When you go to the film lab to develop photos, you usually get 2 choices: glossy or matte. Glossy means shiny, matte means no-shine, or non-glare. When you buy photo paper for your printer, you usually have many more options to choose from. For example: premium glossy, glossy, semi-gloss, matter photo papers, etc.

If you’re printing photos for a photo album, you often put a sleeve over the page. The sleeve adds instant gloss to whatever paper is underneath. So a matte paper will look glossy, and a glossy paper will look even glossier. So ask yourself; just how much gloss do you want?

Professional photographers tend to prefer matte coated papers, especially because a lot of their prints end up behind glass anyway. Matte papers tend to be the coating with the greater print life, or longevity. Some of the glossy coatings don’t last as long as matte papers, so it’s important to consider the longevity rating when you’re studying all of your options on the store shelf.

Another practical reason to select matte over glossy is that fingerprints don’t show up as they do on glossy. That’s important if you’re planning to handle the photos a lot before you stick them to your pages.

But most important! Choosing your favorite paper means nothing, unless you tell your printer what type of paper you’re feeding into it. When you print, your printer will show you a list of paper types to choose from. If you don’t see your type listed, read the instructions in the package. They will tell you what to select in your printer’s driver. Always remember to choose the correct paper setting your driver.