Matte Or Semi-Gloss

Photographers seem to divide into two camps on this issue and often feel very strongly about their choices. With semi gloss previously being plastic and usually quite thin and not having a printer which did a good job with semi gloss anyway, I had no interest in anything but matte images - I used a variety of art papers before settling on Moab Entrada bright white, quite happily.

All the comments about deep deep blacks and papers looking similar to glossy dried matte silver prints, my interest was piqued again. A recent purchase of the Canon iPF5000 gave me the opportunity to try things both ways.

It's early days but here's my impressions:

If I get to hold the print in my hands, I like the semi gloss look of Hahnemuhle Pearl and Crane Museo Silver Rag. My latest box of Silver Rag has none of the water spots that had shown up on two boxes of 8.5X11 paper.

Pinned up on the wall, where I can't move the print around, the surface is almost irrelevent, and I'm pretty darn sure that once behind glass, completely irrelevent. I needed a new printer anyway, and I'm glad I have the choice and can painlessly switch back and forth, but really, the traditional art matte papers are pretty darn fine.

If your printer can't do semi gloss, I'd not lose a lot of sleep over it. I am glad that the new papers are much more substantial than Epson premium semi gloss and premium lustre which in larger sizes are far too delicate - handling a 4 foot wide print in these papers is just plain painful.