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Thread: What type of print finish is best for framing behind acrylic glass?

  1. #1

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    Gary Marsh

    What type of print finish is best for framing behind acrylic glass?

    Can anyone please advise on the following....

    I have a couple of prints that I would like to have framed to about A2 size. I was thinking of sending them to a professional lab like Whitewall UK, but I am not sure what the best print finish would be to show them off at their best. What I want to know is are they better in a gloss, matte or lustre finish when mounted behind glass.

    Any help really appreciated!

    Regards
    Gary

  2. #2
    Moderator Manfred M's Avatar
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    Re: What type of print finish is best for framing behind acrylic glass?

    Matt finish. Any kind of gloss or lustre will cause reflection problems and will degrade image you are viewing through the glass or acrylic. I tend to prefer real glass, as it is more scratch resistant than any resin and it will not yellow over time..

    Are you planning to have the picture mounted on mats?

  3. #3
    DanK's Avatar
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    Re: What type of print finish is best for framing behind acrylic glass?

    I have a somewhat different view than Manfred. I agree with him about avoiding glossy. However, I do the majority of my prints on luster paper (most often, Moab Lasal Exhibition luster). There are a lot of differences in the appearance of images on matte and luster paper, even if you ignore reflections. Matte has a smaller gamut, and the difference in surface texture makes a big difference. Sometimes I prefer a particular image on a matte paper, but often I prefer luster for the wider gamut and better detail. Since lab photos are cheap, you might want to send a few in for both luster and matte and see what you think.

    With respect to glare and reflection: that is an issue, particularly under certain kinds of lighting. However, luster has a lot less reflection than glossy. I'm looking at a wall over my dsk that has four prints on luster paper behind glass, and the reflections I see are from the glass, not the photo. (You can tell, because the reflections continue over the white matte.)

    I agree with Manfred about acrylic. I always use glass, usually a UV-resistant glass (which is what comes with some Nielson metal frames).

  4. #4
    rpcrowe's Avatar
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    Re: What type of print finish is best for framing behind acrylic glass?

    I might also mention that if you have an image with a lot of small detail, framing it behind a non-reflective glass will often cause the image to lose detail when viewed.

    I have a 16x20 inch image of a waterfall hanging on my wall. It is tack sharp (Oh! oh!; that's another thread) when viewed without the non-reflective glass covering the glossy print. However, when viewed from behind the protective glass, it looks nowhere as sharp!

  5. #5
    Moderator Manfred M's Avatar
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    Re: What type of print finish is best for framing behind acrylic glass?

    I have successfully mounted mat, lustre (not the specific paper Dan uses) and even glossy under glass. I have had instances, where I have had problems with minor reflections off lustre (and certainly glossy) paper, but those were specific to location and where the strong light bounced off the image and there was a bit of a soft reflection back. Success there is really dependent on where the picture is mounted

    All glass cuts the amount of UV light getting through to the image, special UV glass improves this, but the samples of UV glass I've seen do have a slight yellow tint.

    If you are looking at using an anti-glare glas and want to reduce the softening effect, make sure that the picture is mounted right against the glass, as this minimizes the impact. If you have the image behind a mat, this effect is accentuated.

    If you are planning to mount the picture straight on the glass without matting, glossy paper has a second problem, you can easily get interference patterns (moire patterns) if the contact with the glass is not perfect.

  6. #6

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    Re: What type of print finish is best for framing behind acrylic glass?

    Thanks to everyone who has taken time out to reply to my message, much appreciated.
    Regards
    Gary

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