Choosing Paper ?

monkeyleader

monkeyleader

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Nigel
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Morning all,

I've yet to venture into creating my own prints but I can see that day coming inside the next 12 months ... for now though I'm still going through a printing lab (DS Color Labs) ..... I'm still unsure as to the type of paper per print .. I know this can be a subjective subject .. but perhaps someone out there may have some thoughts ...

Each month I give away a free A4 print to one random follower of my FaceBook page .... Just in the process of printing up the winner from April ... In the past I've used a mixture of Perma Jet Museum 310 / Portrait White .... I loved how the Museum 310 rendered a woodland scene, but was perhaps a little incorrect for say a beach scene ... This months winner has chosen a scene of a Red Squirrel in Woodland and may head back down the Museum 310 route again ...

Perhaps I just need to try a few prints over different subjects to get a better idea ...

Any advice to help get me into the right ball park much appreciated ..

cheers,

Nigel
 
My favourite type of paper is a baryta, currently use FotoSpeed platinum. Lovely tonal range, nice non matt, yet not glossy look too. It is a smooth paper so not textured like museum is. I'd say it offers a slightly warmer finish too, so your red squirrel may pop on this type of paper.

I love museum for mono work though.
 
I have three boxes of paper on the go: Canon gloss, Canon Matt and Tecco textured paper (we have decorators in at the moment and I cannot get to my paper to see the name of the Tecco paper). The Canon paper is cheap and good, the Tecco paper is expensive and very good.

Which I use for a particular print is an artistic decision depending on the subject and purchaser.
 
I think paper is a real personal thing. I'd advise getting test packs and running a test print through all the papers. My personal favourites are Canson Rag Photographique Duo for 'everyday' matt, Canson Baryta Photographique for 'everyday' satin, & Museo silver rag for really posh prints. But then I don't like the gloss finishes at all. B&W portraits & landscapes are transformed on matt paper. Getting the contrast just right can be tricky though.

I've tried Hahnemuhle, Canson, Fotospeed, Permajet, Ilford, Canon & Epson papers (over 40 prints of the same image) and blind tested them all, looking for colour tints, and how each paper renders colour & b&w. The Fuji paper DSCL use in their standard prints are grim by comparison (not surprising considering their prices btw)
 
RAW Digital, Lineal Digital, Laid Digital, Textured Digital, Stipple Digital and Eggshell Digital are all very good papers, so are the pearlized papers that will give the print a look like it's on a movie theater screen.
Imaging is a good choice if you don't want texture but a lot of snap.
I like Touche for mono and for selective color work.

Iggesund is probably the best for printing cards as it is very durable but can be tricky to get it to feed even in an iGen digital press.

What type of press are you printing with? That will make a big difference in your choice of papers, some printing methods are favorable for heavy texture and some are not.

A good way to get to know a paper is to make a test print with several small images of different types (low key, high key, color, mono, high coverage, low coverage, etc.) on one sheet so you can do a side by side comparison.
 
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I use a lot of perma jet oyster 271gsm I love it just right for the type of photos I print out
 
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