Azrael

[Manfred M]

Another DC Comics character I have never heard of, but according to what I read, he first appeared in 1944 (well before my time).

Wearing this costume is William Bloom, who designed and created the costumes I've been posting over the past few days. It's amazing what he has done with yoga mats, which are the main material he uses when he crafts his armour.


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[Shadowman]

Very nice, have you considered printing any of these images, wonder if Baryta paper might be a good medium?

[Manfred M]

I will definitely be printing some of these as part of the print making masterclass I am taking right now. My test prints are on Epson White Proofing Paper White Semimatte; I've done some test prints already.

If I turn these into a book, I will likely go with one of the Moab Lasal Dual papers that can be printed on both sides. It comes in a matte and a semi-gloss. It's not a great paper when compared to some of the higher end stuff, but for a book, this is a less important consideration.

When go the exhibition / competition route, I will be handling these as fine art prints and will use Epson Hot Press Bright paper although I might do a test on Canson Baryta Photographique just to get a touch more dynamic range. Right now the rag papers are popular in exhibitions because of the painterly look they give and lack of glare under exhibition lighting (it's an uncoated paper).

[Shadowman]

I will definitely be printing some of these as part of the print making masterclass I am taking right now. My test prints are on Epson White Proofing Paper White Semimatte; I've done some test prints already.

If I turn these into a book, I will likely go with one of the Moab Lasal Dual papers that can be printed on both sides. It comes in a matte and a semi-gloss. It's not a great paper when compared to some of the higher end stuff, but for a book, this is a less important consideration.

When go the exhibition / competition route, I will be handling these as fine art prints and will use Epson Hot Press Bright paper although I might do a test on Canson Baryta Photographique just to get a touch more dynamic range. Right now the rag papers are popular in exhibitions because of the painterly look they give and lack of glare under exhibition lighting (it's an uncoated paper).

Regarding that Moab paper you mentioned, is that a backlit medium?

[pschlute]

Really liking this series.

Yoga mats... I would not have guessed.

[Manfred M]

Regarding that Moab paper you mentioned, is that a backlit medium?

No. It is paper that can be printed on front and back and is meant for use in photo books.

I wonder if Japanese washi paper might be suitable for that purpose. The thin material is quite delicate and I am planning to try it. The only two sources for photo print grade paper I am aware of are Moab and Ilford. As a rule, Ilford seems to make higher quality paper than Moab, so I am likely to try their product first.

Washi is made from mulberry trees and is what is traditionally used in Japanese Shoji screens, so it is a translucent material. I'm going to have my daughter pick some up in Japan when she visits there in a few weeks.



https://www.moabpaper.com/moenkopi-washi?rq=washi


https://ilford.com/product/washi-torinoko/

[Manfred M]

Really liking this series.

Yoga mats... I would not have guessed.

Thanks - I have a few more sets coming. I should wrap up posting this series later this week.

[Round Tuit]

I will definitely be printing some of these as part of the print making masterclass I am taking right now. My test prints are on Epson White Proofing Paper White Semimatte; I've done some test prints already.

If I turn these into a book, I will likely go with one of the Moab Lasal Dual papers that can be printed on both sides. It comes in a matte and a semi-gloss. It's not a great paper when compared to some of the higher end stuff, but for a book, this is a less important consideration.

When go the exhibition / competition route, I will be handling these as fine art prints and will use Epson Hot Press Bright paper although I might do a test on Canson Baryta Photographique just to get a touch more dynamic range. Right now the rag papers are popular in exhibitions because of the painterly look they give and lack of glare under exhibition lighting (it's an uncoated paper).

Manfred,
I don't know about Moab Dual paper but I have tried the "Luster Duo 280" from Inkpress and it is totally useless as the print shows through the back. I guess that most of the 280 gr weight is in the coating and the paper itself is very flimsy. In any case I would not invest in a lot of paper before trying some samples.

