What's the difference between matte and glossy photo paper?

Are you going to develop or enlarge your pictures? Good idea! But now there's another decision to make: which photo paper should you choose – matte, half matte or glossy? Below, we explain which type of photo paper is most appropriate for your exact intentions.

Developing or enlarging your pictures is a much more fun way to preserve them than having them sitting in your phone's camera album or in a folder on your computer. Making a photo album that is easily accessible and well-organised makes it much more pleasant to flick through, both for you and for others. In the same way, framing and putting up your pictures on the wall is a stylish way to highlight your most treasured memories. But what kind of photo paper works best for different kinds of photo?

Standard photo paper of the highest quality

Our standard photo paper comes from the renowned Hahnemühle, a world-leader in photo paper. This photo paper is very high quality.

Half matte photo paper - for framing

If you are going to frame your picture, we recommend in the vast majority of cases that you choose half matte photo paper. The half matte photo paper that we use – Photo Luster 260 g – is perfect for all kinds of images and gives your picture beautiful colours and contrasts.

Glossy photo paper - for photo albums

The glossy photo paper we use – Photo Glossy – is a strong, high-quality 290 gram paper. This kind of photo paper gives your pictures a radiant surface with a lot of life and sparkle; a perfect choice for pictures that you plan to put in a photo album. This kind of glossy paper is not, however, so appropriate for framing: partly because it creates lots of reflections, and partly because glossy pictures can get stuck against the picture frame's glass..

Fine Art - for artistic enlargements

If you have a beautiful artwork, an artistic photo or maybe an especially cherished photograph that you want to make even more intense and deep, then you can choose the Fine Art paper in three variations.

Fine Art - Bamboo 290 g

Bamboo 290 g is the world's first photo paper made from bamboo fibre. This Fine-Art paper has a completely matte surface and gives your pictures a unique feeling and somewhat warmer tones.

Fine Art - Photo Rag 308 g

This photo paper is made of 100% cotton, which gives your picture a handsome, matte surface and impressive depth. Photo Rag is one of the most popular choices for enlargements, and works wonderfully for both black & white and colourful pictures.

Fine Art - German Etching 310 g

German Etching is a white artists’ paper with a finely structured surface made of 100% alpha cellulose, which makes the image look almost like a painting. A very striking choice that gives your image a lot of feeling and character.

Time to choose photo paper!

So, which photo paper will you choose for your image? Here is our brief summary:

Photo Luster 260 g - half matte and high-quality photo paper that works well for pictures you are intending to frame.

Photo Glossy 290 g - glossy and high-quality photo paper that works best for photos you are thinking of having in a photo album.

Fine Art paper - three kinds of matte photo paper that give a special depth and a lot of feeling to art or photographs.

Order picture development online

You can order development and enlargement of your pictures here - easy and fast!