Glossy photo prints are a popular type of print surface for all sorts of uses including family photos, weddings and even some professional photographers. Glossy photo papers tend to have higher contrast than matte photo papers and have a very shiny surface. They’re certainly bold. There are drawbacks to purchasing glossy photo prints for artwork however. With the shiny surface comes with a significant amount of reflections. Unless you have gallery-quality lighting and no ambient light in the room the glossy print surface can be detrimental to the viewer experience in my opinion. The point of purchasing photographic artwork is to experience the personal vision of the photographer. Gimmicky effects draw more attention to the gimmick than the artwork which is unfortunate.
Let’s answer some glossy photo print questions here:
- What are some common glossy photo papers? Kodak Endura Gloss, Fuji Flex SuperGloss and Epson Premium Glossy among others.
- What is the difference between glossy photo prints and matte photo prints? Glossy photo prints are highly reflective on the surface whereas matte photo papers have minimal to no glare. Glossy photo prints can sometimes have a higher Dmax rating, which means they can hold more black within the paper that results in higher contrast, whereas matte papers are a more classy presentation style and the best type of photo paper surface to print most fine art photo prints in my opinion. All of my open-edition prints are currently available for purchase as a matte print.
- Do you print on glossy photo prints? Yes and no. I do not print regular photo prints on glossy finishes however I do print ChromaLuxe Edge Mount metal prints on glossy. I've found that ChromaLuxe glossy prints aren't significantly more reflective than semi-gloss but look more slick. Traditional glossy photo prints however just look bad in my opinion.
