What Photo Finish is Best for Family Photos? A Comparison.
Many folks have asked about what finish they should choose when making prints so I figured a post about this was in order. The overarching thing I’ll say about selecting your photo finish is that it’s largely a matter of personal taste. Beyond that, I’ll compare my four preferred finishes and describe what differences one can notice between them.
Select a Quality Print House
The print house you select is important. There are multitudes of options out there for online print ordering, many of them great, many of them so-so. When I am trying to discern quality, I look for how true the colors look in print as compared to how they look on my screen. If you hear people refer to a print house’s color management, this is what they’re to referring to.
My two favorite online print houses are Bay Photo and Richard Photo Lab. No, these aren’t sponsors - I just love and trust their quality. ☺️ Both print houses offer a variety of finishes and papers, have straight-forward online ordering, and great customer service. I have noticed that in general, Bay Photo tends to print in slightly sharper contrast than Richard but it’s very slight and I can’t say that most families would notice the difference.
Print Finish Examples (soft light, low contrast)
All images below were printed at Bay Photo.
The top image finish is LUSTRE and the bottom is MATTE. Notice the top image has more magenta in the skin and slightly sharper details. The bottom image has slightly more gray in the skin tones and muted highlights.
Next up, the top image finish is SILK and the bottom is FUJI DEEP VELVET MATTE. Notice the top image has slightly desaturated color overall and more gray added to the whites and more yellow in the skin tone. The bottom image has a magenta lean and softened contrast to give a film-like quality.
Now compare all of them together: top left: LUSTRE, bottom left: MATTE, top right: SILK, bottom left: FUJI DEEP VELVET MATTE
They all have strengths so I can’t say one is better than the other. I think the LUSTRE has the truest color but I did like the softening of the MATTE. My choice for finish often comes down to the type of image I’m printing.
More Print Finish Examples (hard light, high contrast)
Top image is LUSTRE, bottom is MATTE. You can see more magenta in the LUSTRE finish, especially in the shadows and muted highlights in the MATTE finish (especially on his face and sweater).
Top image is SILK, bottom is FUJI DEEP VELVET MATTE. The SILK finish has rich array of shadows and darks and muted highlights while the FUJI DEEP VELVET MATTE brings up dark tones and makes them more mid tones. I also see a slight magenta lean again in this finish.
All of them together again. This time I think the SILK is my favorite finish (top right) as it gets the grays exactly right and softens the hard highlights a bit.
Black and White Photo Finish Examples
Top image is LUSTRE, bottom is MATTE. Notice the grays in the LUSTRE finish have a slight magenta tone to them while the grays in the MATTE finish have a slight green tone to them. The details are sharper in the LUSTRE finish (particularly in the highlights).
The top image is SILK, bottom is FUJI DEEP VELVET MATTE. I notice again a slight green tone in the grays in SILK finish (like MATTE finish above). Notice the bringing up the darks in the FUJI DEEP VELVET MATTE and how it recovers some details in the shadows.
Now all together… I think I like the FUJI DEEP VELVET MATTE best for this one. I realize I am often a sucker for that soft contrast film look when it comes to black and white images. On another day I might pick a different finish.
Hopefully these examples give you sense of how different finishes have an impact on how you experience your prints. The kind of images you have (high or low contrast, hard or soft light, vibrant or muted color, back or front or side lit, etc.) will play into the type of finish that will look best to your eye. My best advice to try different finishes and see what you prefer. If you’re planning to order large prints and not sure what finish to choose, I encourage you to order a variety of finishes in small 4x6 prints and see which one you like best. There are loads more options for finishes than just the ones described here - I just compared the ones I most often select for my personal prints. Bay Photo has a great summary of finishes here.
PS - No matter what print house you go with and what finish you choose, ALWAYS be sure you select “No Color Correction” when you’re ordering. Otherwise, the colors you see on your screen might look noticeably different than what you get on your prints.