true matt printing

lenco75

I find for many of my images that i would prefer a completely matt finish. I shoot digital and as i' m sure you're aware most places just offer fuji crystal archive in semi-matt or gloss.

Anyone know of a place either in dublin or recommend somewhere on the web where i can get true matt prints, preferebly on a heavy weight paper. i did run a cheap epson at home, but never got used to all the faffing.

GristlyEnd

It might be worth looking into printing at home again. Hahnemühle and Ilford have some lovely heavyweight paper. They have a huge choice of finishes. I use some pearl paper which is not a completely matt paper but the results are stunning (to me) compared to glossy or semi-matt paper.

on-line paper in the UK have a great selection of paper. Partnered with your Epson you could be suprised at the results.

tnkrbell

my parents always get their photos printed out in matt finish in the local chemist or else in harvey norman.though these pics are usually just holiday snaps so have no idea how good of a quality these would be for yourself. no harm in try in trying though
best bet is to try gunns they seem to print in a lot of ways

elven

Are you thinking of the odd large print, or as in a bunch of 5x7's?

Don't we have someone on boards here who does large prints as a service?

I'm surprised how well I got on with the proper matt paper with my own printer - a bottom of the range epson thingamybob. It just eats up the ink though. Better if you have a lot of pale images!

TYR ->

printing it yourself would be the best. A good printer to have is the Canon pixma MP 610.

stcstc

It depends what you mean by matt prints


I do printing, and have done quite a bit for some people on here

there are various types of matt prints, there are fine art prints, which are fibre based matt paper, generally the paper is of a very high standard and quite expensive and doesnt suite every image

there is also a semi matt, which is what most places use, i use two pearl papers, fuji pearl, which is a heavy semi gloss/ lustre paper, and looks great

also use ilford smooth pearl which is nice, not quite the same range but very durable


Matt papers tend to have quite heavy texture to the paper and therefore some types of images just look wrong

Also good matt papers dont have as much range and suite B&W very well but dont give the pop to colour that it sometimes needs

It really depends what you want. if your looking for some large fine art prints give me a shout i can maybe be of some help. if you want to run off a whole bunch of prints small sizes etc then just order them online from one of the online places

lenco75

thanks for the replies- I'm looking at printing a few A3 prints, some of the images i've had awhile and have already seen them on gloss and lustre, I miss the velvet blacks of matt FB paper.

I would consider going back to home printing if someone could suggest a setup that they use and are happy with, as I said I'd like to print up to A3 but I know that quality at that size is expensive so if you got a A4 set up that you recommend let me know- thanks john

stcstc

As you know with traditional fibre papers, there are so many diferent looks and finishes

in the same way there is with fine are matt papers for inkjets printing

one thing i would say is you can get close to fibre based trad papers in terms of look BUT its not quite the same


I recently tried a new ilford paper, which is quite nice called gold fibre silk, and its not a fully matt paper but gives a quite traditional look to it

GristlyEnd

stcstc wrote: »

I recently tried a new ilford paper, which is quite nice called gold fibre silk, and its not a fully matt paper but gives a quite traditional look to it

I saw that paper at focus in Birmingham last month. The prints they had done where very flat and had a watercolour look to them. It looks like a paper that would not be suitable for all photos.

stcstc

yea darren i agree it not for everything, but if lenco is looking for traditional type papers its quite a cheap paper to try

the ones i have found the best are the hannamulle stuff and the Da Vinci stuff by far, but boxes or rolls of that stuff cost a fortune, and if lenco is not sure exactly what he want you need to experiment a little

and with most fine art papers you have to pick one that suite each image rather than use just one paper

Mellor

stcstc wrote: »

yea darren i agree it not for everything, but if lenco is looking for traditional type papers its quite a cheap paper to try

the ones i have found the best are the hannamulle stuff and the Da Vinci stuff by far, but boxes or rolls of that stuff cost a fortune, and if lenco is not sure exactly what he want you need to experiment a little

and with most fine art papers you have to pick one that suite each image rather than use just one paper

I'm pretty sure that Hackets do this in large format.

lenco75

I hadn't thought of hackets- I'll give it a try, I got some large inkjet stuff done at reads- wasn't really impressive- but it was matt. It seems that most of the experimentation in printing goes on at home- just like the wet darkroom. thanks again