I offer two types of prints: pigment prints on Hahnemühle Photo Rag paper and c-type prints (or c-prints) on Fuji Crystal Archive paper. Both are printed by an experienced technician at a professional lab.

Pigment prints are made with an inkjet printer and consist of ink droplets deposited onto white paper.

C-type prints are made with a special type of printer that exposes photo-sensitive paper to light using LEDs. No ink is involved. It is more akin to a traditional darkroom print in that the image is made with light, not ink, and the paper goes through developer chemicals to create the image.

Generally, my bigger limited edition prints are offered as pigment prints but I can offer any print as a c-print by special order.

Each type of print has their pros and cons but overall, pigment prints are the preferred type of print for high-end fine art photographic printing. This is due almost exclusively to their enhanced archival characteristics compared to c-type, namely their resistance to fading and color shifts.

Archivability:

To put it simply, pigment prints last forever and never change. You and I will be long gone before we could ever see a pigment print deteriorate. C-type prints, however, fade and discolor with exposure to light (not just UV light, but all light). There are conflicting claims as to how long a c-type print will resist noticeable fading and discoloration. Some say 75 years, some say 30 years. Pigment prints, on the other hand, would likely last well beyond 150 years before any fading.

The Look:

Pigment prints on photo rag paper have a truly matte finish with rich blacks and good saturation.

C-type prints come in a variety of finishes like glossy, matte, or pearl. The matte finish on a c-type print looks different than the matte finish on a photo rag pigment print. It has a faint, fine pebble-like finish with a slight sheen whereas photo rag prints are a bit smoother and are truly matte. Glossy c-type prints are rich in both saturation and contrast and feature a glass-smooth surface with high reflectivity. Pearl prints take that further with their iridescent base that better picks up light. This gives pearl prints their trademark "glow" when viewed under certain lighting.

Some claim pigment prints are sharper than c-type prints. I've made many prints of both types and I've never seen a marked difference in sharpness between the two.

Protecting the Print (This One is Important!):

Pigment prints must be framed behind glass or plexiglass. Failing to frame your pigment print without this protection would negate its enhanced archivability (because pigment prints deteriorate when exposed to ozone in the air) and make it very, very susceptible to damage (because the surface of a pigment print is quite delicate and the ink is easily damaged by physical contact and moisture). If you do not want to frame a pigment print with glass or plexi, you'd have to spray it with an approved archival spray coating. I absolutely do not recommend this option as it's quite difficult to get the spray coat even, it may change the whole look of the print, and it offers very little extra protection against physical damage.

C-type prints have a built-in protective top-layer, so they can actually be framed with no glass, plexiglass, or spray coating whatsoever. Also, the smooth surface of a glossy or pearl c-type print makes it an ideal surface for lamination. By laminating a c-type print you gain better protection from physical damage and moisture without having to resort to glass or plexiglass.

Pigment prints on photo rag cannot be laminated in lieu of glass or plexiglass.

To put it simply: c-type prints can be framed without glass or plexiglass, pigment prints cannot.

Here's what all this boils down to: if you want the absolute longest-lasting print that will be viewed as a "true" fine art print because it was done using the top-tier archival processes and paper, a pigment print on photo rag is the way to go. The prints are gorgeous, they will last forever, and they carry the badge of being a "real" fine art print. But you'll have to frame it with glass or plexiglass, so you better be okay with that.

If, however, you really want to frame the print without glass or plexiglass (like the float-frame glass-free presentation style shown here), then you need to do a c-type print. A pearl c-print looks great mounted on gator board with a lustre lamination (this converts the glossy finish to matte) and a float-frame with no glass. But because of the worse archival characteristics, you'll have to be okay with a print that may be noticeably faded and color-shifted after a few decades or more. Also, prepare to be laughed out of the room if you try to tell a bunch of stuck-up photography forum snobs about your awesome c-type print, because there's a whole breed of photographer that doesn't take c-prints seriously on account of their reduced archival characteristics.

I really like glass-free float-frame artwork, so I do c-type prints frequently for my own home and office. But I also really like the look of a pigment print on photo rag float-mounted in a shadowbox, so sometimes I do that. It's a beautiful high-end look, but I don't like that it has glass because I don't like reflections and it makes the artwork much heavier. In either case, I simply weigh the pros and cons for that specific application and I just take the bad with the good.

If you'd like to frame your limited edition print without glass, email me to request a c-type print instead of the standard pigment print.

Here's an example of pigment prints on photo rag framed with glass:

And here's an example of a c-type print laminated and framed without glass: