The TRUTH regarding Glossy VS. Matte Screens
A few days ago, my new friend Sarah posted in one of our local photography group forums a question about Mac screens. Her concern was regarding the quality of printed images that you get when using a glossy screen vs. Apple’s “upgrade” to a matte screen. The question was curious to me, as I’d never heard someone make the correlation from screen type to print quality. In discussing it with her further, I found the source of this concern. Keep reading and I’ll share how Sarah came to this concern and the truth about glossy vs. matte.
So, in discussing this with Sarah further she pointed me to a photography blog that I’ve never heard of before. To be honest, there are only a few content related photography blogs that I read on a regular basis (in hopes that my content will be different and fresh). The blog was called Momtog.com. Cute name aside, the owner’s idea was to create a resource specifically for mom’s with cameras. A great idea if you ask me. I haven’t read through much of the blog, but most of the post I saw seemed to have relevant content and suggestions I would make as well. That is to say with the exception of THIS article regarding glossy vs. matte screens.
For an interesting, and mostly fact depleted article, please read her entire post. As a synopses, the writer basically says that glossy screens preset color less accurately than matte screens. She says the blacks are blacker and the color content is generally more rich or saturated when displayed on a glossy screen rather than displayed on a matte screen. As a result, if you edit your images on a glossy screen then your prints will have poor color. But, lets think about this for a moment.
The “upgrade” that Apple offers is basically a sticker that they install on your monitor to cancel out the glare that glossy screens can present in some environments. The writer’s primis is that this sticker somehow changes the saturation of the color presented on the monitor, restores a lower black point, and general increases the quality of the monitor. While there are a number of technical reasons why this isn’t entirely possible, I’ll just look at it more logically. Mac’s are typically used by designers, artist, photographers, etc. As such, why would Apple create a product that wouldn’t naturally provide their core customer base with an accurate usable screen out of the box? The answer is, they wouldn’t. Over the years I’ve used both 2 matte screen Macs and 2 glossy screen Macs. I’ve never had an issue editing or printing on any of them. Why is that?
The reason I’ve never had any trouble is because my display being either matte or glossy has nothing to do with how the the image is displayed on the screen. Glossy vs. matte is just determined by the type of glass (or sticker) that they put in front of the LCD. What really controls the “look” of the image is the monitor’s color profile. I wrote a pretty detailed article explaining color profiles last year if you’d like to read about them more in depth. The short answer is the color profile is what tells the LCD how black, saturated, what tones, and other variations in color to display. The color profile is basically the LCD’s road map. The color profile is created using a color calibrating tool like THIS or THIS. It creates a color profile based on the brightness setting of your monitor when calibrated. If you move the monitor to another environment where you have to increase or decrease the monitor brightness to see the screen better, then it will change how the calibrator would set the profile for the monitor. In all likelihood a bright location isn’t the best place to edit anyway. All that said, using a color calibrator is the ONLY way to make sure that a monitor is properly calibrated regardless if the display is glossy or matte. Typically you need to calibrate every 2 weeks to one month to make sure there hasn’t been any color shift in the display.
So, now your screen looks nice and the color is presented properly. What about printing? Well, printers need the same type of road map as the monitor. It tells the printer what colors to use in order to make your photos look like they do on the screen. The specific inks and papers used in a printer can change how all those colors look. Some papers are whiter than others, and some even have metallic bases. To make sure that you image is printed correctly, you need to use the proper printer/paper color profile when you save that image. Those profiles are created using similar calibrators to what is used on the screen, but they use reflected light and are a lot more expensive than the monitor calibrators listed above. The nice thing is most online printers make their profiles available for download for free. They usually just list them by the type of paper you order (glossy, matte, metallic, lustra, silk, etc.), but they are built specifically for that paper and the printer that company uses with that paper. When saving your image, just apply the proper print profile to the image before you upload it. If you ordered the same image on different paper, then you would need to save a second version of that image using the printer/paper profile for that paper. If you print on your own printer, the manufacture should have profiles available for download and information on what papers are designed for those profiles.
None of that I’m saying is to discount the personal preference aspect of using a glossy or matte screen. The link I posted earlier to Terry White’s blog is a great example. People have their preferences, and there is nothing wrong with that. As the image at the top shows, when the screen is off there can be a pretty massive glare. When it’s on I don’t have much issue with it. My photo editing monitor is in a low lit room in my home office to create the best editing environment possible. So if you like the matte finish I’m not telling you not to get it. If you like the glossy finish, that is OK too. It’s totally personal preference on which you want to use, but know that you can use either successfully.
I hope this helps everyone understand the issues here. I’ll say before I close that I have no personal issue with the Momtog owner or her content. More power to her and her continued success. I posted a comment on her blog hoping to explain this to her readers, but as of yet it’s not been approved (hopefully not due to me being a dad and not a mom). I do find it interesting at the end of her article she mostly invalidates her point by saying that some people have no issues with this and some do. Of course she also closes by saying if you have continued problems then you probably need to calibrate your monitor. :) I say EVERYONE calibrate, and calibrate often. Properly managing your color process will allow you to view your images correctly and make fantastic prints regardless of your monitor type.
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