I should add to the above that sometimes that grainy look works really well (such as some nice black and whites). Anyway, I don't think you can say one is better than the other....yet another parameter to obsess about right?
The quality of the paper can be more important than whether it is just matte or glossy. There are some beautifully smooth brilliant white mattes that do incredible justice to sharp images. There are textured mattes. There are some incredible glossy pearls and satins around. Dieter even prints on a metallic paper which must be incredible.
@aspada Totally agree. For me I only buy quality paper or I have it printed in a pro lab.
All my customer prints I get printed in a pro lab as the quality of paper and print is 1000% better than I can produce on my cheap $300 printer with the paper I can source.
@aspada yes, for b&w I use mostly Epson traditional photo paper (a heavy fibre paper with a semi-gloss surface), although it tends to curl a bit - frustratingly so - in the humidity here. For colour landscape work I have been using Chromajet Centurion metallic pearl paper, which gives really stunning results. When I have time I would like to experiment more with printing on various fine art papers such as those made by Hahnemühle. (I use an Epson stylus pro 3800 printer btw)
I used to work in a professional photo lab/framer we always recommended "Matte" for portraits and "Glossy" for landscapes. Matte paper also is better for proofs, or if your going to be handing the photo a lot. This is due to glossy being terrible for fingerprints and scratching. Glossy is much better for fine detail. However, it really depends on the photo I always found. I use both depending on the photo.
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if its 8x10 or bigger, i do matte. most likely its going to be framed at this size. There's less reflection from the sun/light/etc.
4x6 pictures, i like glossy. i find matte 4x6 pictures a little muddy compared to glossy.
I would print this in matte
And this one in glossy.
@dieter @agima
All my customer prints I get printed in a pro lab as the quality of paper and print is 1000% better than I can produce on my cheap $300 printer with the paper I can source.