416 



HANDBOOK OF PHOTOGRAPHY 



Matte vs. Glossy Prints. — On the question of tone range of matte compared to glossy 

 prints, a communication from Rowland S. Potter, in The Camera, April, 1936, is inter- 

 esting. Sensitometric curves were made of normal grade Velour Black, a chloro- 

 bromide enlarging paper. Successive exposures differed by -\/2- The maximum 

 reflection density of glossy paper is clearly greater (see Fig. 2) than that of a matte 

 paper. If the matte print is waxed, its maximum densitj^ lies somewhere between that 



2.0 



0.8 



0.6 



0.A 



0.2 



A 



BB-1 

 Log Exposure Q-2 



Fig. 2. — Effect of waxing matte print WAf in increasing maximum density, approaching 



that of a glossy print G. 



of the glossy and the fully matted print. The table below gives the pertinent data 

 from this investigation. 



It will be noted that the darkest black of the glossy print is nearly 2J^ times blacker 

 than the darkest black of the matte print and that the waxed print has a blackness 

 about 75 per cent greater than the unwaxed print. Furthermore, the waxed matte 

 and the glossy prints both have greater contrast than the matte print, evidenced by 

 the steepness of the curves in the straight portions. In addition, the waxed and the 



