What is Matte

I am new to photography so bear with me, I thought matte was textured kind of glossy paper, like the prints from school with your childs photo on it. The heavy weight and the hp matte look like regular paper to me.What do you guys print on these papers.I found Ilfords classic pearl it has alot of texture like the school portraits and is semi gloss.I thought this was what they called matte in the photo world or are there different kinds of matte paper.Someone please explain if you would about this thing called matte.Thanks

Matte Paper will look more like regular paper on the surface, for the most part. Matte technically just means not-glossy - here's a definition from the dictionary: lacking or deprived of luster or gloss: as a : having a usually smooth even surface free from shine or highlights . There is a second definition that describes as having a rough or granualar surface, but the first one is what applies to photo paper. Technically, things like canvas texture paper and some other "fine art" inkjet papers would also be considered matte as they do not have any shine or gloss to them.

kristi

pcbrown said:

I am new to photography so bear with me, I thought matte was
textured kind of glossy paper, like the prints from school with
your childs photo on it. The heavy weight and the hp matte look
like regular paper to me.What do you guys print on these papers.I
found Ilfords classic pearl it has alot of texture like the school
portraits and is semi gloss.I thought this was what they called
matte in the photo world or are there different kinds of matte
paper.Someone please explain if you would about this thing called
matte.Thanks

Click to expand...

Epson's matte is a flat, non-gloss finish. The stock is fairly heavy. Using Epson's ink with their heavyweight matte gives you an almost fade proof print.

pcbrown said:

I am new to photography so bear with me, I thought matte was
textured kind of glossy paper, like the prints from school with
your childs photo on it. The heavy weight and the hp matte look
like regular paper to me.What do you guys print on these papers.I
found Ilfords classic pearl it has alot of texture like the school
portraits and is semi gloss.I thought this was what they called
matte in the photo world or are there different kinds of matte
paper.Someone please explain if you would about this thing called
matte.Thanks

Click to expand...

The definitions are good.

I prefer the Epson Matte paper to glossy or semi gloss papers, but then I kind of like the fine art look.

Matte is also a lot less expensive than glossy and semi gloss papers.

--Bob D.