Gloss or Matte finish?

What type of finish are you offering your customers?

Something about the gloss finish seems sort of amatuerish, but the matte finish seems so flat sometimes.

Matte. You don't have all the reflection that glossy gives.

I typically use something inbetween that my local lab calls ' lustre'.

Picturecrazy, what lab are you using, if you don't mind me asking.

I use Technicare.... but I'm way out in Edmonton, and I think they are only spread out along western Canada... =(

They DO ship orders to your door though, if you are still interested.
http://www.technicare.​com/

Orders and uploads are through their Java interface. Send me your email address through a PM and I can reply with their price list attached. Their pricing is good, but not any better than most other labs. I am satisfied with their prints.

I hate matte with a passion. I've nener seen anything but a fine art piece or maybe a landscape that look good on matte.

Luster is great, I use a similar paper the Ilford Galleries Smooth Pearl, has the same tooth and vibrancy that luster has but with a bit more shine to it.

I wish the labs here used Ilford. I love their products.

I only shoot with Ilford film.

But really, I have been quite satisfied with Kodak print products.

Lustre, which is very similar to matte. Glossy reminds me of the photos from my cheap camera that got processed in 24 hours for $10, they look cheap to me. I have both Fuji and Kodak labs, I generally prefer Fuji but the Kodak pro lab looks just as good. Cheap Kodak labs I don't like so much, not sure why.

Also, a question. Does anyone do borders, or anything fancy on customer prints, or the print, the whole print, and nothing but the print?

Just the print, the whole print, and nothing but the print.

And yes, kodak consumer products suck. Their pro lines are good though.

I like Matte paper over glossy.. specially those that have a bit of a glossy look to them... not as dull as "matte matte" finish

MPix has pretty nice paper if you choose matte

I think it depends... on some images glossy works great, especially if you want high contrast, while matte feels great for softer toned images.

We give a "Gloss or Lustre" option on our web-site when a client orders prints. I must say that 95% order Lustre. I personaly prefer it to Gloss, it just looks more professional - and printed on a Fuji system.

TJ

Gloss 6x4 for 'proof' prints which we get a lab to do, and Fuji Satin Photo for everything else we print ourselves in-house.

Rob

tim wrote in post #2395599
Also, a question. Does anyone do borders, or anything fancy on customer prints, or the print, the whole print, and nothing but the print?

Very good question that has been in the back of my mind for a while. I do the whole print, no borders, etc.

Since you asked the question Tim, what do you do?

Back OT - The lab I use offers the glossy, the lustre and a kinda shiny matte. Most customers seem to prefer the lustre. For many of my prints, I like the matte that's offered as it doesn't seem to loose any contrast and looks very good when hanging.

Proofs - 4x6 glossy