Noob needs paper advice.

[Timprov]

I bought a 4900 a few months ago to get into printing, and at the time, knowing that I was probably going to have some growing pains, I just picked up a cheap roll of Epson Ultra Premium Luster to work with.  (And lurked the hell out of this forum.)  It turned out I figured things out faster than expected, got prints I was really happy with almost right off the bat, and have worked through about half of my portfolio.  I gave a bunch of prints away as Christmas presents, and they were universally well-received; then I got distracted printing and selling 5x7 cards, and between the two I now have people asking to buy large prints. However, I'm sort of hesitant to do so without exploring the available papers more thoroughly.  I got an Epson sample pack, but my conclusion from that was I actually like the UPL as well as their fine art papers.  Exhibition Fiber strikes me as very slightly better, but is also more fragile, not to mention much more expensive.  Between Cold/Hot Press Natural and Velvet, I've come to the conclusion that I dislike textured matte papers.  I'm fine with the very marginal texture on the Red River Polar Matte that I'm using for cards, at least at that size, and HPN isn't too bad, but CPN and Velvet really bug me.

So now I'm wondering if I should just be pleased at having a cheap paper that I like, or if it would be worthwhile to spend some time getting sample packs from third parties, and if so, which ones I should be looking at.  I'm printing color, mostly 15x10 and 15x12, but enough panoramas that I need roll paper.

Thanks for your input.

[Alan Goldhammer]

You should go through some of the different threads that talk about users experience with various papers.  IMO the most cost effective very good paper is Ilford Gold Fiber Silk (the Canson Baryta Photographique has a similar finish and color gamut).  It has good color stability and is not loaded with Optical Brightening Agents (OBAs) as some of the papers you mention.  You might want to give it a try.  The only caveat is the that the Ilford profiles are not very good and you will need to have one made to get optimum performance.

[Ken Bennett]

I like a good lustre paper. It looks nice, can take some handling, looks decent under glass, and is easy to work with. It doesn't have the same gravitas as a double weight fiber paper, but my photos aren't exactly fine art -- most of them will be either framed or put in a drawer.

In my case I prefer sheets, so I use the house brand lustre from Inkjet Art, which is available in sheets up to 16x25 inches.

[BarbaraArmstrong]

As a Newbie to L-L, you're probably frustrated that you haven't gotten more response to your question.  If you're happy to settle for printing and selling your photographic work on "cheap" paper, then you don't have to do anything else.  If, on the other hand, you would like to print on something truly nice (quality and cheap don't usually go together), then one or more searches for paper suggestions on this forum will turn up a wealth of information, with specific papers both matte and PK suggested.  Many of those papers have very good profiles available (free) online from the manufacturer.  And to get you started, look online at Canson and Hahnemuhle, whose papers I personally have enjoyed.  My personal favorite is Canson Platine.  I would use a substantial matte paper for note cards, but print all my larger flat work on a nice baryta or similar semi-gloss type paper.  --Barbara

[Timprov]

No, actually I'm not bothered by the number of responses, this has been fine and useful, thank you three.

What would be useful additionally, which I'm not finding very well elsewhere, is comments on the textures of the various baryta papers.  From my reading IGFS seems to be the smoothest, but I'm having a hard time finding comparisons for any of them to the papers I've tested.

[natas]

Paper IMHO is a very personal thing. You can read reviews all day but until you print on the paper yourself it will be hard to decide.

When I first started out I went out and got as many sample packs as I could and printed the same image on all the papers.

I now only use 4 papers:

Epson Exhibition Fibre - I settled on this over Baryta papers because of scratching issues. Baryta papers look awesome but are a huge pain to work with. You have to be really careful with them. Most of my prints are sold so I need stuff that is a little more durable.
Epson Hot press Natural
BreathingColor Lyve Canvas
BreathingColor Vibrance Luster

[howardm]

The baryta papers will have a lot less texture compared to the Hot/Cold papers you've looked at.
I'm a fan of the Canson Baryta (98% same as Ilford GFS but I haven't had similar delicate surface issues)

No, actually I'm not bothered by the number of responses, this has been fine and useful, thank you three.

What would be useful additionally, which I'm not finding very well elsewhere, is comments on the textures of the various baryta papers.  From my reading IGFS seems to be the smoothest, but I'm having a hard time finding comparisons for any of them to the papers I've tested.

[elisabeth russell]

Well, I'm a noob here myself but I've been printing for quite a while with a variety of papers (and other media). Luster is a nice choice because it's relatively problem-free, easy feeding into the printer, etc. It's also great for work that will be handled a lot as it tends to hide fingerprints b/c of its texture. That being said, there are so many great papers out there that it really is a personal choice. When I'm looking for new papers, I typically order sample packs from Inkjetart.com. They sell packs by brand and usually there are 2 sheets/pk. It sounds like you're not crazy about the matte look--keep in mind, printing on matte papers requires a little more practice in my experience. You have to experiment a with the shadows and print a shirley on them to really get an idea of how to get the results you want. If you like the baryta/photo papers, I've had good results from Canson Baryta Photographique and Ilford Gold Fibre Silk. And if you start getting an itch to move into the matte arena, my all-time favorite paper is Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Satin. It's a matte paper with just a hint of gloss and some nice texture--gorgeous color and beautiful deep rich blacks. It's meant to be on a wall though, not handled a lot as the ink can flake off. It's also a little touchy with the loading as it's a thick sheet (300gsm) and will have to be loaded manually. And it's expensive. But if you are selling prints, it looks like a million bucks and won't hurt the bottom line that much.
  As Alan mentioned though, you may have to shell out for better paper profiles. I've printed Satin on both my 4800(using Imageprint) and my 9900(using Photoshop)---completely different results. The 9900's (Hahnemuhle's profile) went magenta and I found it very unattractive. Imageprint's profile renders a beautiful product. Good luck and happy paper hunting!