Digital BW, The Print

I'm at that point again where all my testing and reading about various 
papers is making my head spin. This has been recurring every few months 
since I got into this. ;-)

Clayton's Paper Chase and other posts have been quite helpful, but I 
for the life of me cannot find something that meets all 4 of the 
criteria in the title.

Hey, maybe I'm just anal, but I suspect there are plenty of you in my 
situation:
--OBA's: too much of a pain with mats, and what will they look like 
down the road?; I don't mind a hint of warmth in the paper anyway, so 
would just assume avoid them
--to me, right around 300 gsm is the magic number--much less feels too 
flimsy, and much more gets pricey and doesn't always feed well
--I like the hard/smooth look of PAHP and others if it's heading 
straight for a frame, but to customers who are handling prints it reads 
as cheapo card stock; if I'm not going the RC/"photographic" route, I 
want something that feels more special and fine art-y
--AC sounds promising, but it's one more unfamiliar hurdle for my 
clients to understand, so I'm wimping out and sticking with good ol' 
marketable cotton

It's HPR without the OBA's and occasional flakiness. Innova Soft 
Texture or Cold Press, but cotton (and while I'm dreaming, maybe a hair 
less warm).

Anyone?

TIA,
Doug
www.IntrinsicPictures.com

Hello Doug,

I feel your pain <g>.


>--AC sounds promising, but it's one more unfamiliar hurdle for my 
>clients to understand, so I'm wimping out and sticking with good 
>ol' marketable cotton

One way around that is to use the same term we used in the dark ages -
"fiber based".  Yes ma'm, these pictures are printed on the highest
quality fiber based photographic paper. 



>Innova Soft Texture

This feels like cotton.  You'd never guess it's a.c.  But you're
right, it is pretty warm.


Regards,
Clayton


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

> Message: 14
>    Date: Wed, 10 Aug 2005 00:29:15 -0500
>    From: Intrinsic Pictures <lists@...>
> Subject: dream paper: cotton, no OBA's, ~300gsm, slight texture?
>
> I'm at that point again where all my testing and reading about various
> papers is making my head spin. This has been recurring every few months
> since I got into this. ;-)
>
> Clayton's Paper Chase and other posts have been quite helpful, but I
> for the life of me cannot find something that meets all 4 of the
> criteria in the title.
>
> Hey, maybe I'm just anal, but I suspect there are plenty of you in my
> situation:
> --OBA's: too much of a pain with mats, and what will they look like
> down the road?; I don't mind a hint of warmth in the paper anyway, so
> would just assume avoid them
> --to me, right around 300 gsm is the magic number--much less feels too
> flimsy, and much more gets pricey and doesn't always feed well
> --I like the hard/smooth look of PAHP and others if it's heading
> straight for a frame, but to customers who are handling prints it reads
> as cheapo card stock; if I'm not going the RC/"photographic" route, I
> want something that feels more special and fine art-y
> --AC sounds promising, but it's one more unfamiliar hurdle for my
> clients to understand, so I'm wimping out and sticking with good ol'
> marketable cotton
>
> It's HPR without the OBA's and occasional flakiness. Innova Soft
> Texture or Cold Press, but cotton (and while I'm dreaming, maybe a hair
> less warm).
>
> Anyone?
>

Sure - Arches Infinity hot pressed - no OBA's, slightly warm but only just,

230 or 355 gsm (I don't like thin papers, but the 230 doesn't feel too
flimsy at all) - nice feel to it and nice slight texture - nice art paper
feel to the paper overall.

Very crisp and sharp, decent DMax

I've had very little flaking at all (virtually none) and the surface is
quite durable - more so than many other papers

That said, you pay through the nose for it.....

these folks have been making paper for 500 years and seem to have a good
idea what they are doing....

tim a

I've tried all these and for an outstanding and unique texture while
not compromising on dmax and color gamut (as Somerst always did) I
really think the Innova Cold Press is hard to beat. It is a lot
cheaper in cost than Arches and superior in quality in my opinion. I
would't worry about Alpha Cellulose vs 100% rag. Some of the best
papers out there are AC. Somehow that purified wood pulp gives them
the ability to make nicer textures that are less tender. I don't know
what others think but I've reevaluated my past reluctance to use them. 


If you email shades of paper dot com you can buy some inexpensive
samples of the cold press and soft texture and see for yourself if you
like them.

John

--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, "john dean" 
<deanwork2003@y...> wrote:
> I've tried all these and for an outstanding and unique texture while
> not compromising on dmax and color gamut (as Somerst always did) I
> really think the Innova Cold Press is hard to beat. It is a lot
> cheaper in cost than Arches and superior in quality in my opinion. I
> would't worry about Alpha Cellulose vs 100% rag. Some of the best
> papers out there are AC. Somehow that purified wood pulp gives them
> the ability to make nicer textures that are less tender. I don't know
> what others think but I've reevaluated my past reluctance to use 
them. 
> 
> 
> If you email shades of paper dot com you can buy some inexpensive
> samples of the cold press and soft texture and see for yourself if you
> like them.
> 
> John

http://www.shadesofpaper.com/innova.htm sample pack is all the way at 
the bottom of the page.

Another good one is Condor Natural.  It's cotton, 325gsm, no OBAs,
paper color a tad less warm (W5) than the Soft Texture (W5.5), ink
color the same (B5.5), excellent Dmax, and has a mild texture.  It's
one of Hwk Mtn's newer papers, definitely worth a look.

Regards,
Clayton


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

"...and has a mild texture."

Clayton,


I'm curious: Which paper(s) do you use for portraits?

Thanks,
Scott

Hi Scott,

>I'm curious: Which paper(s) do you use for portraits?

I don't have a particular one, I treat each picture individually. 
That said, one that I often end up using for portraits is Merlin
Smooth.  Its unique look lends itself nicely to skin tones.  But other
things, such as the background or lighting conditions, can influence
the decision and sometimes I use something else.

Regards,
Clayton


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