Work that deserves to leave the screen.

Not automatically. Copyright vests initially in the author of the work, and a commissioning party becomes the author only through the work made for hire rules, which outside employment require both one of nine listed categories of commissioned work and an express written agreement signed by both parties. Photography is not among those nine categories on its own. Whatever the default, put the reproduction terms in writing before you deliver, so a reorder or a printed album never turns into a dispute.

It is a style call rather than a quality one. Glossy is coated, so color looks richer and contrast reads harder, which suits saturated work and strong light. Matte has a soft sheen and holds up better to handling and fingerprints, which matters for a book that gets passed around a family. Whichever you choose, choose it once and stay with it, so your books look like a body of work and you only have to learn how one surface renders your skin tones.

Work at three hundred dots per inch or higher at the finished size, and match the image shape to the print shape so you are not left with white margins or a hard crop. On canvas the gallery wrap takes image around the edge of the frame, so review the wrap preview and keep faces, hands and any text well inside the safe area. If a file will not hold up at the size a client wants, sell them the smaller size rather than the upsell, since the print is the thing they judge you by.

Because it survives the comparison. A photographer hands a card to a planner or a venue who already has a stack of them, and a thirty two point card with color on all four edges is the one that gets turned sideways and remembered. The matte laminate also takes a pen, so you can write a date or a referral name on it in the moment. Six edge colors are offered with published HEX codes, so your printed artwork can match the edge rather than clash with it.