When yous buy fine fine art photography, you tin choose from several options of glazing: the glass in front of the picture designed to protect information technology from damage.  Now oil paintings often don't go a glazing.  Photography, on the other hand, along with other forms of fine art paintings like watercolor, usually does get a glazing in front. Why is this?  That is what we're discussing here today: regular vs acrylic glass.

Cramer Imaging's photograph of regular vs. museum quality picture glass display

The glass is for protection of the fine art and, while glass in front end would certainly aid protect an oil painting from damage, please keep in mind that most oil paintings can accept years to fully dry.  If you place glass in straight contact with the painting prematurely, information technology can and volition damage the artwork information technology is meant to protect.

Oil paint is also thick and textured when practical meaning yous have to find a manner to space the drinking glass away from the surface of the artwork.  Fine art giclĂ©e prints are very apartment and can be kept from contacting the glass with a uncomplicated piece of mat-board, which is commonly part of the framing process.

There are huge number of options for glazings including UV protection, anti-glare and the like, but for this article we're going to discuss the material.  This ways we have a choice between to mineral (basically regular) glass of various qualities and acrylic or plastic of various qualities.

And so Which Should You Choose?

As with everything else, what kind of glazing (regular vs. acrylic glass) you should choose depends on your wants, needs and budget.

Photograph of cheap glass on a white background showing the green ferrous oxide present by Cramer Imaging

Cheaper drinking glass, like you get what you get with a inexpensive motion-picture show frame, has a slight green tint to it.  Y'all tin see it very well when looking at the border of a big piece.  The glass looks dark-green instead of clear.  This is due to ferrous oxide in the glass.

For glass 1/16th to 1/eighth of an inch thick, this light-green tint volition be difficult or impossible to see when looking direct through the glass, but some choose to go with a clearer and more than expensive museum quality glass.  Acrylic plastics for glazing on the other hand are usually already nicely clear.

Cheap drinking glass is likely more than cost-effective than plexi-glass.  High quality museum glass is likely going to be more than expensive than plexi-glass.  The raw toll of the glass vs. acrylic probably isn't a good deciding factor as there but isn't that much departure.  Other factors are going to make far more departure in what you cull to use.

Appearance

Photograph of Cramer Imaging's landscape photo titled "Tetons and Horses" framed and hanging in a nookFirst let'due south evaluate regular vs. acrylic glass based on solely how each looks over top of the art.

Acrylic is a bit more clear, and this gets very pronounced in things like large windows or fish tanks where the glass gets very thick.  For art glazing, which is rather thin, the departure isn't especially visible, only once more some people may be able to see it.  There will exist less to interfere with viewing your fine art if yous go with acrylic.

On the other side of the coin, a lot of people say that the acrylic looks like plastic, and isn't every bit aesthetically pleasing.  Plastic has a cheap look and feel which many people feel seems to cheapen the fine art.

Glass on the other hand looks similar glass.  It has an ageless and natural wait and feel that volition get well with art of whatsoever blazon.

Now as to the specific properties of each, permit's start some of the downsides of glass.

Weight

Glass is a lot heavier than acrylic is.  This means that if you are glazing a big image, y'all have to take the weight of the drinking glass into account when choosing a frame and frame mount.  If you go with glass for a very large print, yous may find that y'all can't employ some narrower frames and yous are not able to mount your image in exactly the identify you want because the drywall isn't strong enough.  Because of the glass weight, you must mountain your picture frame to a stud which might not be right where yous want your moving-picture show displayed.

Photograph of a framed and matted version of Cramer Imaging's "Sunset at Bryce" photo at Bryce Canyon National Park, Utah

Of class the weight of drinking glass affects any shipping cost you might incur.  If the framed art must be shipped, drinking glass is going to be a lot more than expensive to send.  Any money you may save by choosing a cheaper glass choice will be eaten upwardly in increased shipping costs unless the frame is small.

The weight issue can be ameliorated by going with thinner glass but choosing thinner glass exacerbates our next problem.

