Paper for Prints....

I just received a bunch of samples from West Coast Imaging and they all look great in their own certain ways. I have no prints of my landscape work in my home.....I have sold many images to clients and have always used matte paper from Mpix. I am now thinking of doing some "fine art" type prints and am wondering what papers everyone uses???

some of the images will be in 100" inches long range and about 30" tall (stitched photos of course) for optimal quality.

in natural home settings I am curious as to what papers hold up and look the best when matted and framed and viewing at a distance!

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!

Darren

Under well-controlled lighting conditions, glossy papers can look spectacular. But most homes have so many windows that you're likely to have glare issues. I've been printing on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag for about 3 years or so and love it - rich colors and a hint of texture; also very nice for b&w. It comes in 188 and 308 weight; I print on both but prefer the 308 for the substantial feel. When selling unmatted prints - which is mostly what I do - I use the 308 for the feel. For my own personal use, and for matted/framed prints, I'll use the 188 for the lower cost.

I've heard good things about the Crane Museo papers, but haven't tried them yet.

For something with a little more sheen, but that still holds up well in household lighting conditions, I'll print on Epson Premium Lustre. They seem to change the names of their papers about once a year , and I think it's now "Ultra Premium Lustre".

I'm planning to try out the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl for a lustre paper since I've been so happy with their matte paper.

You can order sampler packs for most of these. I have the WCI samples, but it's hard to tell much from such small samples, especially when you didn't print them yourself with your particular printer and ink type. Also, some may be better for color than b&w, and I found it very worthwhile to get the samplers and experiment.

Darren,
I just tried some of Epsons Velvet Fine Art Paper and I really like it. To Ricks point, I use their premium lustre a lot too.
JG
PS--I think you are going o get LO Ts of different inputs to this questions. I recommend finding what you like and sticking with ti. Paper to me is like film. When I was shooting film I stuck to 1 or 2 types because I know how they would perform... same with paper!

Daren,
I concur with Rick. The Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 is an excellent paper for landscape and other natural scenes, especially in large sizes were the viewer will be some distance from the photo. It has a bit of texture which softens the scene without destroying detail.
The Hahnemuhle Pearl is also excellent for scenes with more intricate detail and when you want a little more "punch" to the photo.

Darren,

Given that you will be making really big pano prints, you will be limited to paper that comes in rolls. Since I print on only cut sheets, I'll defer to others to identify if the papers they suggest come in rolls.

For really big prints, it would seem that a matte paper would be best from the standpoint of reducing the possibility of glare.

Good luck in your search!

-PB

Another vote for the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308gsm. Super stuff when behind glass. Very nice detail retention for a matte. For large prints when using the lighter form of this paper in roll(180gsm) I had some banding issues with the Epson R1800. Now I buy 24"X36" sheets in the 308gsm weight and cut it accordingly for larger prints.

Scott

I use the Moab Entrada 300 but had a profile done for a sample of the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308. The Hahnemuhle was a bit darker overall but the difference was so little that, for the extra money, I couldn't see using it over the Entrada.