I believe this love of glossy stems from a thinking that new and shiny equate to quality.
Not really. It's what others think, buyers of one's work, judges making a decision on winning prints. As I said before, the glossy prints, because of the bright and vivid colors and rich tonality, win photo contests and as another member stated, sells photographs. Fuji made vast inroads into the color slide film market with its Velvia and Provia slide film because of their saturated colors. Kodak had to manufacture similar films to compete. Films with saturated colors is what the market wanted. Professionals converted to Velvia and Provia because the slides they submitted to art directors using those films sold. Lots of purists dislike what they consider unnatural colors, but the marketplace won that argument. I like glossy for many of my prints but I certainly don't equate new and shiny with quality. I judge quality by traditional criteria of composition, impact, etc. As I said before, I use all kinds of paper depending on the subject matter. If you are selling automobile photos, you would want to use the type of paper that best captures the bright and shiny look of a new car. However, in general, it all comes down to personal taste and tradeoffs. By the way just what is wrong to be attracted by the new and shiny? To be attracted by the old and dull is right?
Dan
