Printing DSO images - matte, gloss or satin?

[Beardy Bob]

Hey folks. I know that for general photography the finish on a photo is down to personal preference, but DSO astrophotos are quite specific in their make-up (mostly black with white dots and softly coloured wispy bits!).

My instinct is gloss, but I'm worried about the black regions looking too shiny in a glossy image (which they obviously don't in real life!), and the less shiny wispy detail being lost somewhat. I'm also aware of how much the black regions of an image framed behind glass (if I decide to do that) act as a very effective mirror!

Has anyone tried different finishes?

[jgs001]

I had some printed out from togsprint.com a little while back, at 18x12 (poster print). They came out very nicely... The paper has a satin finish, so sort of shiny matt if that makes sense.

http://www.togsprint.com/store/index.php/poster-prints/18-x-12-poster-print.html

[Beardy Bob]

Thanks John.

I'm beginning to think that satin might be the way to go. I certainly don't want to lose the sharpness and colour that printing in complete matte is meant to do, but the blacks of a completely gloss image might be just a bit too shiny.

[ollypenrice]

A professional photographer does my prints while I'm there. We tweak them in Ps for his printer. They are on a very fine grained mat paper which he then sends off to be put onto board and finally plastic laminated. The mat, though fine, does lose a little resolution but there are are no reflections and I love the look of them. I'm afraid all this is in France, of course.

Olly

[jgs001]

I've got a moon shot printed by the same company on matte and it worked, but seems to be a little lacking... I think gloss would as you say be a bit too much. Given the 18x12 is only £3 I'd suggest trying one and see how it goes. Make sure you download the proofing profile for the printer and use it to check on screen roughly what it'll look like.

[Beardy Bob]

yes, that sounds brill for £3. i'll download the colour profile now and check it out before ordering. thanks for the tip.

[roundycat]

without question the best technical finish is with gloss paper. It can produce the highest reflection density and about a seven f stop range in good lighting. It will also give you the best spatial resolution compared to any other paper finish. Just look at a glossy print from a direction that does not produce glare form the local lighting.

Dennis

[Shibby]

I'm looking for somewhere to print DSOs.... togsprint.com seems to have changed hands to ISL Photographic? Is this the same company? Can somebody recommend any other printers to use? And what would be the best type of printing?