Digital BW, The Print

Luster is treated as a glossy paper by Epson and, I assume, Canon. Only matte surface papers will work with aftermarket archival B&W ink sets.

I now use only uncoated watercolor papers for my B&W work. You may not wish to start there. They can be a little difficult to print on.

My experience with coated, matte, all cotton inkjet papers was brief and less than rewarding. But the majority of people use them and like them.

Though I tried just about everything, I eliminated most of them right away because they were coated on only one side, which made running test prints twice as expensive for these already absurdly overpriced papers. Plus, the day ;I lifted the matte on a few-months-old print made on Entrada Bright to discover, in front of a collector, that the edges had badly yellowed, I wrote off coated papers for good. (In theory, Entrada Natural should not yellow, but I\u2019m not interested in finding out. Fool me once\u2026 etc.)

I found Red River\u2019s Aurora Natural to be equivalent or superior to other coated papers and ended up using that exclusively. It doesn’t turn yellow. (Have a few boxes left over if you want a bargain.) It is coated on both sides and is therefore quite economical too, and it is also cheaper than other similar papers. If I were going to start using coated papers again, I would go back to Aurora.

Some things never change. Photographic materials, analog or digital, have always been made for mass consumption and commercial use, not for the artist. This is especially true with B&W inkjet printing. You simply have to find your own best work-around using available tools. Ideally, Epson, HP and Canon would make dedicated B&W printers that used inks designed for the finest papers. But that is not likely to ever happen.