Best paper for prints

[Big Ada]

Hi,

As I run my own digital photographic processing business as well as the picture framing side of things, I thought I would have a go at printing my own prints and obviously framing them to bring in a little more business. The question is what would be the best paper to print the images on, would I be correct in thinking a good photo rag/watercolour paper for the job, they would be printed on a epson stylus pro 7880 wide format printer. All of the images would be simply framed behind float glass with single, double and deep bevel mounts nothing too complicated. Any advice would be apprecited. Also what would be popular things to print ie. good sellers. Any good web-sites to download good images would be a great help aswell.

Many Thanks
Adrian

[IslandViewJake]

Epson Exhibition Fibre is a beautiful paper, not cheap though. Also Moab Entrada gives a nice mat finish. Give them a try. You're probably already aware, but be very careful about printing other people's work without prior permission/payment though. Breach of copyright is a pretty nasty thing to get tangled up in. Anyone trying that will no doubt get found out in the end, and has historically cost offenders VERY dearly. I mean thousands of pounds in each case. One that comes to mind is a processing house in the 90's who were sued by a wedding photographer for reproducing one photograph without his permission. The company paid out out something in the region of £15,000 just for the photographer to back off. Don't forget, breach of copyright in the UK is a Criminal offence too, so make sure you have complete rights to reproduce anyone else's work.

[mdrsteve]

I also use Epson Exhibition Fiber (on an Epson 3800) and love it for most of my prints. It is a very white paper. When I want to warm up the image a bit I use Museo Silver Rag. As a very loose rule of thumb I use the Exhibition Fiber for most of my color prints and the Silver Rag for most of my black & whites. As has been said, be careful downloading and printing images from the internet. You don't want to infringe on anyone's copyright!

[stcstc]

depends on the images as to what would be a good paper

my current fave is photorag pearl from hahnemuhle, but its not a white paper, but very very nice

[Dermot]

We got some a range of family photos taken late last year, they were printed on Hahnemuhle paper………..result superb.

[stcstc]

if they are more photos than art, some of the RC papers produce very very good results, something like fuji pearl 290

another hahnemuhle paper that is very nice is fine art byarata

[Big Ada]

Hi,

Thanks everyone for replies, I totally understand copyright laws because of the photographic processing work we do, I deal with a lot of professionals in the industry, I do infact get people asking me to copy and reprint from other peoples work and have to refuse.

I'll get some sample packs of the paper you all suggested and give them a try.

Thanks again
Adrian.

[RobinC]

I suppose it also depends on the effect your are after. We had a photo come in today for framing with a sticker saying it was a Baryta print. A word I have not come across before. A quick google came up with

The newest buzz word in inkjet printing paper is Baryta. While it may be new to the 21st Century digital printing world it actually has its roots in high quality B&W printing papers from our past.

Baryta is barium-sulphate, a clay-like material that is applied to a fiber paper substrate. On traditional papers with light sensitive emulsions it acts to whiten the paper, produces a high degree of reflectivity, and as well provides a ground for the emulsion. Some of the finest photographic papers that we used to use, such as Multigrade IV FB and Ilfobrom Galerie FB, were Baryta based.

Now, on a new breed of papers designed for inkjet printing with pigment-based inks (all current professional printers and inks from Epson, HP and Canon) Baryta is being used not to hold a chemical emulsion but to provide a smooth reflective coating.

Three new inkjet papers have come to market in the last quarter of 2007; Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta 325 , Harman Gloss FB AI, and Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk. During November and December '07 I have been printing with all three papers and this report is based on my impressions and experience with these papers for producing exhibition and portfolio grade colour and B&W prints.

The photo was a panoramic landscape and the colours were very vivid, but wheter that was from the print process or the original image was hard to tell. The paper had a very smooth surface - totally the opposite to watercolour textured papers. Quite an old report, but the first time I have come across the term Baryta (this weeks new word)