Glass Breakage

Photograph of a fallen picture in a frame with broken glass in front on the floor

Glass is also more prone to breaking than acrylic is.  A cleaved pane of glass in a art frame will almost certainly damage the impress.  How likely is it that the glass volition exist broken?  Volition the print hang in a loftier traffic area where someone may accidentally bump into information technology causing it to fall?  Will children exist pretending the floor is lava and hopping around on the furniture?

Non only will the added weight cost significantly more coin for shipping, breakage from crude handling is ever a major concern.  The business concern worsens near the holidays when about shippers are overloaded.  Some people even claim with only a shade of sarcasm that most major shippers can detect ways to pause things that even the U.S. Army can't.  Also be aware that many shippers practice whatever they can to not pay out on damage claims even when they pack the item.

Of course, glass isn't the only thing with a downside.  Acrylic has it'south ain set of trade-offs.

Static and Dust

Acrylic is more than prone to static, pregnant it attracts dust much like an erstwhile way television screen.  The static charge can also cause bug with media similar pastels or charcoal. Grit dulls the effulgence of the image distorts the sharpness slightly.  Yous volition demand to clean your fine art photography print far more often.  This leads us to its next major problem.

Acrylic Scratching

Photograph of a framed picture which has been messed up with ketchup splatters or a grimy image

Another problem you confront in choosing between acrylic and glass is the trouble of scratching the surface and distorting the image backside.

While information technology is far less brittle, acrylic is far more prone to scratching and tin can be scratched hands by paper towels fifty-fifty with the most fragile of touch.  You should make clean information technology using microfiber cloths only. Drinking glass tin be wiped off with a paper towel and information technology won't scratch as drinking glass is quite hard.  Too be careful in choosing cleaning chemicals to apply on acrylic.  You can easily use ammonia cleaners on glass with no bug.

If mommy's niggling helper takes a paper towel and wipes the grit or other grime off the plexi, it volition have pocket-size scratches in it.  The first time, they will most probable be besides small-scale to see, but if it keeps happening, the scratches can become quite pronounced.  This leads to unpleasant distortion of the paradigm behind the acrylic glass.

Yellowing

While information technology'due south less of a business for art glazings, you lot should note that acrylic will also xanthous over time particularly with ultraviolet lite exposure.  If the artwork is within and on a wall, information technology volition exist less of a business organisation, but still will likely yellowish over decades.  This will distort the color of your fine art photo over fourth dimension though yous will likely not see the results yourself.

Professional quality photograph of track lighting used for art galleries to display art and photos by Cramer Imaging

Summary

As discussed to a higher place, when choosing the proper glazing for your fine fine art photography, y'all have several different aspects to consider.  This chart sums upwards the article above if you need a quick cheat sail.  Utilize it to assist y'all choose between regular vs. acrylic drinking glass.

Glass Acrylic
Pros
  • Cheaper
  • More aesthetically pleasing
  • Scratch resistant
  • More transparent
  • Lighter significant cheaper aircraft and easier hanging
Cons
  • Easily broken
  • If broken, will damage the print
  • Very heavy for shipping and hanging
  • Not quite every bit transparent every bit acrylic
  • Has a plastic look and feel, cheapening the fine art for some
  • Can yellow with age and UV exposure
  • Attracts dust
  • Hands scratched if cleaned improperly

So Which Should Y'all Utilize?

Whether y'all choose regular or acrylic drinking glass will depend greatly on your needs and on who is providing the artwork for you.  Some suppliers simply provide one or the other.  Others volition provide whatever you ask for if you pay for information technology.

I prefer the look and experience of glass along with the simplicity of cleaning.  Withal since we tend to have the framing done locally rather than framed and then shipped, the additional cost of aircraft the heaver glass isn't a business concern.  Children playing rough in the business firm is also non currently a business organization so virtually of the downsides to glass don't matter to us.

If I were shipping the artwork, had immature children, or were going to be moving a lot in the future, I would probably expect far harder at acrylic as it is a fleck more resistant to rough handling.