Printing Materials

[chauncey]

I've only had about six images printed, all on metal and all of the family portrait variety.
Have been quite satisfied with the results, durability with my special needs children and
not needing a frame is a nice touch.

It does beg a question though...is there an accepted substrate for different genres, (floral/landscapes/portraits/BIF/critters)?

[lukaswerth]

To answer your question: certainly not, I'd say. It all depends on the printer's intention. When printing, you set an image into the physical word, and then it depends: where, in which environment do you visualize it, how do you want it to look, what should it state - also practical and worldly questions here: portability, costs, status...
The haptic dimension of a print is also quite important, more so than many people think.

Frame or not: the purpose of frames is certainly not just to hold the glass behind which is the picture. Print on canvas, for instance, and you may print around the edges, this constitutes a sort of frame. Otherwise and even with this feature, a canvas without frame looks that little bit raw; this might be intended. But frames draw you into a picture, invite the spectator to perceive it, think about it in a certain way. They decontextualize the image from the environment by creating their own context. I suppose your metal prints are spaced an inch or so from the wall: this alone constitutes a sort of frame.

So far my thoughts,
Lukas

[James G]

William,
In general, I tend to agree with Lukas.. But I do think that the medium you print on does influence the reaction to the image.

I print to paper media, and have never tried other substrates, mostly because I prefer to control the print process myself.
That said, I do tend to choose specific paper types for specific image types.

I wouldn't say that I am rigorous about the choice, since as Lukas says, I find that the image often 'suggests' a preferred media to me.

I suppose my preferences are mostly as follows:-
Gloss ..... Urban Landscape, Crowd groups, 'high frequency/detailed' images, architectural images
Lustre.....for images with vivid (not necessarily bright) colour
Pearl......because of the softer look to the paper I like it for botanical style images
Baryta ... because of the smooth warm whites I use it for dramatic B&W, Landscapes, and often portraits
Fine Art papers (Platinum, Etching, Smooth).... I use rarely ,mainly because of expense.

James

[chauncey]

It oftentimes takes me some time to digest responses...thanks guys.