which paper to print bnw on?

[tlamour]

Matte, Lustre, Mettalic, or glossy? I'm thinking matte. What do y'all think? BTW, I'll be printing from Adorama.

 

[InnatelyKait]

Matte or lustre. I'm not a huge fan of glossy, especially for sale or gallery work. It also would depend on the subject.

 

[rexbobcat]

Glossy photographs show finger prints and glare but have good saturation and detail.

Matte photographs don't show as many finger prints, has little glare, but it has a diffused effect and it's textured so the contrast might not be as good as well as the detail.

I prefer matte paper for black and white images. The glare of the glossy paper is just irritating with b&w, because you kind of lose the advantages that you gain with color images. Sometimes the blacks seem blacker with glossy, but when the glare cuts through the blacks like a knife anyways, then the effect is kind of mute. PLUS; if you put the print behind glass then the glare is just enhanced.

 

[KmH]

Paper made for B&W images is best.

Like Kodak True B&W Photo Paper, because it offers rich black, continuous-tone prints, and avoids any tints of color over the life of the print.

Kodak True B&W Photo Papern has a matte finish, but many people have the print lab add a lustre coating that adds some sheen, UV light protection, and added resistance to fingerprints.

 

[KenC]

It depends on how you want the image to look. For most of what I do I prefer matte surface papers, but there are some things I wouldn't print on it. Generally an image having a major element one would expect to have a reflective surface, e.g., ice, glass, water, won't look as good on a matte surface. On the other hand, if there are rich textures and colors in an image matte paper often shows them off better.