[Manfred M]

Manfred,
I don't know about Moab Dual paper but I have tried the "Luster Duo 280" from Inkpress and it is totally useless as the print shows through the back. I guess that most of the 280 gr weight is in the coating and the paper itself is very flimsy. In any case I would not invest in a lot of paper before trying some samples.

Thanks Andre - Inkpress and Moab are two different paper companies and just because they use similar names for their papers does not mean the papers are in fact similar. The specs, including the grammage, of the papers is quite different. The Inkpress paper is 285 gsm and the Moab is 330 gsm.

The reason I am considering it is that I know a couple of photographers that have used the Moab product in photo books and I have had a chance to have a good look at their work on that paper.

[DanK]

I haven't used those particular Moab papers, but I have often used a number of their other papers, and they have all been high quality.

It's a shame they don't offer their exhibition luster in a dual-sided paper.

[DanK]

When go the exhibition / competition route, I will be handling these as fine art prints and will use Epson Hot Press Bright paper although I might do a test on Canson Baryta Photographique just to get a touch more dynamic range. Right now the rag papers are popular in exhibitions because of the painterly look they give and lack of glare under exhibition lighting (it's an uncoated paper).

A topic for another day, I suppose, but I find this trend a bit annoying. First, one loses a lot of the benefit of a matte or fine-art paper when one puts it behind glass. But even apart from that, my personal view, for what little it is worth, is that the best paper depends on the image. There are reasons other than dynamic range why a baryta or even a luster paper is preferable, IMHO, to a matte or fine art paper for some images. for example, I recently printed a 17 x 22 (roughly A2) print of this:



I expected to print it on Canson Baryta Photographique, and that's what I did in the end. But for comparison, I printed one of my test prints on a very high quality matte paper, Canson Rag Photographique. The rag print was simply drab.

I have had a few images for which I found it wasn't all that easy a call. E.g., I printed this one on the same two papers. the results were of course very different, but I had a hard time choosing.

[billtils]

... apart from that, my personal view, for what little it is worth, is that the best paper depends on the image ...

I don't do a lot of printing but what I do is quite varied and I totally agree with Dan.

[Manfred M]

my personal view, for what little it is worth, is that the best paper depends on the image.

Understanding that "the best paper depends on the image" is an opinion and one that will not be universally shared. In fact I will sometimes see a print I made a few years back and wonder what had been going through my mind when I chose a particular paper, so at least in my case, my opinion can and does change over time.

There is one fairly well known street photographer in town who refuses to print on cotton rag papers because the resulting image does not look "photographic enough" for him. I know some others that prefer those papers precisely because of the look they have and print on it almost exclusively.


If I were to look at how I select the paper I print on now, I generally do the following:


1. Portraits go on cotton rag papers without OBAs. These papers tend to have a slightly warmer tone to them that I like with portraits. I tend to papers with a very smooth texture;

2. I use cotton rag papers with OBAs with landscape work. The OBAs give them a brighter look. I will often go with a more heavily textured paper as I find this works well with grasses and trees;

3. I use baryta papers for most other things, especially if they feature man made objects; buildings, machines, cars, etc. I find that these subjects do well with a bit of a crisper look that the baryta gives me; and

4. Any time I do a job for free I stick with a mid-range resin type luster paper. The results are similar to the baryta papers at around half the cost.


As much of my recent work has been portraits, street photography and landscapes at least 80% of my prints have been on cotton rag papers over the past year or so. I'm going to get some Japanese washi paper to try. I suspect it will work very well with some of my high key studio images.

[DanK]

Understanding that "the best paper depends on the image" is an opinion and one that will not be universally shared.

Of course. But that's a good thing, part of the creative process.

I happen to follow somewhat similar patterns. When I want coated papers, I use baryta for most things that matter a lot to me and luster for most of the rest. I try to avoid OBAs even for relatively white papers, in part because they result in a very different appearance when placed under UV-protective glass. Two of the Canson papers I use a lot, Baryta Photographique and Rag Photographique, I picked because they have no OBAs (other than the baryta coating) and are quite cool whites nonetheless. but that's just my taste.

Vive la difference