CCC Forum

Part of the feedback from those who went on the PAGB workshop last year was that not only were the distinctions assessors looking at the images submitted, but presentation as well and this included the type of paper used. Imaging Resource has just published a reiew of some of the papers from the Hahnemühle range which is useful in highlighting some of the aspects which you need to consider when selecting a paper.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/20 ... per-review

My own personal preferences are for matte or lustre papers, with gloss best avoided. At present I am nainly using Fotospeed Smooth Cotton 300, which really does have a smooth surface and can give a painterly feel to images. However, there are occasions when something with a bit more texture can work better to enhance detail.

Thanks Mike. Do you (or anyone) know of an online service that offers matte paper? For those of us without printers at home it seems gloss or lustre are the only options available when ordering online.

Paul Heester wrote:Thanks Mike. Do you (or anyone) know of an online service that offers matte paper? For those of us without printers at home it seems gloss or lustre are the only options available when ordering online.

I believe that is true of the "pound a go" budget suppliers as matte papers seem to be quite expensive. At The Societies Convention trade show on Friday I got 75 A3 sheets of the Fotospeed paper I mentioned on a 3 for 2 special at just over £1-50 a sheet. Had I paid full price, it would have been more than £2 per sheet and Fotospeed is far from being the priciest available. There are companies which will print onto more expensive papers, but these are mainly catering for the professional market and cost per print is considerably higher than most amateurs are prepared to pay on a regular basis. It does not take long before something like an Epson P600 will start to pay for itself if you are producing a lot of prints.

One example of a high end producer of prints is Whitewall, where prints on Hahnemühle paper start at £9 - https://uk.whitewall.com/photo-lab/prin ... kt-details

Ive used ProAm and DS Colour Labs - which are hardly "pound a go" printers Seems these companies are missing a trick in offering alternatives but maybe Im in the minority looking for matte prints.

Had to laugh at the Whitewall link, it costs £9 for a 10cm x 10cm print

Paul Heester wrote:Ive used ProAm and DS Colour Labs - which are hardly "pound a go" printers

That's exactly what they are. ProAm charges precisely £1 for a 14" x 11" print on standard paper, while DSCL wants £1-05 for the same size which is as large as you would want to go when using a 20" x 16" mount. It does not take account of delivery charges, though.

Paul Heester wrote:Seems these companies are missing a trick in offering alternatives but maybe Im in the minority looking for matte prints.

Had to laugh at the Whitewall link, it costs £9 for a 10cm x 10cm print

When I checked the ProAm website, I found a link to its professional service which offers a couple of matte papers, with a 14" x 11" print costing a slightly more reasonable £7-50.

http://www.prophotoprints.co.uk/fineartprints.php

For anyone serious about printing onto their choice of paper, using your own printer is the way to go. I reckon the break even point is around 100 prints, based on an Epson P600 costing £500*, with paper and ink coming in at around £2-50 per print and ignoring postage charges. The big benefits, though, are covenience and seeing the result immediately making it possible to fine tune the image more easily. Sometimes I get it right first time, others times I do not. My Venford Brook shot from the other night, which scored 12, needed two attempts and I have just done one particularly troublesome image for my SPA entry which required three test prints. I knew that one was going to be tricky, so I saved a bit by using A4 paper before going for the final version on A3. That is not unusual even for the best commercial fine art photographers who frequently will produce three or four prints before they get what they want.

* There appears to be a special offer until the end of January - http://www.dpsb.co.uk/epson-surecolor-s ... inter.html

theprintspace offers Fuji matt paper as part of its standard service at £7 for a 14" x 11" print.

https://www.theprintspace.co.uk/CTypeAndGicleePrints