Digital BW, The Print

Hello All,

There have been some newcomer inquiries recently about various papers
other than EEM being "better" proof papers, and some of the reasoning
behind the comments leaves me wondering...  So I feel moved to stick
my neck out here with some thoughts about proof papers.

The basic idea of a proof paper is it's cheaper and doesn't need to be
archival - proofs ultimately end up in the recycle bin.  It's purpose
is to save money by reserving the good expensive paper for final
prints only.  But there are other important considerations.

If the workflow is to be efficient, the proof paper must be similar in
characteristics to the final paper.  Specifically, it must have
similar tone, contrast, density and dmax.  Otherwise it will be
difficult to make aesthetic judgements during the work and final
prints will require more adjustments (also, if a proof is shown to a
potential customer, it doesn't hurt to look similar to the final print).  

So the main guiding principle is the closer the proof and final papers
are to each other the better (easier, faster, more efficient)
everything else is.

So why is EEM considered such a good proof paper?  Because it's paper
color (warmer than pure white), tonal rendering (moderately warmer
than neutral), contrast and density are right in the middle of the
ball park for a great many of the popular archival matte papers.  Plus
it has dmax that is bested by only a few (it's pretty hard to judge a
print during workup if you're proofing on a low dmax paper).  So it's
an excellent paper to judge an image with, and is so generally good
looking that many people lament that it's not archival.  So if you're
using one of the moderately warm tone matte papers for final prints,
EEM is hard to beat.  It's been pretty much a universal proof paper
for a long time.

The only time EEM wouldn't be satisfactory is when final prints are on
something very different, such as a cool toned BW paper or one of the
RC type papers, etc.  

I hope this helps clarify it a bit.  Comments always welcome.


Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm