your favorite inkjet paper

[Greg Lockrey]

"90% of what I print are for other clients that use these to sell at art shows along with their original paintings."

Much of my printing, Greg, is also for artists but I've always used one of the 100% rag watercolor papers for their more authentic texture as well as their greater longevity. The artists typically sell their originals for several hundred bucks to around $2,000, but the prints for around $150 and up. It's interesting that they'd be satisfied with an ordinary matte finish.

I do it mostly as an accommodation to local artists, but the pro labs in the Boston area use the same papers and printer and charge about 2-3X what I do. If it weren't for my doing it, many amateurs wouldn't be able to sell prints to support their habit.

My full time professional clients choices are suprising to me too. But I suspect that it's due more to their subject matter and the method of making the original. Most are using illustrator gauche on illustrator board so it lends itself to being reproduced better with a smooth high gamut paper. This is the Toledo market, not Boston Dick. I do use RAG paper (Texture Fine Art) but mostly for the new show artist or amature. I'm like you in my pricing I suspect since I get a lot local artists starting out too. I sort of can tell the level of experiance a prospective client has in selling in shows by what they want for their first reproduction. Most first timers want canvas, those who take classes and are getting into the market ask for RAG and those who make their sole living selling art get the matte.

I have a couple of links to sites on my site of my more prolific clients that have websites so that you can get an idea as to what level they are at. (My site is a freebee to me so it can be slow to peruse.)

[Bill_1856]

WOW! Is THIS confusing?

[Dick Hilker]

WOW! Is THIS confusing?

It can seem that way, Wilhelm, but it's not really so bad when you sort things out a bit.

There are many choices, but they all fall into a few broad categories: glossy, semi-glossy or pearl finish, matte or textured finishes. The glossy and semi-glossy papers are mostly for images with sharp detail and saturated colors, the others for everything else. For the reproduction of artists' paintings, there are watercolor papers and even canvas. Recently, papers that mimic the appearance of B&W prints made in a wet darkroom have become available. All papers are available in certain weights or thicknesses, often expressed as grams/sq. meter (GSM.)

The paper stock has a bearing on its longevity, running from ordinary inkjet paper that will last only a few years to the most expensive 100% cotton rag papers with projected lives of over 200 years (according to what types of inks are used.)

Paper is sold in either cut sheets or rolls, the latter being more flexible for panoramic dimensions.

Given even the simplistic variables above, the possible combinations are huge, but most of us have found it best to narrow the variety we use down to as few papers as possible to reduce inventory costs and simplify workflow. There's probably no single paper that will do everything well, but you can see how many opinions we have in just this small group. Sample packs are available from a number of sources and packs of 8.5X11 paper make it relatively inexpensive to find what works best for you. As a starter, a paper such as one with a luster (semi-gloss) finish is a good compromise and is the only paper used by many photographers.

[Ed Richards]

For black and white, I wonder if paper choices differ between folks who started in the silver world, versus those who have only done digital? For me, I only used one paper when I did silver (cool, glossy dried mat - well, sometimes ferotyped), and I have wanted to get the same look with digital. This means no surface texture, but not shiny plastic. I recognize that one can match images to paper, and that matte papers can be really pretty, but I do not have enough time to master more than one paper.

[Ted Harris]

Ed, see above. I was working with a client yesterday and we were mostly doing 'proof' prints on Canon premium photo satin which is a good mid weight, mid priced semi gloss paper. We did one final print and shifted to Hahnemuhle fine art baryta gloss paper. The differences in crisply visible detail was very apparent.

[jetcode]

Ed, see above. I was working with a client yesterday and we were mostly doing 'proof' prints on Canon premium photo satin which is a good mid weight, mid priced semi gloss paper. We did one final print and shifted to Hahnemuhle fine art baryta gloss paper. The differences in crisply visible detail was very apparent.

Ted, did you use an ICC profile for the Baryta? I can't find an online profile for Ilford or Hahnemuhle but I did a series of proofs and came up with a nice print. Of course the ICC is most likely necessary for color and not B/W but I am not sure. There is a big difference between the levels in the visible image on my monitor and the printed image. The monitor image is a lot brighter.

[Ted Harris]

Joe, I used a custom profile that I made .... however that says nothing about the detail in the paper unless you were using too much ink.