When would you print on fine art paper? Confused!

southernjessie

southernjessie

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A number of labs offer printing on fine art paper, and I wondered how many forum members have used this before, and for which types of images? (i.e. landscape, still life, portrait, etc)

For example, Loxley, DSCL and The Print Space all offer fine art papers....when would these be typically used instead of the regular paper types?

I have a few black and white and colour landscape photos that I would like to get printed quite large (e.g. 20 x 16"). I know I can get the normal matt or lustre, high gloss and metallic, but I'm intrigued by fine art.

Any advice would be greatfully received.

Thanks
 
southernjessie said:
A number of labs offer printing on fine art paper, and I wondered how many forum members have used this before, and for which types of images? (i.e. landscape, still life, portrait, etc)

For example, Loxley, DSCL and The Print Space all offer fine art papers....when would these be typically used instead of the regular paper types?

I have a few black and white and colour landscape photos that I would like to get printed quite large (e.g. 20 x 16"). I know I can get the normal matt or lustre, high gloss and metallic, but I'm intrigued by fine art.

Any advice would be greatfully received.

Thanks
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you print on fine art paper when you want to have poor dmax and colour gamut. why anyone would want to use cotton rag papers these days beyond painting reproduction is beyond me. the only reason people used to print on them is because they had better longevity with dye inks compared to gloss papers in the early days of inkjet printers.
 
From what I have seen, fine art papers appear popular for creating a certain look on still life and composite images where perhaps a painterly look is required. I have seen certain RPS speakers use these a fair bit and I have to say when it works it really can add to the image. Think composite still life for example, use a textured background, add a vase with some flowers, add a little noise to the edges to help it blend, add a little distressing and / or brush in some white layer and then print on fine art paper.
 
Thanks guys - I think I'll probably forget the idea of printing onto fine art paper then...cannot see the point now.
 
Photo Rag is a phenomenal paper for photo printing, especially IMHO for b&w shots due to the deep blacks and great contrast. SIMLAB do a decent range of giclee papers at very reasonable prices. I'd suggest sending a photo you're really happy with and getting a sample print of each paper and a standard lab print to compare.

Worth the effort IMHO
 
saracenhouse said:
Photo Rag is a phenomenal paper for photo printing, especially IMHO for b&w shots due to the deep blacks and great contrast. SIMLAB do a decent range of giclee papers at very reasonable prices. I'd suggest sending a photo you're really happy with and getting a sample print of each paper and a standard lab print to compare.

Worth the effort IMHO
Click to expand...

photo rag has significantly less DMAX than any of the current fibre based papers (and bog standard gloss paper) which is very noticeable. it is not physically possible
 
I've used hahnemumhle photo rag pearl a couple of times and liked the results.
 
POAH said:
photo rag has significantly less DMAX than any of the current fibre based papers (and bog standard gloss paper) which is very noticeable. it is not physically possible
Click to expand...

The bottom line is whether you like the results, not what the specs are of course. I guess if you don't like the results, you don't have to print using them.
 
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