Paper recommendation for photography book

[soboyle]

Hi All,
I'm planning to make inkjet prints for a photography book. These will be bound by a book binder using drum-leaf binding, which allows double page spreads across the gutter. This means that the paper will be folded in 1/2, so the paper needs to tolerate folding cleanly without cracking or flaking. Printing in done on one side of the paper, so does not need to be double sided paper. Pages are laminated back to back for the binding, so a light weight paper is preferred. Finally it needs to handle well, and not damage too easily.

So the paper needs to be: 1 sided, fold well, light weight, somewhat durable.

One paper I am considering is Hahnemühle Photo rag 188 gsm. But it's very expensive paper and I have many prints to do for each book. Any other recommendations?

[mearussi]

Thin rag paper kinks easily.

[mearussi]

Thin rag paper kinks easily. You might try white film (polyester) instead of paper. It's tough but thin and what Cibachrome and Fuji Super Glossy used.

[stockjock]

Thin rag paper kinks easily. You might try white film (polyester) instead of paper. It's tough but thin and what Cibachrome and Fuji Super Glossy used.

The white film scratches very easily and I've found it also sort of dents in a very visible way.  Also, it only looks really good with dye printers.  But it does provide a very appealing surface and the idea of using it in books is interesting.  I wonder if whatever adhesive they use would work with the plastic film.  If you want to experiment a cheap source is:  https://www.amazon.com/Oriental-Graphica-Hi-Gloss-pel%C3%ADcula-inyecci%C3%B3n/dp/B00HLSDX6C/

[MarkFarber]

I've made dozens of hand-made photo books on Moab Lasal Matte or the nearly equivalent Red River 60lb Polar Matte.  I find the Lasal very slightly better image quality, but the RR is available in more sizes.  Lasal Matte is available in double-sided sheets and single-sided rolls.  RR is available in single-sided sheets and rolls and double-sided sheets.  Both Moab and RR make greeting cards with these papers which testifies to their ability to be folded.

I strongly recommend you fold with the grain to improve fold quality and curl.  If you need to learn what that is, start with https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbbQDzNPSxo.  RR posts the grain on their website i think.  And Moab prints the grain direction (GS or GL) into the serial number of every box.  All roll paper is grain long.

Lasal Matte is 230gsm and 10 mil.  RR is nearly the same.

If you want thinner, I strongly recommend Epson Enhanced / Ultra Premium (same thing) Matte.  192gsm, 10.3 mils.  I use this for my custom book covers because it's a little thinner than Lasal.  Despite being about the least expensive paper on the market, it's remarkably good image quality.

In attached images, book pages are Lasal Matte and book cover is Epson Enhanced Matte laminated to thick book board.  Your double-thick sheet will be much stiffer than mine.

[soboyle]

Thanks Mark, very helpful. I'll be using drum leaf binding, which involves gluing pages back to back (on the leading edge and the spine edge). So I'm looking for a paper that is lighter than the ones you mentioned, something in the 100-150 gsm weight, otherwise the pages will be too stiff. There are some nice advantages to the drum leaf binding, check it out. The difficulty is the paper weight issue. I've been in touch with atlantic paper and they are sending me some samples to try of 110g and 170 g papers.