What Is Better Acrylic Or Metal Prints?
Acrylic prints have a higher color vibrancy and color fidelity than metal prints. However, metal prints are less expensive than acrylic prints. The frameless appearance of acrylic and metal prints is sleek and contemporary. Metal and acrylic prints have many advantages over traditional ones. Metal Prints and acrylic prints are both fantastic photo art products for making your photos stand out, but which is best for printing your photos? What style and decor will fit your home? Check out this comparison between metallic prints and acrylic prints to arrive at a better decision.
Acrylic Prints vs. Metal Print: Overview
Thanks to their versatility, durability, and aesthetic appeal, recent years have seen a surge in the popularity of acrylic and metal prints. While acrylic prints can be created using various methods, most begin with a high-quality photo print, attached to plexiglass. As a result, we have a modern, vibrant look. A beautiful decor piece can be created by transferring inks from paper to metal. A metal print looks amazing from every angle. All the popular print products are available in acrylic and metal, and both offer beautiful prints. Aside from durability, quality, and price, there are also some important differences between the two print types – in this article, we’ll look at metal and acrylic print types to see which is best for your needs.
Metal Print vs. Acrylic Print Costs
The cost is a major consideration when deciding between metal and acrylic prints. When it comes to metal prints, they are more affordable. Acrylic prints typically cost three times as much as other print types at professional print labs. Art Smiley offers very competitive prices on high-quality metal prints for our artists to offer their customers, with excellent profit margins.
Which Print Weighs the Most?
One major difference between metal prints and acrylic prints is their weight. Metal prints are lighter than prints on paper. An acrylic print measuring 12×18 inches is compared to a metal print measuring 12×18 inches in order to determine its weight. A massive 4.37-pound acrylic print weighed much more than a 1.6-pound HD metal print.
Wall prints or gallery displays made from acrylic can become extremely heavy. Additionally, the difficulty of transport makes it unsuitable for art exhibitions. Aside from acrylic prints’ already high price, shipping them over long distances can make them even more expensive.
What Is The Durability Of Metal And Acrylic Prints?
Plexiglas and acrylic are both plastics. The Plexiglas material is easy to scratch if you’ve ever worked with it. A scratch-resistant acrylic option is available at some professional print labs but is substantially more expensive. Displaying acrylic prints requires extra care. It is not recommended to display them in high moisture locations, such as bathrooms. Leaving prints unprotected will expose them to mildew and sulfur dioxide, which discolors them. Humidity in a bathroom reacts with sulfur dioxide to create sulfuric acid, damaging the photo print. A metal print will last longer than a paper print. Moreover, they are waterproof, flame-resistant, and scratch-resistant. High moisture areas can also display metal prints.
Moreover, metal prints are much easier to clean than acrylic or glass, so you won’t have to worry about fingerprints or smudges. It is possible to use metal prints in art galleries, hotels, and public places because they are extremely durable.
Which Print Quality Is Regarded As Best?
Acrylic and metal prints are virtually indistinguishable from a straight-on perspective. Acrylic prints are made with excellent quality paper. Prints with a slightly wider color range and the sharpest details are possible with these prints. However, when compared with metal prints, they appear washed out. The print appears blurry because you are looking through the acrylic. There can also be a significant difference in print quality between companies. Before selecting an acrylic print company, check the reviews of the company.
Generally, metal prints look softer than other types of prints. There is a small amount of expansion of ink droplets during sublimation. As a result, metal prints appear softer than acrylic prints, which are printed directly onto traditional photo paper. Softening larger prints can benefit them by reducing pixelated areas because the softness may only be seen when viewed very closely. All printing processes provide good blacks, but metal prints deliver the best ones.
Metal print Vs. Acrylic Printing Options
Since acrylic prints are made from paper prints mounted under an acrylic sheet, you can choose luster, metallic, or glossy paper. In some labs, matte-finished glass can be mounted beneath your photos for a softer appearance. When backlit with custom lighting, acrylic prints appear to glow.
The vividness of the image is affected by the surface of metal prints. Your photos will have rich, vibrant, and bright colors with a white surface. The color tones are also highly accurate when the base surface is white. Therefore, white surfaces are ideal for newborn photography, senior photos, wedding photos, and other portraiture.
When choosing a silver surface, the metal will show through the image’s highlights. As a result, silver surfaces are great for showing off high-contrast photos, especially black-and-white photos. The metal will show through your highlights, causing them to be less bright. To maximize the light reflection from silver surface prints, display them in a well-lit room. In some cases, dimly lit rooms can make silver surface prints appear darker.
It is also important to choose the right finish for your metal prints. Glossy finishes bring out the drama of images with rich colors and contrast. A matte finish is the best choice if you want your image to appear softer and glare-free.
What Is The Best Print For You?
This article gives you a better insight into the differences between acrylic and metal prints to decide which medium suits your needs best. Metal prints are superior to high-definition prints, are cheaper, lighter, more durable, and produce longer-lasting prints. Contact us if you have questions about what may be the best solution for you if you have trouble determining it yourself.