When do you use matt paper?

[mhulsman]

development - development and then development....

when my girlfriend (much better than me in the darkroom) makes her magic - she can make the blacks as black as a dark hole in the universe - and still keep the details.....

It's not the paper - it is the development. (in my experience)

Can you tell me more about that.
Which paper, developer and times is she using.

I am using Ilford MGIVFB matt, Ilford multigrade developer 1+9 at 20 degrees celcius at 2,5 minutes.

[Brian Ellis]

I never use glossy paper, I use either matte or semi-gloss. Many photographers prefer glossy because it produces maximum black. I don't like it because it reflects light which can make it difficult to see the entire image from one vantage point (of course if the print is framed and under glass that's a problem with any paper but I don't frame more than maybe 1 in 100 of my prints). I'm a believer in Dick Arentz's (I think) observation that you don't need maximum black, you just need an adequate black. For me matte or semi-gloss usually produces an adequate black.

[emh]

I use matte paper about 90% of the time. I do a lot of hand-coloring, which doesn't work on glossy papers. I also do some selective bleaching/toning, applying the bleach/toner with medical cotton-tipped applicators. The "tooth" of matte paper seems to allow more control, as they don't run as much.

[Gary L. Quay]

I use matt FB paper for anything that doesn't need deep blacks, and where the delicacy of the details is paramount.

--Gary

[MDR]

I use matt paper for 98% of my work, I prefer the slightly textured surface of Matt paper to the flat surface of glossy paper. I also believe that pictures printed on matt paper have more depth than the same image printed on glossy paper (the photo is inside the paper, with glossy paper the image is on the surface). And in a solo exhibition nobody will complain because of the lack depth in the blacks they have nothing to compare.

[Scott Walker]

I also use matt paper for hand coloring, gloss for everything else though.

[Roger Cole]

Never, at least so far. Don't like the reduced d-max.

In fiber I prefer what used to be called glossy-dried-matte, or glossy paper not ferrotyped. In RC I prefer Ilford Pearl or equivalent, which looks much like the FB glossy air dried.

[cyrus]

I don't really get this thing about how glossy blacks are supposedly blacker.

[Vaughn]

I don't really get this thing about how glossy blacks are supposedly blacker.

It comes from how we actually perceive the blacks (and other tones) in a print. What we see is light passing through the emulsion (from the front, obviously), reflecting off the paper base, through the emulsion again, and to our eyes. The silver in the emulsion blocks some of the light on both of its trips thru the emulsion. If the silver blocks enough light, then we see a "black".

So what we see as a black is just a reduction of the light that can pass thru the emulsion twice.

A matt paper is highly textured and it scatters light on its emulsion surface in many directions.* So in the blacks even though the emulsion is not allowing any light to reflect off the paper base, through the emulsion and to out eyes, there is still some light reaching our eyes in the blacks due to the scattering of light on the emulsion surface -- thus the blacks are not so black.

* Glossy papers tend to bounce light off instead of scattering it.

[cyrus]

It comes from how we actually perceive the blacks (and other tones) in a print. What we see is light passing through the emulsion (from the front, obviously), reflecting off the paper base, through the emulsion again, and to our eyes. The silver in the emulsion blocks some of the light on both of its trips thru the emulsion. If the silver blocks enough light, then we see a "black".

So what we see as a black is just a reduction of the light that can pass thru the emulsion twice.

A matt paper is highly textured and it scatters light on its emulsion surface in many directions.* So in the blacks even though the emulsion is not allowing any light to reflect off the paper base, through the emulsion and to out eyes, there is still some light reaching our eyes in the blacks due to the scattering of light on the emulsion surface -- thus the blacks are not so black.

* Glossy papers tend to bounce light off instead of scattering it.

But wouldn't a textured surface that doesn't reflect light as well appear MORE black, just as a piece of black velvet is darker appearing than a piece of black plastic?