Digital BW, The Print

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "djon43"
<djon43@...> wrote:
>
>  I mat and frame my prints without glass;
> > tactile paper feel is not a concern.   
> 
> Out of curiosity, why frame without glass? If you present or sell a
> print, do you envision it in someone's home or office that way? 

For my home I usually don't frame with glass or plexiglass for several
reasons:

1. Although I am pretty tolerant of glare several places where I hang
prints pick up too much glare.  In particular the large picture window
in my family room causes distracting reflections.  These are much
reduced w/o glass.

2. I've noticed that at least some of my prints (color in particular)
loose some of their vibrancy under glass.  This is not the case with
all of them however.  I think one could even argue that some prints
(maybe B/W more than color) take on a 'finished look' under glass.

3. I've got a lot of prints ranging in size from 11x14 to 24x32
inches.  That's a lot of glass/plexi to pay for!

4. I live in the SF Bay area and some day the next big quake will hit.
 That's a lot of glass to pick up if they all fall off the wall!!

When I do sell prints they have always ending up being displayed under
glass or plexi.  There are a half dozen 24 x32 inch prints at my
company, all under glass and they look pretty good I think.  Sometimes
I see the janitorial service come by and dust them.  Imagine if they
did that to an unprotected print surface.

 
> fwiw I assume glass or polyester sleeves. I'm partially thinking in
> terms of protection, but behind glass or polyester the fussing about
> matte/gloss/Dmax-measurement seems to become irrelevant...the image
> itself resumes dominance.

I also keep display binders of 14x17 inch prints in Light Impressions
polyethylene pages... they are very clear.
Your point is well taken... under these pages there is much less
difference to be seen between paper surfaces. However, there is some.
   Luster surfaces still looks different than smooth gloss.  A matte
print may look noticeably different than a glossy print not because of
the surface gloss but because of the tonal range (Dmax, Dmin).

Referring to the Harman FB AI paper. When doing a side-by-side
comparison with a white matte around the B/W prints and a clear piece
of glass over them it becomes much harder to see a difference between
the gloss levels.  When looking at reflections/glare one can still see
the paper surfaces are different but why would one spend much time
looking at the glare!


> 
> Similarly, I don't understand loose, unsleeved prints in boxes ...
> hopefully viewers will enjoy my prints on a wall (or polyester
folder, like Itoya), and ideally in a home (cooking residue, dust,
>children
> etc) ...nobody be sitting and handling them. . Might be different if I
> sought collectors rather than viewers.
>

Well, I don't understand it either.  Maybe it is analogous to large
format photographers who make prints showing the raw film edges with
info on the film type, etc!