Photo paper buying guide

You spent time researching which camera and printer to buy, and you put effort into shooting great pictures. It doesn't make sense to load your photo printer up with whatever cheapo paper you find at the office supply store.

If you're a photographer who really cares about image quality, then you need to be as serious about paper selection as you were about camera and printer choice. There is an overwhelming variety of photo papers out there, and they are far from equal. The fact is, while it may seem like nothing more than flattened wood pulp, there's a lot of technology and science behind photo paper, and different kinds are better for different applications.

Start with the finish

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You spent time researching which camera and printer to buy, and you put effort into shooting great pictures. It doesn't make sense to load your photo printer up with whatever cheapo paper you find at the office supply store.

If you're a photographer who really cares about image quality, then you need to be as serious about paper selection as you were about camera and printer choice. There is an overwhelming variety of photo papers out there, and they are far from equal. The fact is, while it may seem like nothing more than flattened wood pulp, there's a lot of technology and science behind photo paper, and different kinds are better for different applications.

Start with the finish

Your first concern when choosing a paper should be the finish. Some papers are glossy, others have a matte finish, and others are more textured, like the art papers that painters use.

Gloss and Semigloss Many novice shooters are attracted to glossy papers because the prints appear to have very "rich" colors. It's true that if you are just printing snapshots to pass around, gloss or semigloss papers can be very pretty. However, the gloss creates reflections and shine that can actually obscure your image. If you're planning to frame a print, glossy paper makes even less sense as you'll be getting glare from both the gloss and the glass. As your eye improves, you'll most likely want move away from glossy to other finishes that better show off your photos.

Matte In addition to not creating distracting reflections, a good matte paper will deliver darker blacks than gloss paper, which means better contrast. Also, a quality matte paper will often hold finer detail than a glossy paper, which can be important for images where detail and texture are critical.

Canvas Another nice option for images that you want to frame is canvas. A quality canvas print will deliver a matte-paper like contrast and color, but since there's no glass over the print to reduce contrast and saturation, the colors remain much more vibrant when viewed from a distance. Note, though, that canvas does have a rather rough texture, so you want to be careful where you hang it—a canvas image struck by side light will show a lot of bumps.

Art Paper Finally, there are "art" papers that deliver a matte finish with a fair amount of texture, like water color paper. These papers offer varying degrees of contrast and color, and a different overall look. Some might appear more painterly, and many will be a strong yellow or beige color. Images with broad areas of flat color, like landscapes, can work very well on these papers.

Durability and longevity

Hang a photo in direct light and it will fade. A print from a pigment-ink-based printer, such as the Epson r2880, will fade more slowly than a print from a dye-ink-based printer, such as the Epson r1900, but all prints will ultimately fade. The good news is that a good pigment printer can yield prints that will last for well over a hundred years without fading, and even some dye printers can deliver upwards of twenty years—much better than many color films. Wilhelm Imaging Research is the third-party company that printer vendors use for longevity testing, and its Website shows the results of its testing of many different printers and ink/paper combinations.