Pick A Card, Any Card...Any Card At All...

Now put it back in the pack while I shuffle. And here it is - the Matte Fine Art Rag! Right? You can be forgiven for thinking that the Hahnemühle paper samples - and their Ilford and Canson equivalents - are a three-card monté trick. How could there be that many papers that you need to know about? I mean, paper is paper, right? No. Paper is a whole new universe for you - pre-packaged in envelopes and boxes and described by more names than the observatory uses when they look at the real stars. And there are more specifications for each paper than you can well imagine. Each sheet of paper may seem no more than a flat ink absorber for your printer. You put it in the slot at the top, take it out of the slot at the bottom, and consider yourself lucky if it hasn't picked up a wrinkle or streak in the passage. But if you do not choose it wisely and use it with science, you will be disappointed nearly every time. Let's get past the printer, its mechanics, and plumbing. Say you've bought a good Epson from CE, taken it home and followed the step-by-step instructions about unpacking and setup. You've loaded the inks, levelled the machine, and connected it up to your computer. This may be with a wire or a Wifi and a wish, but we'll assume you can send a picture from the one to the other and set the thing a-whirring. What do you put in that top slot? Well, you can play it safe like I do and use Epson papers. My computer is an older R3000 and has the internal settings that deal with their own papers. Just as I never use other people's inks, I rarely use other people's papers - the machine is commanded to print on what it says on the packet and when the ink lines are clean it does so flawlessly. But I could take home Hahnemühle or Ilford and get eqaully good results - as long as I take the precaution of going to the maker's internet page and downloading a profile for the paper I'm going to use. It can stay in my computer thereafter and be called into play whenever I go to that maker's goods. It ensures that the ink layer is appropriate for the surface and the composition of the paper - I waste no ink and I get the result I expect from my computer screen. What effect does the surface of the paper have on what I do? If the image is a big one, the surface can be more broken - the print is viewed from a greater distance and the effect of the rougher surface is seen as correct. If it is a tiny image I need to consider a finer grain surface. If it is a detailed technical print I need a tight grain and a gloss to show detail. As the art becomes more diffuse, the paper can become more matte and rougher. This is not an iron-clad rule but you need to consider each image separately. Does it need to be stark white or should it have a cream tinge? Convention keeps the pure tones for architecture and reportage and sends the portraits and art to the off-white range. But I've been to photographic conventions and they are full of boosters and bafflement so maybe you should do the opposite thing. One thing is certain - the images selected for each page of a paper sampler are superb - and meant to be very seductive. At the price of big pieces of good paper, you need to consider very carefully how many of your images will fit with each surface. 27 good images for a box of 25 sheets ( and two of those are going to be spoiled by the printer hiccupping...) means two boxes of expensive paper. When you get it, treat it carefully.