Choosing The Right Paper For Your Inkjet Printer
By Scott Bourne
NOTE: This article assumes you use an Epson printer
but will have value for anyone who uses most modern
inkjet printers.
A recent student hired me to set up her digital
darkroom. I helped her select the right equipment
and software, drove to her house, unpacked
everything, installed it and went through
rudimentary Photoshop and printing lessons.
We scanned her first slide and printed to her brand
new Epson 2200 using Epson's Premium Luster paper.
It looked gorgeous. She was thrilled. I left her
house smiling. I had helped another person cross
over the digital divide.
But a few days later I received an urgent late-night
e-mail. If it were not for the fact that e-mail is
purely electronic, I'm sure it would have been
tear-stained. "The printer isn't working! My prints
have streaks down the middle." To make a long story
short, after some telephone and e-mail
troubleshooting it became clear that I would have to
return to see the problem for myself. Did the
printer malfunction? Were all the settings right in
Photoshop? Why would the machine work but leave
streaks on the photos? Well, rest assured good
citizens it was nothing so dramatic. My client was
simply printing on the wrong photo paper.
STARTING RIGHT
Simply put, selecting the right inkjet media will
make all the difference in the world in your inkjet
prints. The paper you use on an inkjet printer
determines the quality of your images. I'm amazed at
people who will spend $2,000 to get the sharpest
lens, but then want to try to print on cheap paper
to save money. You can't expect to use regular bond
paper in your inkjet printer and get a great print.
You can't use cheap off-brand papers and expect to
get a great print. Heck, you can't even use
expensive third-party papers that were not designed
for your printer and expect to get a great print.
You have to start off with the RIGHT paper for your
specific printer. Why?
For starters, cheap papers cause inks to bleed into
the paper fibers resulting in poor contrast and low
resolution. Bond and other inexpensive papers are
also subject to cockle (wrinkling)as well as poor
density. Lastly, cheap papers are rarely white
enough. With the exception of some fine art papers,
you want the whiter papers since they improve color
rendition and contrast.
HOW IT WORKS
So you now realize that the cheap off-brand papers
won't do. Here's why you have to pay extra for the
good stuff. Papers such as those manufactured by
Epson for their inkjet line of printers, are
specially designed for the task of reproducing
photographs. The papers are coated with substances
known as inkjet receptors (usually polymer based,)
and these substances help control ink when it is
initially sprayed onto the paper. This stops inks
from bleeding onto each other and spreading out.
Without this coating, the ink penetrates too deeply
into the paper causing the problems described above.
These coatings also allow the paper to dry faster,
help avoid cockle, and help make the image more
stable. This allows for longer print life and
reduced fading.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR
While there are many brands of paper that will lead
to great prints, it is helpful to understand what
you need in a paper to get a great print. There are
three important factors to consider beyond the brand
name.
*Brightness & Finish:
A paper's brightness is normally determined by its
smoothness. A coarse paper will scatter light in
different directions, while smooth paper reflects
more of the light back in the same direction. This
makes the paper appear brighter, which in turn makes
any image on the paper appear brighter. Any paper
that is listed as being bright is generally a
smoother-than-normalpaper. The finish may be
described as high gloss, gloss, softgloss, or
semi-gloss. Each of these terms reflects the amount
of shine. Satin is a less shiny-coated finish. That
said, some coarse papers are brighter than others. I
find Epson's Enhanced Matte (used to be called
Archival Matte) to be very white.
*Absorption:
When the printer sprays ink onto the paper, it
should stay in a tight, symmetrical dot. If the ink
is absorbed too much into the paper, the dot will
spread out in an irregular fashion to cover a
slightly larger area than the printer expects it to.
The result is a fuzzy page. The coating on photo
papers gives you the look and feel of photographic
prints.
FAVORITE PAPERS
Epson makes most of my favorite papers. When I use
an Epson 2200, I print primarily on watercolor or
matte paper so I use Epson's Matte Black ink as my
standard black. Epson's Enhanced Matte is a great
all around paper. When used with the 2200 and the
standard Epson inks it offers 80 years of longevity
and is very bright and stable. I particularly like
it for portraits or fine art prints. I also love
Epson's Radiant White. This is a textured watercolor
paper that is great for posters, art prints and
homemade cards and calendars. When I want to print
glossy surfaces, I switch to the Epson Photo Black
ink and use Epson Premium Luster. This is a pearl
finish with a semi-gloss look that you just can't
beat.
Regardless of the printer you use, you will always
be safest when you choose papers manufactured by the
same company that made your printer. In addition to
the special coatings that match paper and ink, you
will usually get the side benefit of a paper that
matches the ICC profiles shipping with your printer.
This assures good color match.
EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE
Remember, all printers are not the same. You may get
different results than I do. I have friends who
swear by Illford inkjetpapers. I can't make them
work. But there are some non-Epson printer papers
that work great in my Epson printers. In order to
know for sure which ones do and which ones don't,
you need to conduct some testing. Just as
photographers routinely test new films, they need to
test new papers. In some cases, the tests have been
done for you.
I have had tremendous success using papers from a
Florida company called LexJet Direct. They have a
list of papers that they either manufacture or
carry. These papers have been tested with Epson
printers and mirror the characteristics (including
ICC profiles) of Epson papers. Melinex Photo is my
favorite LexJet paper. It is a super wetglossy paper
that almost looks like Cibachrome and yet is very
durable. I have tried Epson's ultra glossy papers
and found them to be subject to creases, folds,
blemishes and tears because they are not stout
enough. I also regularly use LexJet's 10 MilPhoto
Satin. It is a good replacement for Epson's more
expensive Premium Luster. Although the LexJet paper
costs less, it performs as well or better than the
Epson product. LexJet has a great staff, and they
know Epson printers. Just call them with your
questions, and they will steer you toward the paper
that works best for you.
CONCLUSION
The invention of digital darkrooms and digital
photography would mean little if we couldn't get the
high-quality, low-cost prints that are available
from today's inkjet printers. While not perfect,
they offer a tremendous solution to the average
photographer's printing needs. Experiment with
different papers and find out what works best for
you.
Article Copyright 2005, Scott Bourne - Photofocus
Magazine
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Bourne is a professional photographer, author,
teacher and pioneer in the digital imaging field.
His career
started in the early 1970s as a stringer covering
motor sports for Associated Press in Indianapolis.
Since then,
he has shot commercial, portrait, wedding, magazine
and fine art assignments. His present passion is
wildlife
photography.
Scott is the author of "88 Secrets to Selling &
Publishing Your Photography" and "88 Secrets to
Photoshop
for Photographers." Both are available from Olympic
Mountain School Press,
http://www.mountainschoolpress.com
.
His work has also appeared in books, magazines,
galleries, calendars, on greeting cards, web sites
and on posters.
Scott regularly lectures on a variety of photo and
media-related subjects. He has appeared on national
television
and radio programs and has written columns for
several national magazines. He is the publisher of
Photofocus.com,
an online magazine for serious photographers and
also runs the Olympic Mountain School of Photography
in Gig Harbor, Washington near Seattle.
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