Mark's Specialty Papers and Some – A Review Of Some Special Papers

[JayWPage]

Thank-you Mark for a very interesting and informative article.

I have used Hahnemuhle's Bamboo paper for the past few years, and I've found that when greens and yellows are printed on this paper it gives them a real vibrancy. Forest images with green foliage, autumn scenes with leaves turning colour, etc. seem to print with a special quality. Last summer I was photographing old-growth forests in BC, and one image I printed from that trip on Hahnemuhle's Bamboo paper turned out really well, see Forest Ferns.

[Mark D Segal]

Really good photo Jay, and indeed that is the kind of photo which does very well on that paper.

[JayWPage]

Thank you Mark.

The Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta is also a special paper, I think of it being a bridge or a cross between a luster and a mat paper. It seems to have some of the softness and depth (or authenticity?) that mat papers sometimes have while retaining good detail in the blacks at the same time. Of course it depends on the subject matter, but I've never seen that "digital" look on Photo Rag Baryta that you can get on luster/glossy papers printed with PK blacks.

[Mark D Segal]

Hi Jay,

It's large gamut volume and low Minimum (L*) Black put it very much in the PK paper group, based on statistics; so that's why I view it as a conventional paper of its class; but of course one could also say it is structurally somewhat special as it has its own unique mix of characteristics. It's just nowhere near as "way out" as some of the other offerings I dealt with in that article - it's all relative. Appearance-wise, it's slightly more textured than say Epson Legacy Baryta or Ilford Gold Fibre Silk, so perhaps that explains your perception about how it reflects the image. I'm using a fairly sizeable stock of it right now, printing the photoshoot I did in the UK last November. The image quality is fine, but the most distinguishing feature I like best about it is its flexibility - due to the combination of the cotton rag substrate and its weight - which makes it particularly suitable for binding into books. I also like that it does NOT shed cotton dust into the printer.

[JayWPage]

I think using a paper with some texture, particularly fine, random texture, achieves much the same effect as adding grain to an digital image, it somehow gives the image a more "realistic" appearance. Some might say that it is more authentic-looking. This effect however, is mitigated when the print is put behind glass.

[Rand47]

Jay,

Lovely image!  Thanks for sharing . . .

Mark, I also appreciated the article very much... thanks!

Rand

[FrankStark]

Mark: Am testing different papers for future use. The Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta (HPRB) appeals to me as a possibility. But you note that your custom profiling is better than that supplied or suggested. How would one best proceed if one does not create a personal custom profile for this paper.

Thanks

Frank

[Mark D Segal]

Mark: Am testing different papers for future use. The Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta (HPRB) appeals to me as a possibility. But you note that your custom profiling is better than that supplied or suggested. How would one best proceed if one does not create a personal custom profile for this paper.

Thanks

Frank

Hi Frank,

For well known reasons (which I've raised in several articles) high quality custom profiling will usually deliver more accurate results than an OEM profile. That said, small differences of inaccuracy are often not so noticeable and the quality of many of these OEM profiles these days is pretty good. I would suggest you start using that paper with the Hahn supplied profiles and see whether you consider the results satisfactory - to be evaluated with a properly configured colour management arrangement. If you are not satisfied with the Hahn profile, that would be the time to consider engaging a good custom profiling service to make a profile for you. It's nice paper, so worth the effort.

[FrankStark]

Thank you, Mark

I was also interested in your comment that Hahnemuhle suggests Epson Ultra Premium photo Paper Luster as medium in settings for HPRB. I would doubt, for example, that it would go through the P800's sheet feeder for example. (Mine is troublesome with the Epson paper anyway.)

Frank

[Mark D Segal]

Thank you, Mark

I was also interested in your comment that Hahnemuhle suggests Epson Ultra Premium photo Paper Luster as medium in settings for HPRB. I would doubt, for example, that it would go through the P800's sheet feeder for example. (Mine is troublesome with the Epson paper anyway.)

Frank

Frank, I used Epson Legacy Baryta as the Media Type for my custom profile for reasons explained in the article. In the Epson P800 driver you can select that Media Type and still select the Sheet Feeder as the paper path. For safety, you can also select "Wide" for the Platen Gap and 4 for the paper thickness setting. Then save all this as a custom preset with a name identifying its features. The Hahn Photo Rag Baryta runs through the Sheet Feed paper path easily - no need to use the FFA with this paper. I've had zero issues using it this way and the results are reliable.

[Rainer SLP]

Hi Mark,

Thanks for the review of these papers.

Yes, MOAB Slickrock Metallic Silver is a very critical paper and as you said the motif has to be the right one ...

I am testing different motifs to see what looks good and what not.

Very interesting the image of the Dragon with the metallic paper.

[Mark D Segal]

Hi Rainer,

You are welcome.

Yes, that dragon is quite an installation. It's made of stainless steel and lives in downtown Toronto on University Avenue, outside the Shangri-La hotel. It's called "Rising" and the artist is Zhang Huan.

[alifatemi]

It has been almost 4 years now that I ve been using Hahn photo rag baryta and both me and my customers like it very much partly because of its textured charachter and partly because of its quality but I have never had a chance to try Hahn fine art baryta which seemed to have more shine and glaze. I like to know if you have had any experience with it and if yes which one do you like most for B$W? Thanks for your review Mark anyhow...

[Mark D Segal]

This one covered Hahn Fine Art Baryta Satin: Eight papers

[FrankStark]

Hi Mark,

Unfortunately my printer settings for the P800 only allows me to set 1 for page thickness, with the Epson Legacy Baryta set as media. I suspect that is not wide enough.

Thanks

Frank

[FrankStark]

Mark: This got left out of my last post. You wrote.

I used Epson Legacy Baryta as the Media Type for my custom profile for reasons explained in the article. In the Epson P800 driver you can select that Media Type and still select the Sheet Feeder as the paper path. For safety, you can also select "Wide" for the Platen Gap and 4 for the paper thickness setting. Then save all this as a custom preset with a name identifying its features. The Hahn Photo Rag Baryta runs through the Sheet Feed paper path easily - no need to use the FFA with this paper. I've had zero issues using it this way and the results are reliable.

Frank

[Mark D Segal]

There's something you aren't doing right, or there is a version disconnect between your driver and mine, but the linked figures show my settings for Legacy Baryta in the P800.

[FrankStark]

Thanks for that, Mark.

My driver settings do not look quite like that, but I find I can set page thickness to 3 as "default". Probably better to use the fine art printing method rather than the sheet feeder and take chances. Will do some investigating.

Frank

[Mark D Segal]

Are you on Windows or Mac. I'm on Mac so my driver screens you see above are the Mac version of the driver. I can't understand why you don't have access to the same settings regardless of OS - perhaps they are lodged differently but they should be there somewhere. I assume/hope you are using the Series version of the driver and not Airprint.

[FrankStark]

My P800 printer driver is built into QImage Ultimate which is a Windows programme that I use via Parallels on a Mac. I will check with their technical support.

Thanks again.
Frank