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Monochrome - Which surface, matt or gloss? - part 2 of 1 2 3

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Matt surfaces are easily marked and should be handled with great care. A finishing coat of varnish or 'fixative spray' (as the artists tend to call it) will assist in protecting the surface with little change in the surface texture. To service this requirement many of the paper suppliers also offer fixatives and varnishes of various types. Putting a matt print behind glass or giving it a gloss giclee varnish seems a waste to this writer, you might as well go right to a gloss material or a lustre.

Mat, Matte or Matt?

We need to take the opportunity to repeat our words from some time back in regard to the use of the word matt. Matte is traditionally reserved for 'a waste sulphide crust in copper smelting' or 'a type of mask used in cinematography to hide parts of an image'. The Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors defines matt as, "dull without lustre" and matte as a "mask used in film making". Longmans' Dictionary lists both spellings as "dull without lustre". The Cambridge Dictionary lists matt for UK and matte for the USA, both as 'a non-shiny surface'.

Encyclopaedia Britannica lists only a sulphide slag. Mat is always wrong, that is what a cat sits upon, in spite of some words on the web to the contrary. We have decided to go (as usual) with Oxford and shall henceforth be using matt unless the makers have chosen matte as part of their product name.

Most manufacturers provide a range of surfaces and base media. The graph shows the Innova range and the colour of the base white on the Lab scale. The arrows indicate the tone, warm and creamier towards the top and cool and blue down to the lower right. The further down and to the right the base colour is situated usually means a higher level of optical brighteners. The cluster of papers above the yellow arrow are the naturally cream papers. The coolest of the Innova range is the Ultra Smooth Gloss. The 'effect' of the base tone is also influenced by the choice of printer setting with, for example, the Epson ABW. A warm printing tone on a warm paper creates a very good mimic of a traditional warm-toned silver halide print.

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last update 09/12/2022 15:00:24

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