I found a good online site that I have used before to print the same A4 image in gloss and matte to see which looks best for displaying. As printing is very expensive I want to only do it when necessary, for example I was looking at printing in A3 in my local printing shop and it was £15 per print which is extortionate frankly, luckily there are cheaper alternatives online. What I would rather do when it comes to looking at display order is print from home on paper the three images I choose as them being gloss or matt has been covered here, that way I can reduce the cost but still have the prints big enough to really get a tangible idea of how they will be displayed.
matte
The matte image above, when laid flat, shows the texture of the image and its relatively unreflective properties. I originally preferred the gloss because the shimmer of the reflections makes the image appear more sleek, I cant really describe it but the rough texture of the matte gives it a different feel. As you can see with the gloss image below it has a very different quality to it, the gloss feels more sleek while the matte feels more durable. It is all about how they look on the wall however so I will see what results that yields.
gloss
Below is the images on a wall, as they would be displayed in the room. This is where I begin to have problems with gloss because of the immense reflective properties it has. With the lights on in the room I could see a pretty clear reflection of myself when stood at arms length from it. Whether this is just something due to the room itself or the lighting is something I will have to ascertain. With the matte however the image ignores the light and is undisturbed which is a positive thing for displaying as it doesn’t prevent the audience from engaging with the piece or being unable to view the whole image without streaks of light getting in the way.
matte
gloss
Overall I am unsure whether to go with matte or gloss, both having characteristics that I like however I am edging towards matte because of its reflective qualities, or lack thereof, I don’t want light to get in the way of people experiencing the photographs. I am going to put them up next to each other and ask a few people which the prefer before proceeding with the next steps of printing.
Shades of the City 