Luminous Landscape Forum
Raw & Post Processing, Printing => Printing: Printers, Papers and Inks => Topic started by: soboyle on January 09, 2009, 01:15:56 pm
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I'll be participating in a portfolio review in a couple months, where the prints will be handled frequently by many reviewers. Looking for recommendations on papers that will hold up well to this handling, and that have a nice "hand" to them. I've recently been printing with the Harman Gloss FB Al paper, it is a bit to glossy for me for a portfolio review, and doesn't have the hand I am looking for, I like a heavier paper feel. Something like the Crane Silver Rag paper, without the heavy gloss. Any suggestions on papers to test? I like the newer Baryta papers, but something with a bit less gloss than the Harman.
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Personally I wouldn't use a paper with any brighteners, or minimal brighteners in the paper base. This will make sure your portfolio images look the same in different lighting. As far as handling, I don't think there is any fine art or photo paper that is made to withstand handling. Silver Rag is pretty sturdy, but I would give your prints a good coat of varnish, like Glamour II veneer, or laminate them if they aren't going to be in plasic or behind glass
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Also a varnish can give a heavier "feel" to papers on the light side as well as adding a glossy sheen to a matte print or a semi-gloss to gloss, etc. I use Museo Portfolio Rag with a coating of Glamour II mixed to semi-matte and I am happy with the results.
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Hahn Photo Rag Baryta is really nice (I prefer it to the Fine Art Baryta). It's not as glossy as the Harman, and it feels a bit thicker in the hand. Durability also seems good, it seems less prone to scratches or dents than others (the Harman seems particularly bad in this regard). While the sharpness of the Harman can't be beat, I definitely prefer the look/feel of the Photo Rag Baryta over all the other fiber-gloss papers I've tried.
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Thanks for the answers so far.
I should mention that my work for this portfolio review is B&W, not color.
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Just to clarify... I have a box of Crane Museo Silver Rag & Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta here. Surprisingly they are almost identical. The only difference is the Museo is very very slightly warmer.
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Jeff
Can you comment on the surface of both papers, I very familiar with the Crane silver rag paper, it has a glossy sheen to it, not alway ideal for viewing prints under lights. Is the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta a similar surface, with the same sheen to it?
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Jeff
Can you comment on the surface of both papers, I very familiar with the Crane silver rag paper, it has a glossy sheen to it, not alway ideal for viewing prints under lights. Is the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta a similar surface, with the same sheen to it?
The surfaces are identical. After reading several positive reviews of the new HPRB I recently ordered a box and was disappointed to see how identical it was to Museo Silver Rag, a paper that has been out for several years. I'm sure many will like the surface but it is just not for me.
For what its worth... my favorite paper to date is Innova FibaPrint Semi-Matte but I have had some QC problems with it from box to box and would like to find a backup paper with similar qualities.
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Perhaps I will stick with Silver rag, its a paper I like, and have used frequently, so know it pretty well.
Does anyone have a comment on the surfaces of the silver rag compared to the Ilford Gallerie Gold paper? I'm hoping it might have less surface texture than the silver rag, my only complaint about that paper.
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The surfaces are identical. After reading several positive reviews of the new HPRB I recently ordered a box and was disappointed to see how identical it was to Museo Silver Rag, a paper that has been out for several years. I'm sure many will like the surface but it is just not for me.
I would have to disagree; surface texture of these papers doesn't look identical at all to me. My biggest problem with Crane silver rag is the odd, artificial surface texture that just doesn't look like any darkroom paper I've seen; too much patterned machine regularity, almost like fabric. Hahnemuhle photo rag baryta instead has a very fine stippled surface; I'm not sure if it's a close match for traditional darkroom papers, but it looks great for many of my photos, especially black & white. Sort of like Epson's premium luster, but finer and more 'random' or 'stochastic' looking.
Just my 2 cents.
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well the two are total different papers..
Silver Rag is a 100% Cotton paper
Ilford silk is Alpha Cell
There fore you will get a differnt hand fell and texture..They also both use different coating technologies..
My suggestion would be to get a sample pack and you decide!
Also if the prints are to be handled alot I would spray them to help protect them all the papers mentioned (PK Ones) are very fragile like the Matte papers..Sometimes more so since the sheen sometimes makes the imperfections ( Man Made Or Machine Made) show more
Hope this helps a bit
Cheers
Jim Doyle
http://www.shadesofpaper.com (http://www.shadesofpaper.com)
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For what it's worth, here's the system I've been using for portfolio prints going back to black-and-white darkroom days. Back then I used Ilford Multigrade Double Weight.
~~Make a picture print, and make a pure black print. (That was a good way to get some use out of those prints I knew would be wrong as soon as put them in the developer. Just turned on the room light and blasted them to black.)
~~Finish the prints and dry them.
~~Then the nifty part. Dry mount the two prints together back-to-back, and trim them flush. The three thin layers bonded together make the finished piece nicely rigid and fairly durable, without making it too thick or heavy. Because it is symmetrical in cross-section, the final print stays flat as the humidity changes.
Best of all, the finished product gives the viewer/handler an uninterrupted view and feel of the paper surface.
Now I'm using the same system with inkjet papers. (Of course, economy dictates that I use a white backing sheet rather than black.) For a long time my color work has been on Epson Enhanced Matte. It's cheap, looks nice, and is easy to find, though it definitely scuffs. Lately I've been putting black-and-white on Innova Gloss-F, which I think is really beautiful.
Because they're delicate, I now hit both types of paper with Premier spray, which has reduced the scuffing and made the Innova feel less "scratchable". The prints are safer to handle but don't look much different. I do the spraying after mounting and trimming.
Now, I don't know whether this system will allow my prints to survive long enough to get hung in my retrospective at MOMA. The tissue or the heat from the press might create a nasty side-effect some day, but I haven't noticed any problem in pictures I mounted five years ago. Besides, these prints are for passing around and handling, not hanging or storing. And that's what I like best about this method: the pictures invite sharing and close viewing. MB
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The surfaces are identical. After reading several positive reviews of the new HPRB I recently ordered a box and was disappointed to see how identical it was to Museo Silver Rag, a paper that has been out for several years. I'm sure many will like the surface but it is just not for me.
For what its worth... my favorite paper to date is Innova FibaPrint Semi-Matte but I have had some QC problems with it from box to box and would like to find a backup paper with similar qualities.
They are close , perhaps closer to one other than other media but they are not identical. The base, surface structure, coating , flex of the paper, scratch resistance, white point backing etc are different.
Both are true fine art papers.
I like the surface of Crane so slightly better but prints I prefer the reliability of Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta over Crane.
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Why don't you just matte the prints? Then you can use the paper that's best for the image, and protect your prints from damage from handling.
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Of course print handling after requires mounting or other means, but the user questions preprinting state of the paper. It wouldn't be the first time I have seen imperfection coming from the mill nor coming from the printer.
Any damage from the person printing is easy enough to control or avoid if one is aware of the paper handling character. Ooops don' have my glasses on and mistook this thread for another!
Yes matte mounting avoids handling prints een makes them more precious to hold and behold.