Fine art papers for B&W?

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Tobin28
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p.1 #1 · Fine art papers for B&W?

Just got Epson R3000 for my M9 Looking for a great paper for B&W fine art prints. What are you using for paper. Thanks!!

Tobin

Aug 29, 2012 at 10:19 PM

howardm4
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p.1 #2 · Fine art papers for B&W?

there are so many good papers out there now, you need to narrow things down a bit as to whether you want cellulose/rag, matte/satin, textured/smooth, OBAs/none/moderate, etc etc.

Easiest thing to do is get a few sample packs from, say, Epson, Canson, Hahn., Moab and start printing.

I'm a big fan of Canson papers.

Aug 29, 2012 at 10:35 PM

hugowolf
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p.1 #3 · Fine art papers for B&W?

I would add Harman to Howard’s lists of sample packs to order, purely for the Gloss Baryta. They are English, but distributed by Hahnemühle in N America.

If you order sample packs you will have more papers than you can effectively review. Personal favorites include:

Harman Gloss Baryta 320 both the warm and white. It is alpha-cellulose based paper with a soft but full gloss surface.

Canson Baryta Photographique 310 (it is an alpha-cellulose lustre/pearl paper). It has an identical surface and baryta coating as Ilford Gold Fibre Silk, but the base is different so the finally effect is subtly different.

Hahnemühle German Etching 310 (medium texture where no ink is laid, but soft textured under ink and hold details very well for a textured paper: alpha-cellulose)

Canson Rag Photographique 310 or Hahnemühle Photo Rag 308, both 100% cotton. I prefer the Canson because it works better with colour than the Hahnemühle and they both work well with black and white. The Hahnemühle has a very slight edge with b&w, but it isn’t worth keeping a stock of both as far as I am concerned. The Canson doesn’t have the same tendency to recurl as the Hahnemühle.

Canson Arches Aquarelle 310 is a 100% cotton watercolour paper with a typical mould made medium heavy texture.

And finally Epson Velvet Fine Art 260. It is a 100% cotton rag with very nice surface but a little lightweight for larger sizes unless you are dry mounting.

But paper is a very personal thing. So sample packs and test prints is the way to go.
You might also be interested in Eric Chan’s (an Adobe/MIT colour scientist) personal favourites:
http://people.csail.mit.edu/ericchan/dp/Epson3800/papers.html

Good luck,
Brian A

Aug 29, 2012 at 11:36 PM

sbeme
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p.1 #4 · Fine art papers for B&W?

atlex.com, others have sample packs. At atlex they group the samples by purpose, making it a bit easier to do comparisons.

Scott

Aug 29, 2012 at 11:52 PM

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