What type of finish do you prefer?

Just trying to get a feel for what most people like. I prefer matte

finishes over glossy.

 

Does it really make a difference or is it merely preference?

The day of the glossy print is largely over: it was felt that glossy reproduced better for publication. Most modern shooters want the paper surface to be "invisible," and the day of novelty surfaces is largely gone as well. My personal preference was always unferrotyped glossy or 'semi-matte.'As a custom lab operator for decades, I tried to give my clients what they wanted, but maintaining an inventory of stipple, ripple, dipple, pearl, luster, silk, linen, canvas, suede, ivory, dead matte, semi-matte, glossy, and you name it, was impractical, so I had them furnish their own novelty surfaces. Go with what you like. Would you ask other people to select your clothes and accessories for you?

I think Emmy is trying to find the best surface to use that will sell better. I do 8×10 contact printing for my work so I prefer the gloss prints, fiber base, to show the non grain better. I don't think I ever thought much about what I prefer in other people's prints.

I like glossy for B&W and matte for colour.

The fastidious who check their prints for grain might mistake matte texture for grain.

 

Glossy photo paper has more contrast than matte so it is probably better. Perhaps matte resists fingerprints better...

I recently made some 12x18" glossy and matte prints of the same image. The film was Reala @80 printed on Fuji Crystal Archive from a Noritsu machine.

 

The glossy prints seemed to have slightly more contrast and therefore a certain "snappier" quality. However the glossy finish was really annoying to view because of the reflections.

 

The matte prints had better color. The colors were deeper and more saturated. I'm not sure if that was due to operator adjustments or not. It was also more pleasing to view due to the lack of reflections.

 

If you are going to frame the prints, then it doesn't matter. Overall I prefer the matte finish. The print that I tested was a portrait. Maybe I'll view things differently if the subject is non-living like some of the auto show images that I have.

Glossy for color and matte for B&W.

Glossy for B&W, matte for color.

Matte, it resists fingerprints very well and it doesnt reflect all that light that glossy does.

Glossy for color and B&W RC papers, Matte for B&W Fiber papers. As glossy is a pain to handle due to fingerprints, I get Fuji's "lustre" finish when printing for someone else.

 

The thing I don't like about RC pseudo-matte finishes is they are not real matte, unlike the fiber papers, but rather a calendared (stamped) textured finish, and have annoying reflections when viewed any other way than head-on.

Matte.

I prefer LCD over cathode-ray tubes, and paper over LCD.

Matte for when you want shadows visible but murky. Glossy for when you want really fine detail. A textured gloss/semigloss for when detail isn't as important, but you want high saturation and low glare/fingerprinting. B&W don't do often enough to have much of a preference.

Matte. For some reason I have a character flaw which makes me think that glossy users are hiding something... Not sure what they would be hiding, it's just a stupid thing, I think.

Thank you all for taking the time to share your thoughts. James you are correct. I was trying to get an idea for what sells better. I guess there are many factors that come into play when choosing the right finish, but preference seems to be the key factor.