Print

While working on my Epson 3880, I decided to update drivers and paper profiles over at the Epson site.  The process is very straight forward, the only issue is that Epson has a limited number of profiles available and these all tie into the new paper types that they are selling.  I have an inventory of some stock that I could not find any profiles for.

Off to Google land I went and found a site that you might be interested in.  The site author, Eric Chan has been developing and profiling various paper stock for the 3880 and the older 3800.  The 3880 profiles are based on the UltraChrome K3 with Vivid Magenta ink set, with the emphasis on the Advance Black&White (ABW) mode of the Epson 3880.

I ran a number of prints for Velvet Fine Art and was impressed with the results.  You may want to give the site a peek and see if you have any of the paper that Eric has profiled for the 3880 or the 3800.

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

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