Difference on fine art and reg photo paper

[Don Fischer]

Can anyone tell me the difference other than cost? Seem's from what I've read longivity of the image is about it. Claims of up to 100yrs imagage life with fine art. On the other hand I haven't seen a thing about image life on regular paper. I do have some photo's I printed 20 some years ago that appear to me look the same as the day I printed them, maybe I just got used to them going away? Then too I've seen some photo's supposed to have been taken in the 1800's that look pretty good but no idea what they looked like new! Biggest difference I notice right off is fine art paper is up to about $5 a sheet for some of it and reg down about $1 and under on sale.

 

[Harlequin565]

Quality and feel for me. There are subtle differences in papers but that happens between fine art and fine art. Many "fine art" papers are cotton based, whilst some of the cheaper resin coated papers are simply plastic. Whatever they put on the receiving layer though is pretty good because I did a paper test quite a while ago and it was really hard to tell the visual difference. If you're putting them in a frame behind glass, I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as the gloss coating is acceptable to you. I have no clue about archival properties as I won't be around long enough to say from experience, so with modern papers, we have to rely on the manufacturers "tests".

Also, there aren't many "regular" photo papers that don't have a sheen of some sort, so if you want a matt finish, you're generally stuck with more expensive papers.

It's a selling point too if you're selling your prints. "I printed on Hahnemuhle German Etching which is a cotton based rag with a subtle texture and blah blah blah" sounds better than "I printed it on regular stuff for 50c, but it's just as good as the stuff that costs 5x as much, honest..."

 

[steve_lyt]

Quality and feel for me. There are subtle differences in papers but that happens between fine art and fine art. Many "fine art" papers are cotton based, whilst some of the cheaper resin coated papers are simply plastic. Whatever they put on the receiving layer though is pretty good because I did a paper test quite a while ago and it was really hard to tell the visual difference. If you're putting them in a frame behind glass, I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as the gloss coating is acceptable to you. I have no clue about archival properties as I won't be around long enough to say from experience, so with modern papers, we have to rely on the manufacturers "tests".

Also, there aren't many "regular" photo papers that don't have a sheen of some sort, so if you want a matt finish, you're generally stuck with more expensive papers.

It's a selling point too if you're selling your prints. "I printed on Hahnemuhle German Etching which is a cotton based rag with a subtle texture and blah blah blah" sounds better than "I printed it on regular stuff for 50c, but it's just as good as the stuff that costs 5x as much, honest..."

Well said