Yahoo Groups archive

Digital BW, The Print

Index last updated: 2026-04-28 22:56 UTC

Message

Glossy versus Matte Paper, Redux.

2003-09-11 by Mitch Alland

There's been a lot of discussion on this forum and the EpsonWideFormat 
forum about getting "satisfactory blacks" on matte paper. But there's 
no getting away from it, glossy papers have better Dmax than matte 
papers: In his book, "The Print", Ansel Adams wrote that:

> Maximum image brilliance is obtained on a smooth, glossy-surfaced 
> paper, which can have a reflectance of up to 1:100 and higher..The 
> matte papers have a much lower brilliance, with a reflection-density 
> range of about 1:25.

For ink jet prints there has been a lot of interest in matte papers 
because some of the pigment inks cannot be used to print in glossy-type 
papers, and also because the look and feel of many of the matte papers 
is better than of the glossy-type papers. And even if you can print on 
glossy papers, with B&W there's the bronzing problem with Ultrachrome 
inks.

As I wrote in a posting last month, I came to conclusion after 
extensive testing that my color prints, using Ultrachrome inks on the 
Epson 7600,  looked a lot better on Epson Premium Matte (using Photo 
Black) than on EEM or Photo Rag (using Matte Black). And once the print 
is framed under glass, its weight and feel is irrelevant.

So, to prepare color prints for a forthcoming exhibition, I've had to 
change back to Photo Black, which now leaves me the problem of what to 
do about B&W prints. The only bright spot on the horizon that I've seen 
is Robert Morrison's reference to a new Oriental Seagull paper that 
(may be) glossy and use Photo Black and (may not be) subject to 
bronzing. Anyone have any further information on this paper, or other 
papers that could solve my Photo/Matte Black problem?

--Mitch/Potomac, MD

Attachments

Move to quarantaine

This moves the raw source file on disk only. The archive index is not changed automatically, so you still need to run a manual refresh afterward.