Digital BW, The Print

   From: Mitch Alland <malland@...>
Subject: Glossy versus Matte Paper, Redux.

There's been a lot of discussion on this forum and the EpsonWideFormat
forum about getting "satisfactory blacks" on matte paper. But there's
no getting away from it, glossy papers have better Dmax than matte
papers: In his book, "The Print", Ansel Adams wrote that:

> Maximum image brilliance is obtained on a smooth, glossy-surfaced
> paper, which can have a reflectance of up to 1:100 and higher..The
> matte papers have a much lower brilliance, with a reflection-density
> range of about 1:25.

For ink jet prints there has been a lot of interest in matte papers
because some of the pigment inks cannot be used to print in glossy-type
papers, and also because the look and feel of many of the matte papers
is better than of the glossy-type papers. And even if you can print on
glossy papers, with B&W there's the bronzing problem with Ultrachrome
inks.

As I wrote in a posting last month, I came to conclusion after
extensive testing that my color prints, using Ultrachrome inks on the
Epson 7600,  looked a lot better on Epson Premium Matte (using Photo
Black) than on EEM or Photo Rag (using Matte Black). And once the print
is framed under glass, its weight and feel is irrelevant.

So, to prepare color prints for a forthcoming exhibition, I've had to
change back to Photo Black, which now leaves me the problem of what to
do about B&W prints. The only bright spot on the horizon that I've seen
is Robert Morrison's reference to a new Oriental Seagull paper that
(may be) glossy and use Photo Black and (may not be) subject to
bronzing. Anyone have any further information on this paper, or other
papers that could solve my Photo/Matte Black problem?

--Mitch/Potomac, MD