High end papers: what do they provide?

[littlemike]

I've been pretty happy printing color and B&W on Epson Luster, Kirkland's glossy

(w/ a custom profile) and Ilford Premium Pearl papers with my R2400. What do the

higher-end papers such as Moab, Hahnemuhle offer that my low-end papers don't?

[steven_clark]

Mostly paper texture.

[colin_mattson1]

You're already printing on high end papers as far as RC goes.

 

The question might be better framed as "What do fine art papers offer that RC photo papers

don't?"

 

Given that question, I'd more or less agree with Steven: Mostly texture. If there's nothing

about fine art papers that screams out to you, then you're not missing anything.

[steve_sharf1]

There are actually a number of differences that some may find significant when processing "fine prints". Check out the site below for a review on recent baryta papers. Of course the best way to check things out is to make your own comparisons.

 

www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/printers/baryta.shtml

[roger_smith4]

For the fiber-based glossies, less gloss differential and more "natural" looking prints where the ink doesn't seem to be sitting on the surface as much.

The FB glossies also can have significantly higher Dmax (for me from 2.05 or so for Epson Premium Semi-Gloss to 2.4+ for Innova White SemiMatte 300).

 

Some of these are also thicker and curl less when mounted.

 

Finally at least some of these papers are more archival and less likely to yellow over time.

 

Try a sample pack and see what you think.

[kory gunnarsen]

When choosing actual paper manufacturer who's main focus is to make papers there are many things to think

about. Not just paper texture.

 

Epson Luster is one of their best papers, the Exhibition Fiber Paper is on top as well. But when you want things like

no optical brighteners or 100% Cotton base or high gamut of color on a wide variety of matte and glossy papers

you must go with the higher end paper companies as Epson may not offer everything.

 

The ultrasmooth paper has a deep black for a matte paper, but it will scuff easily and you must coat it with an

inkjet spray to help the scuffing. In this case go with Hahnemuhle Photo Rag or Innova Smooth Cotton.

 

Epson just recently started selling the Exhabiton Fiber paper. There has been a demand for fiber papers for a

while now and Innova, Museo, and Hahnemuhle have had fiber papers for almost 3 years now.

 

Going straight to the manufacturer for what you need is also a good idea, and there is nothing stamped on the

back of the paper. Also read what hahnemuhle has to say about paper quality:

http://www.hahnemuehle.com/site/us/821/paper-production-quality.html

 

Try to see what is out there for yourself, what other people say may not work for you and what you are doing.

Good luck!

[littlemike]

Thanks, all. Colin wrote, "If there's nothing about fine art papers that screams out to you, then you're not missing anything." A fair statement. The place to start, then, is for me to get a sample of a good middle-of-the-road FA paper and see how loudly it screams at me. Without delving into the myriad papers available and the fine differences between them (which I'd get into if I like what I see), what's an easy to get in small quantities not super expensive FA paper that would take me to a representative next level?

 

I'm using an R2400, do color mainly. Portraits and landscapes. Don't care for matte.

[RaymondC]

I'll just bump in here.

 

If the print is to be mounted matted up or whatever and people are not going to touch the photograph or see how it was prepared, what is there to gain from it being a general viewer? I only got a A3 printer and planning to try out a packet of velvet .. but generally for these fine art papers what is there on offer?

[RaymondC]

At a club we printed a series of b/w images on diff quality papers and we all lined up and voted what we thought was the best and we were asked to touch the paper. Interesting most people liked the cheaper papers and not the higher ended ones. The blacks looked more deeper, cannot recall the type of papers they were thou.

[roger_smith4]

Some of the cheaper papers are quite nice (Kirkland Glossy). Some expensive papers look horrid.

 

Not having any sheen or reflections from matte paper is nice and can give the impression of deeper blacks- try mounting some VFA behind glass and see what you think.

 

Most papers are available in sample packs- try shadesofpaper.com which is where I get mine.