Inkjet print surface characteristics

[Gusto5]

I'm new to this group and new to photo inkjet printing but appreciate the wealth of knowledge at Luminous Landscapes.

I come from a wet darkroom history and I'm working on transitioning to the dry world of Lightroom and inkjet printing. I photographed my BxW negatives and prepared them in PS and Lr for printing on a Canon Pro-1000 printer.

Working from 8"x10" photo inkjet sample packs from Ilford, Hahnemuhle and Canson I've focused on papers with no OBA, which reduces my options. In addition, I'm interested in a glossy or pearl finish and a smooth surface, not textured.

I very much enjoy the following papers:
Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk      (IGFS)
Canson Platine Fibre Rag          (CPFR)
Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl.    (HPRP)

And then two other papers stand apart or slightly apart.
Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta Satin. (HFAB)
and finally
Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta.       (HPRB)

There is one thing I have not seen discussed, and apologies if I missed it, and that's regarding the papers listed above IGFS, CPFR, HPRP, and others can be included.
If you take a BxW print on IGFS, CPFR, HPRP and tilt it off axis, or away from viewing it straight on from the front, and let the surface of the paper catch a single light source so you can observe the surface of the print, you can see different things that are not typically found in a traditional BxW silver gelatin photo print.
On these papers (IGFS, CPFR, HPRP), primarily in the darker areas the shape or blocks of darker areas shimmer and show almost a metallic quality. You can't see the negative image as you would in a Daguerreotype but the dark and light areas of the photo become separated, especially in the dark areas in this off axis view, and they may appear slightly raised above the white areas.

I don't know what you call this quality.

But the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta (HPRB) paper does not have this quality. If you angle the print off axis the surface of the print remains the same across it, which is similar to a gelatin print.

The thing is I like the smooth print surface of the IGFS, CPFR or HPRP papers, but prefer the non separating, or shimmering surface of the HPRB. But I'm not overly fond of the surface texture of the HPRB.

I find the Hahnemuhle Fine Art Baryta Satin (HFAB) paper is almost a cross between the two (IGFS, CPFR, HPRP) and HPRB.

My question: is there another paper you know that's similar to the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Baryta (HPRB) but which has a smoother surface. Or is the texture found on the HPRB baryta paper necessary to eliminate the shimmering/separating surface features I described?

Any thoughts on this question would be of great interested.

Thanks
 
Edwin     

[elliot_n]

The effect you are describing is known as 'gloss differential'. I'm allergic to it. My favourite paper is Hahnemuhle Photo Gloss Baryta 320. You should try if you're after a traditional darkroom look.

[I.T. Supplies]

Just curious on what settings you use before printing (media type, printer/software manages colors, colormetric option, etc)?  And which printer so we're aware of how it would come out per your details?

With the proper settings, the output should be better than you see.  At times, it could be the paper has the issue and won't give you the better look (which can happen unfortunately).
But it would be the gloss differential which a few models have the optimizer/enhancer to help with this problem.

[Gusto5]

Since I was printing B X W photos I used Print Studio Pro to manage the settings on my Canon Pro-1000 printer. The Media Type setting was Heavyweight Photo Paper, as indicated in the Canon technical document that provides the Media Type settings for various 3rd party papers. I did not apply any tone or make any adjustments inside PSP.

I can't see how what I'm referring to, now understood as gloss differential, would change with different settings. This appears to be the characteristic of the paper. But I'm new to this so maybe I'm missing something.

As I said originally, if you look at the prints directly from the front the three papers I referenced (IGFS, CPFR, HPRP) all look very attractive and have great dimension to the image, and I can see why many like these papers. I just haven't see discussion of gloss differential in the paper reviews.

[Gusto5]

elliot_N
Thanks for identifying 'gloss differential'.
The only issue with Hahnemuhle Photo Gloss Baryta 320 is it has OBA content which I'm looking to avoid. But thanks for the suggestion.

[Gusto5]

My apologies - I made a newbie mistake - I posted before fully reading the other thread titled, "Are there any 100% cotton glossy/luster papers without TiO2?". In that thread Mark wrote about "bronzing and differential gloss", as well as off-axis viewing and so much more, and generally explained what I was trying to describe. Mark is such a goldmine of knowledge.