Where to buy Photo Paper

It seems to me that ‘where to buy paper and what kind of paper’ was an often asked question during the evening at the Photographer’s Salon at the Center for Photography at Woodstock.  During my start up days, I’d use B&H or Adorama, and often used what ever paper and profile that was on sale or available.  Then I was saved from my stupidity, by a comment from one of our country’s premier Fine Art Photographers, Vincent Versace, saying that ‘…printing is the soul of the Image’..it was then I realized that my photos were going to hell, if I did not start respecting the craft of photography, as those before me have….

Hence, another journey, and I soon discovered that this wasn’t a singular voice, the same theme and sense of pride and passion for the final print …from Prez to Moose Peterson to Scott Kelby to John Paul Caponigro. Paper is unique with qualities that will enhance of detract from your Image.  That to know paper was yet another critically important aspect of photography.   Moose tells a story of spending a month at home, closed away, spending four thousand dollars on paper, discovering what works best on what images on what printer…. he is a fanatic about his prints.

In the B&W film heyday, film was equally important, but digital while providing the immediacy of feedback has lost that importance in the development process, Digital is really 1 and o, film is analog…you can try and reproduce it like digitial sound, but if you’ve grown up on it analog, digital can’t compete. What I trying to say that film and paper both played a critical roll in the preDigital era.

So in the digital era that leaves us with what paper should you own and print on and where can you buy paper.  I’ll be the first to admit, my world is only Epson products, but someday that will probably change.  The information that follows is a blend of Scott Kelby’s book, “The Digital Photography Book”, workshops and articles by/with Moose Peterson, and personal experiences

Most Professional Printers are all on Epson. So I am starting from that point.

Lab-Quality 4×6,5×7,8×10 lab prints @$500 is the R1900.

Lab-Quality 13×17 @$800 is the R2880

Lab-Quality 17X22 @$    is the R3880  (17X22 is the sweet spot the pros are trying to hit)-my current gear

Which Paper to Use

Epson Velvet Fine Art : kind of like watercolor paper look and feel, used for softer nature Images, flowers, birds, waterfalls, this is an artsy type of feel paper and your not going to get tack sharp images…some people also use it for B&W if you looking for texture and depth

Epson Ultra Premium Luster : This is highly used and regarded paper that is between glossy and matte, it has a sheen to it. I use it for Urban architecture shots, and where you need a lot of detail,sharpness and when you need your colors to go ‘pop’.

Epson Exhibition Fiber : The king of gallery paper, especially B&W. Scott Kelby says “I’ve never seen a paper I liked better..”, When you have that “Hero” shot, the Soul goes on this paper.

New Epson Papers:

Hot and Cold Press – I have a small stock of the paper and have not used it yet- a good review is found here: Luminance Landscape Post. Trust me, those guys over at LL live and breath fine art, so I’ll give some of my 17X22 purchases a shot soon…

Moose’s favorites

Epson Ultra smooth fine art (75%)-used in his Moose Gallery Prints – it is a matte finish paper on a cotton rag base.

Cranes Museo silver rag (24%)

Red River Premium Matte (1%)

A few printing tips

Brush you paper off before you print of the clingy thingies.

Let you print dry for an hour after printing to prevent any possible rare but Murphy’s law problems

Spray prints with Premier Art Print Shield

Wear cotton gloves

Where to buy Paper

My comment here is that this Epson paper can be purchased at great discounts during the pre-Christmas time. I’ve stocked up on some of the utility papers at 50%-70% off retail and no shipping. Where, Epson on-line, – sign up for their email announcements, and you can’t go wrong.

My primary pick, is a brick and motor store in the midwest that has been in the business for 30+ years. The company’s name is Atlex.  The carry a complete range of paper manufactures and types.Again, get on their email list. Just recently, they sent out a notice that the Epson Exhibition 17X22 was selling at 70% off retail. I checked B&H and Epson, they were only selling at retail.  It’s a great feeling to load up on the soul of my future fine art prints, at a cost 70% lower than it needed to be.

With that being said, when I told Prez about the sale,, he asked how much did I buy, I told him and he shook his head, ‘You should get more’, I went back to Atlex and damn if Prez wasn’t correct again, they had doubled their sale-price on 8X12, so I reordered more 17X22…..total savings ~$500 ….