer guided laser to precisely etch 3D images within optically perfect laser crystal. Initial efforts produced 3D images etched inside a solid piece of optically perfect laser crystal. Refinements have added 2D images (pictures of people or things), text, 3D heads & busts and other 3D objects (Disney© characters, Dr. Seuss© characters, buildings, autos, planes, etc.) Additional advancements created our latest offerings, 2 1/2D sub-surface laser engraving. 2 1/2D is a unique merger of 3D and 2D laser etching which produces the highest quality laser engraved image with unmatched quality and clarity.

Our 3D scanners are can capture one or more person's head and shoulders and then the images are etched inside solid optically perfect crystal. You can also provide us with traditional portrait photograph which we can convert into a 3d head image. Optic crystal is known as the most perfect crystal and is the whitest crystal. Optic crystal must not have any imperfections that could cause a low quality image. The Best Photo Gifts only offers the highest quality optic crystal and therefore the resulting images are of the highest quality.

We offer Photo Gifts including: Photo Mugs, Photo Mouse-pads, Photo T-Shirts, Photo Plates, Photo Ornaments and other dye sublimation products.   We also offer Photo to Real Artist Canvas.

What is Dye-sublimation? Dye-Sublimation or Sublimation for short is the process of ink changing into a gas or vapor, without first passing through the intermediary liquid state. An example of this process which most recognize is "dry ice."  In the printing world, the term sublimation is used to describe heat-activated inks that change into a gas when heated and have the ability to bond with ceramic, polyester, acrylic and other surfaces.

How does Sublimation work? Using an inkjet printer and special dye-sublimation inks the desired image is printed to special sublimation transfer paper.  The transfer paper is then placed on the sublimation-ready product using various pressure devices.  The sublimation product with the attached transfer paper is then placed in an oven or on a heat press.  The heating process activates the ink in the transfer paper and changes the ink into a gas.  At the same time, the heat causes a molecular change (greater porosity) in the surface of the sublimation product.  The sublimation product then absorbs the gas resulting in a transfer of the image on the transfer paper to the sublimation product.  A pressure of approximately 40lbs. per square inch is needed to insure that the gaseous vapor is forced inside the surface of the sublimation product. When the sublimation product is removed from heat its polymer surface cools and regains its original qualities with the ink gases trapped within the surface of the product. Much like a tattoo, the image is below the surface, protected from the elements that could cause a decal to scratch, fade or peel.

Benefits of Sublimation? Any digital image (including photographs) can be printed and be ready to sublimate in a matter of minutes as opposed to silk screening which requires a setup process to create the screen.  The sublimation process is perfect for projects numbering from one to thousands of custom pieces.  Although, the cost benefits of sublimation are probably better suited for smaller quantity (1-100) custom projects, the resulting product is superior to silk screening.  The full color benefits of sublimation and the finish offer spectacular results.  Due to ink impregnating the sublimation product polymer surface there is much greater durability than silk screening.  Sublimated images are extremely washable, scratch resistant and dishwasher safe because the image is protected within the surface.  Sublimation can be applied to floor tiles and withstand daily foot traffic.

What can be sublimated? There are hundreds of blanks that can be sublimated.  We inventory many blanks, but have access to a wide variety of other sublimation products.  Please see our Photo-Gift pricing for our current products, if you do not see what you want on our price list, please call us for other sublimation options.

What is a Giclee (zhee-CLAY)?  A Giclee is a high-resolution printing process on a special large format printer. Giclees are produced from digital scans or photographs. Giclees can be printed on a number of media types, from canvas, watercolor paper, vinyl, metals to transparent acetates. Giclees are superior to lithography, the colors are brighter and last longer. Giclee width is limited to the print width of our printers (up to 42"), but the length of the print can be almost 60".

Giclees use inkjet technology, but are far more sophisticated than your desktop printer. The process employs at least six colors compared to only 3 colors in most consumer inkjet printers. The inks are very specialized and some are quartanted to last up to 70 years.

Giclees are often confused with oil paintings from a distance and are perfect for office art or promotions. Giclees can be produced economically in limited quantities. Giclees can stretched and mounted on wood stretcher bars and hung like original art or framed.

Our Staff
Our management team has more than 100 years of experience in developing, managing and operating venues in theme parks, casinos and other world famous tourist attractions. Our technology team has over 100 years of combined experience. Our products are manufactured at production facilities in Orlando, FL and Anaheim, California.

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Customer Service

407-370-2800

8:00am - 9:00pm 7 days a week

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