My personal choice is glass,   recently i got the same image in gloss
and matt and ended up giving the matt one away cause i didn't like it.

If you are looking for low price - high quality images give Hydro (old
regular here) a go at www.photoenlargements.com.au

$5 for a 12x18    or if you order 20 they are $2 ea.

I order 20 and flogged them off to friends for $10 ea.

I love gloss for it's crispness, but hate it for it collecting dust
and fingerprints.

I hate matt... period! Matt often kills an image IMO.

So I go for in between with a "lustre" which gives a nice semi-shiny
textured surface.  When I artmount I find that it works really well
with a gloss lacquer.

Cheers

rusty

I normally prefer neither and go for an inbetween finish
that Fuji call "Lustre". Note that what some labs call matte
is really lustre anyway (Rabbit and Harvey Norman both call
it Matte).

Each finish has it's advantages and disadvantages.
Gloss is the sharpest of all the papers. Great for punchy
colours and images with lots of fine detail. The downside of
gloss is that it shows dust and fingerprints like crazy. If
you are framing it, you should use a mat so that the print
doesn't directly touch the glass, or it will look ugly.

Matte tends to have more subdued colours than gloss, and
doesn't look as sharp. It doesn't show fingerprints or dust
as much so it is good for prints that aren't behind glass or
that will get handled. If behind glass it can touch the
glass without looking bad too.

Lustre is kind of half way between gloss and matte. It's
"punch" is pretty similar to gloss, but like matte it
doesn't show dust or fingerprints as bad. It isn't as sharp
as either, but for a large print that usually isn't an issue.

I find that some of my images work best on different papers.
 As a general rule things with bright, punchy colours will
probably work best on Gloss or Lustre, while if it has more
subdued colours or B&W it may work better on Matte. But like
anything there are exceptions. Some of my B&W's look better
on gloss than on Matte.

If you are printing large (about 11x14 or bigger), I
personally wouldn't bother with Gloss and go with Lustre
instead, because at the typical viewing distance you won't
really notice the grain in the paper (more so as the print
sizes get bigger), but you will notice a fingerprint, dust,
or the marks when a gloss print sticks to glass.

My opinions of course - YMMV.

Most of your "world-recognized sought-after Professional photographers
with 25 years of experience" prefer canvas prints.  That way you don't
have to waste money on good cameras or expensive lenses.
Any old Crapasonic P&S will do.

Troy Piggins wrote,on my timestamp of 23/05/2008 11:10 AM:

B&W: matt
colour: gloss