Photographers have preferences about everything from their favorite cameras to their best lenses, how they edit their photos, and what kind of photo paper they use to print. What if your own preferences don’t match what your potential customers like? We asked dozens of average people which photo paper and print product they prefer, and the results weren’t what I expected.
If you’ve watched our hilarious Ritz Camera Chronicles video series, you probably know that I started my photography journey as a sweaty hourly employee in a print lab. If you drop your roll of film or upload your digital files to one of the many kiosks in our store, chances are I’m the one who colorized and printed your photos. All the stores I work with are printed on Fujicolor Crystal Archive Type II paper only, and it comes in two varieties: glossy and matte.
Most people submitting print orders choose glossy paper, and if not, that’s the default paper we use. However, I always prefer matte paper because it adds what I call “artistic beauty” to prints. Glossy paper is sharp and vibrant but prone to fingerprints and light reflections causing tons of glare per print. In contrast, matte paper softens prints a bit, masking a lot of the marks left by oily fingers and significantly reducing reflections on the paper.
When it comes time to print my own photos, I almost always choose matte paper over the standard glossy paper. While both of these paper options are of the highest quality for regular prints (the paper itself is sensitive to light and needs to be developed with traditional darkroom chemicals), the largest prints that I can do is limited to a width of about 10 inches or sometimes 15 inches. If I want to create larger prints for my walls or even posters, I have a hard time having to use an inkjet printer that only prints on glossy paper. These prints were of lower quality than the Fujicolor paper I was used to, and the final print was not archival quality for fine art.
When print large lab Saal-Digital contacted me a few months ago asking for some photography related content ideas, I thought it would be interesting to review the printing process and see what options I may have overlooked or do not consider when printing your work. Since my days at the now defunct Ritz Camera, most of my photos are printed on the same inkjet glossy paper as before, or I’ve spent more money on mounted prints. acrylic face looks very modern and contemporary. I’ve never used any “archive paper” and I’ve never printed on metal, PVC, or canvas, though I’m fairly familiar with canvas printing found in places like Kinkos, Costco , etc. professional laboratory.
As I was about to order a bunch of different fine art archives through the Saal-Digital print portal, another idea occurred to me. What types of papers and printed products do the average person on the street like best? Is there any chance that my potential wedding and portrait clients don’t actually prefer matte paper over glossy paper? What if my acrylic mounted image is too modern for my client and they actually prefer the traditional canvas print much more? Did I miss not printing on brushed metal, or is it a more novel medium that most people don’t like at all?
These questions seemed really interesting to me, so I set out to rediscover what my favorite print choices were but also to see what ordinary non-street photographers might be able to do. what to like. The video above outlines things better than I can do in text form, but I’ll share a bit about the paper and product I used and the end result.
Paper options
Saal-Digital offers several options when it comes to printing on fine art, archives. Many of these names may be owned by the Saal-Digital lab, while others are more recognizable as they have been the norm in the fine art printing world for decades. Since I’m fairly inexperienced with most of these printing options, I asked Saal-Digital to recommend their five most popular papers, and these are the ones they recommend.
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Hahnemühle FineArt Baryta: This paper is the only paper with high gloss. Like all of the papers below, Baryta paper is quite thick and has a good weight. All papers are thick enough to stand on their own without bending. For this test, I ordered all 16×24″ (15×23″ actual paper).
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Hahnemühle Photo Rag: This option is made of 100% cotton. Unlike the Baryta paper above, it has a nice matte finish, almost like printing on a dollar bill. Of course, this paper is much thicker, but it has a good tactile feel, definitely more like a fine art print than the Fujicolor paper I’ve printed.
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Natural bamboo line Hahnemühle: As you might expect, this paper is similar to the Photo Rag above but is made from 90% Bamboo. This makes the paper more environmentally friendly and also allows for some of the highest archival quality of any paper offered on this list. To me, the look was almost indistinguishable from all the “matte” papers tested.
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Hahnemühle Hemp natural line: This paper is very similar to the Bamboo type above in that it is both eco-friendly and one of the most prized for archival properties. With a blend of 40% cotton and 60% hemp, this paper looks great and feels great too.
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Hahnemühle Engraving Museum: Like the Photo Rag paper above, the Museum Etching option is also 100% cotton and has the same archival quality as in all of the matte options above.
