glossy or matte?

[tourdeforce_]

...for those of us who aren't cool enough to have their own darkroom... what finish do you prefer and why?

 

[Gabriel M.A.]

Glossy, most of the time. Matte gives you muted highlights and muted shadows, but it's also great against fingerprints/smudges, and is also more pleasing for portraits in general. With those exceptions aside, glossy.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

For black and white, I tend to take matte over glossy as it seems to look better framed. For color I generally take glossy over matte.

 

[phototone]

I like glossy for the extended tonal range....however I don't like "glossy under glass" as in when you matte and frame a print under glass. There are too many reflections.

 

[thmk]

I take matte for framing and glossy for all others.

 

[Pherdinand]

i always had matte for a while but then i figured two things: 1 - on a flatbed, matte doesn't scan good enough (have no film scanner); 2- colour looks most of the time better on glossy, at least from the lab I frequent.