Digital BW, The Print

hello.....this May be a new subject. I wonder if anyone else has this 
feeling...

The thing that I like the least about some of my prints, is that they 
seem two dimensional. When i look in a BW photo book at borders (i 
spend my break there everyday) the great prints all seem very deep and 
3D-like. For a long time I thought it was because of the way I used 
sharpening. When it is really bad, the figures in the image seem like 
flat pieces of paper laying on top of each other. So I kind of 
gradually did less and less sharpening, but I still see it. Usually I 
dont see it until a couple days after making the print.

Now that I've done maybe 50 prints using the costco glossy, I am 
convinced that it has to do with the paper. I have some prints up on a 
wall, where I leave them for maybe a couple weeks, and the costco 
prints a very 3D. Even images that I thought were just oversharpened 
dont look 2D.

Did some printing on photo rag, German etching, and velvet fine art 
this week for a wedding gift, and sure enough, the Photo rag and german 
etching are definitely 2 dimensional. The velvet fine art prints are 
12x16, and I dont see them as 2D, but it might be because the are so 
big, and I just like looking at them. I definitely like the look of VFA 
better.

I am thinking not that it may be because of the texture of Photo rag 
and german etching. I cant decide if the depth changes when I change 
the angle of sight. It  may be that. However, I know that I also see 
the problem with Permajet Matte Plus, when is a great feeling smooth 
surface similar to EEM but thicker. By the way, I just cant get a real 
good image with Matte plus for some reason. It is the most flat 
looking. The point is that there is basically no texture.

On Epson enhance matt, I think the look is more 3D. I almost never use 
it, cuz the others have more Pop. The papers that seem 2D to me are 
Photo rag, german etching, museo, Permajet parchment classic (nice 
paper with real good image) Matte Plus, and Illuninata Cooltone 
(yuk..changes color in the light drastically)

papers that are more 3D are ilford smooth pearl, smooth gloss, and By a 
huge margin....Lowly costco glossy paper.

So now I am looking for a non glossy paper that looks as good as 
costco. Mr Roark says premier semi-matte is his current choice. I am 
pretty sure that He has never been wrong ever :) so I am ordering some 
today.

I am sure that other people have diferent observations, but I just want 
to start a discussion about this 3D thing that has been bugging me!

take care all.....DM