Rigid print options
For personal artwork and photos used with custom frames, raw archival paper will likely be your first step to printing artwork. If you want something ready to hang without any frames, you might want to consider some of these other printing options. Using the same two images I used to print on the five archives above, I also ordered four different “wall decor” products for real-world comparison and testing.
- Acrylic prints: These prints are bonded to a 5mm thick piece of acrylic. I’ve printed these before and love the modern look of the final prints. The edges reflect the color of the print itself, looking ultra-modern.
- Metal print: Each of these ready-to-hang pieces is printed on a 0.1″ aluminum composite panel. Not only are they tough, but they’re also extremely resistant to fingerprints and moisture. different improvements, but I want to use as much of the fuzzy option as possible.
- Printed PVC foam sheet: Using the UV direct printing process, this option places the print directly onto a 5mm white PVC foam sheet. Colors and sharpness are incredibly vibrant and prints can be hung just as easily as with custom frames. Unlike the Metal Print option, the PVC Foam Sheet has a considerable thickness to reveal the whiteboard underneath the print, which may not be the best finish.
- Picture Canvas: This is probably the most widely used option when printing a ready-to-hang artwork. A piece of natural fabric is stretched around a sturdy wooden frame and your image is printed directly onto the fabric. The resolution isn’t as high as some of the other options above, but this wall decor option has been a staple for many print labs.
Which option is best?
So what was the result of this experiment? When it comes to raw photos printed on five different archival papers, I definitely prefer the four “matte” options over the more glossy Baryta paper. Choosing a particular newspaper is difficult because in my eyes they are all 99% alike. The difference in texture, thickness, and feel is so subtle that I didn’t know I really loved it. If I had to pick one, I’d probably choose Hahnemühle Museum Etching because it’s the thickest paper option.
When we ask random people about the place What kind of paper do they like to take pictures with?, the results are quite shocking. Instead of using one of the matte options that I enjoyed, 45% of respondents actually opted for the more glossy Baryta paper. The second most popular type of paper is the binding between the Hemp series and the Natural Bamboo line at a rate of 20% each. My favorite newspaper, Museum Etching, came in 4th place with just 11% of the vote.
When it comes to printing a ready-to-hang wall decor print, my favorite choices are definitely acrylic prints. I have some huge acrylic prints in my photography studio and for modern and impactful photography I think the thick acrylic front will give the biggest impact to your work. I was also really impressed with the brushed metal prints.
For the murals, we randomly asked our “potential customers” two different questions. The first is: “Which product do you prefer for a piece of art on your wall?The top two answers are brushed aluminum prints at 42% and acrylic prints at 40%. Most people like these two options as well, and the answers are even less. interestingly the canvas option appeared last with only a single vote at 2%.
The second question we ask people in public is: “Which product would you prefer if you printed a personal or casual photo on your wall?” Again, the brushed aluminum print came in at number one with 37% of the votes. In an odd twist, the canvas print came in almost second with 25% of the vote, while depending Selected acrylic printing accounted for 27% of the votes.
My food
This print test is truly eye-opening, and I’m shocked at how popular glossy paper is compared to my preferred matte printing option. While Baryta glossy paper got 45% of the total vote, making it the most popular personal paper, the remaining 55% chose one of the matte options. Since I can’t tell the difference between any of these four papers, I think the correct way to interpret these results is that the glossy vs matte debate is roughly divided. 50/50. Because people have a strong preference between the two, I make sure I always ask my clients what finish they want when submitting prints.
I also find it interesting that a lot of the people we interviewed don’t like canvas prints. Sure, many people have said that canvas prints look more suited to casual “snapshots” images, but most people are really impressed with the more modern brushed metal and glossy acrylic printing options. . It is also interesting to know how many people have never seen these products available for photo printing. Only a few of the people we spoke to have ever printed on anything other than canvas, which tells me that many of my clients would probably enjoy these printing options if they only knew the art options. This more modern photography wall art.
Special offer
I want to give a big thank you to Saal-Digital for sponsoring this video and article and for allowing me to do this fun photography experiment. As part of all of our sponsorship partnerships, Saal-Digital is giving Fstoppers readers a sweet holiday offer on all the print options available on their website. Right now, you can save 50% on exclusive Fstoppers Links. Just make sure you answer a few questions to get a discount code.
