Photo Paper Comparison: Luster, Glossy, Matte, and More
- Why Make Paper Photographic Prints?
- The Differences in Paper Finishes
- Attractive Pricing for Paper Prints
- Specialty Photo Prints
- Recommended Photography Gear
- Luster
- Glossy
- Matte
- Silk
- Metallic
- Deep Matte
- Low
- Medium
Printing your images is an excellent way to display your fine work for others to see and admire. These can be in a portfolio, photo album, or printed as enlargements for wall display.
Printing from a quality photographic printer also works well for fulfilling clients’ orders from the proofs you provide. Your portrait, wedding, boudoir, modeling, and restaurant photography clients (among others) all need to have options for obtaining physical prints.
Printique is Adorama’s professional photographic printing company with numerous types of print papers from which to choose, as well as specialty processes, including metal prints, acrylic prints, and canvas wraps.
Let’s explore the differences between common types of photographic paper so you can make an informed decision about how you have your photos printed.
Table of Contents:
Why Make Paper Photographic Prints?
We make photo prints and enlargements with various finishes of paper prints to enable people to see the images. Paper prints are what we all remember as how we viewed images made from photo film negatives. Making paper photo prints from our digital images provides that same viewing experience.
Photo paper is different from the printer paper we use in our home or office. Photo papers hold the ink better than copy paper, and that makes the printed images last longer - in addition to looking like an actual image as opposed to a school textbook illustration.
Images on photo printers are printed with inks specially designed for photographic printing. The printers themselves are extremely high-quality as well.
You can buy your own photo printer, or you can use a photo printing service that has an entire range of sizes, paper finishes, and other materials that may not be easy to store or use for our own printing.
The Differences in Paper Finishes
Photo papers come in a variety of finishes, from high gloss to a matte finish. In between are several photo paper finishes that may appeal to us or be more useful for our end use.
What makes them differ from each other are how they reflect light or if they have a texture. Adorama’s printing company, Printique, has 9 separate photo paper types:
Below is a short rundown of their photo papers.
Luster
Medium reflectiveness and contrast. Luster has a microtexture surface. This is recommended for photo books, albums, and prints.
Glossy
High reflectivity and contrast with no texture on the surface. Glossy is good for bold colors and higher contrast subject matter. It is historically preferred for model, actor, and other performer headshots, known as “Glossies.”
Matte
Matte has no texture and low reflectivity. It’s a good option for detailed subject matter and photo enlargements that will be matted and framed.
Silk
This is a vintage-style photo paper that’s perfect for wedding albums. It has a light texture with medium reflectiveness and contrast.
Metallic
Metallic paper is very shiny with no texture at all. It’s similar to Glossy, but with a slight tinge of silver or yellow. Metallic paper is an excellent choice for artistic images.
Deep Matte
Deep matte has no texture and a flat finish. Dark colors like black appear muted when printed on this type of paper. It’s useful for soft styles of imaging and for artwork.
Low
This is a smooth, uncoated fine art photo paper made from sustainable bamboo fibers.
Medium
This is a medium texture fine art paper that’s made from cotton and cellulose.
Heavy
This is a very textured fine art paper composed of 100% acid-free cellulose.
Attractive Pricing for Paper Prints
Photo papers are higher quality so they are also higher priced. You also depend heavily on the expertise of the technicians and artists working for the printing company, so you will expect to pay more for these high-quality paper prints.
From Printique, you won’t pay a lot, though. Printique’s pricing for photo prints on paper is very reasonable and favorable for photographers.
Printique has available some programs for professional photographers that make their pricing and fulfillment services even more attractive: check out their Pro Service and Design Trade Program for details.
Specialty Photo Prints
On top of having superb photo paper printing, Printique has several specialty options for prints and enlargements. Canvas Wraps, Wood Prints, Metal Prints, and Acrylic Prints are a few of their numerous offerings.
Whatever you need in paper photo prints and enlargements or some other high-quality specialty process, plus world-class photo books and photo albums, you can find it at an attractive price from Printique.
