Please help me assess my prints. glossy or satin?

[Dikaiosune01]

As you can tell from my question, im a novice in the darkroom. But my actual question isnt that lame.

Im experimenting with satin pearl paper, and glossy paper. I use multigrade resin paper only for the ease for the moment. Learn the basics before moving onto better things.

When comparing the two papers in my prints, what aesthetic quality should i be looking for? Contrast? Shadows? Help me assess the quality of my prints when comparing two types of paper.

Personally, i never really liked the reflective surface of glossy paper. And if there is a contrast difference, cant i use contrast filters?

 

[Vaughn]

RC glossy is great for photos of cars and motorcycles whit shiny paint and lots of chrome. Other than that, it can be hard to look at.

The main difference between glossy and matt paper (either RC or fiber) is not so much contrast, but how black the blacks appear. First one must think about what we are actually seeing when we look at a photograph. We are not looking at the surface of the paper -- we are looking at light as it passes through the emulsion of the paper and reflects off the paper base back to our eyes. The silver blocks the light as it passes in both directions through the emulsion.

To check this out, just hold a photo up to a bright light and look at it as light passes through the back to your eyes. The blacks are no longer black, and one might see detail in the shadows one can not see normally.

The blacks are where there is enough silver to block all (or just about all) of the light from its journey thru the emulsion and back to our eyes. However, the matt surface of some photopaper scatters light on the surface of the paper -- much more than glossy paper. Some of this light scattered on the surface comes back to our eyes. So instead of the silver blocking all the light from reflecting off the base back to our eyes, some of the light is reflected off the matt surface back to our eyes -- reducing the blackness.

Now, the reduction in the depth of the black on matt papers can appear to be lower the contrast due to a weaker max black. Increasing the contrast via filters can help to some extent in counteracting this loss of appearent contrast...but not how black the blacks are.

Of course glossy RC can have problems of reflecting light strongly to our eyes. Fiber glossy is the best of both worlds -- not too shiny to have the massive reflections of RC glossy, but not the amount of scattering of light as the surface of matt paper. (matt fiber tends to scatter light even more than RC matt).

But some images look great on Fiber matt. A friend's images of native American ruins in the SW printed of Fiber matt paper have black windows that one just visually falls into -- amazing.

In the end, one just has to print several images on several types of surfaces and see for oneself what they look like and determine which fits one's vision the best.

PS -- the surface of Agfa Portriga Rapid 111 (glossy fiber) was so so sweet!

 

[Rick A]

I love satin finish paper for portrait, gives a softer feel to the print. Some landscapes work better on matte or satin as well. I usually go for glossy when I print objects with harder contrast and sharp angles and lines, mainly architecture and abstracts.

 

[Domin]

I find glossy rc ugly and use it only for contact proofs.

 

[MattKing]

I shoot a fair number of shots that include boats and/or water. Ilford cooltone RC looks great for a lot of those shots.

Other subjects are also suited to that surface as well. Generally speaking, if you have lots of specular highlights and some dark blacks, it works well.

Small prints can benefit as well - the postcard exchange is a good place to try it.

Otherwise, I use a lot of pearl surface RC.

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

I had been posted the Da Vinci final coating recipes but his talk powder coated like faces are famous and it appears he did not use a glossy coating. Newer the art , stronger the colors and shorter the degrades.
I did not buy a 5500 dollars worth of Magnum Master of Leica Picasso print because it was glossy.
I bought two matt prints and never turned back.

 

[2F/2F]

I think it is best not to generalize, and to use what works on a print-by-print basis.

This being said, you can get great variety out of glossy paper by drying it different ways, or ferrotyping it. It would probably be the most "standard" and versatile surface to settle on.

It is also good to have an idea of what surface you will print on before you even shoot. The way I expose and develop for the rare times I use matte paper is very different than normal, as the matte surface can really suck up detail in the low tones, and can also really preserve it in the high tones. I use matte paper mostly for high-key pictures.

 

[MattKing]

I think 2F/2F is referring only to fibre based paper.

Trust me, you don't want to try ferrotyping RC !

 

[2F/2F]

I think 2F/2F is referring only to fibre based paper.

Trust me, you don't want to try ferrotyping RC !

Yes, fiber, of course. Perhaps I read the OP too quickly, but I thought the the poster was wanting to move from RC to FB.

For RC, I'd settle on semi-matte, pearl, or whatever it is called as your standard paper. It's the best of both worlds IMO.

Though Ilford does have a nice satin finish for an RC paper...

And glossy RC does have its applications for me, every now and then...

In other words, I think most people will find pearl surface the most universally-suitable paper, but try them all if you can, so you know what subject matter works well with what surface.