How to choose the best setup for printing photos
As outlined in Setting up a digital darkroom, your choice of a printer depends on set-up space, print size, and whether you prefer the ‘look’ of matte or glossy media.
You can choose between matte or glossy prints depending on your preferences. Canon’s Pro Platinum paper is considered one of the best glossy papers available, while Epson’s Velvet Fine Art paper is among the best of the papers with smooth matte surfaces.
Some A4 printers can print photos quite well, but they only have limited ink sets. A3 and A2 printers produce the best results, as they use more inks. These printers are also capable of printing on smaller sizes of paper.
All colour printing requires at least four inks: Cyan (C), a greenish blue; Magenta (M), a purplish red, Yellow (Y) and Black (K – for ‘key’ as it adds a contrast ‘key’ to bring out the other colours.) The CMYK printer uses only four inks. They’re fine for everyday office printing but can’t reproduce all the subtle hues and tones in images.
Photo printers normally add light (‘Photo’) cyan and magenta inks and also at least one grey ink (‘Light Black’). Some printers add red, green or blue inks to further expand the printer’s tonal range.
Separate ‘Photo’ (PK) and ‘Matte’ (MK) black inks are usually provided, the Photo inks for glossy media and the Matte inks are for non-glossy surfaces. In older printers, swapping between Photo and Matte inks would take a few minutes and use a millilitre or so of ink to ‘purge’ the ink lines. This problem has been mostly solved by the latest printers.
A typical A3 printer can print on papers up to 329 mm wide and has a 639 x 379 mm ‘footprint’ on a desktop. (Source: Canon)
A3 printers can be used with a variety of paper types, and produce beautiful colour and black-and-white prints. An A3 printer can print photos as well as posters and calendars. A number of printers can print panoramic images on user-specified paper. Some even have special holders that allow you to print on roll papers.
The A2 printer has all the features professional users and enthusiasts need, including the ability print on media upto 420mm in width. Its ‘footprint’ measures 615 x 902 mm with output trays extended, as shown in this illustration. (Source: Epson.)
A2 desktop printers can be used by photographers, illustrators, fine artists producers, and graphic designers who need high-quality output. If equipped with an optional roll media tray, the printer can produce prints up to 1.5m in length.
Generally, the more individual cartridges the printer uses the wider – and more subtle – the range of hues and tones it can print. You should ensure that your photo printer uses at least six different inks.
What are the best dyes or pigment inks for you?
The type of printer you choose will depend on your media preferences: dye or pigment. No printer can use both. Both types can be used with matte and glossy papers. However, each type works best with a specific media.
Because dye inks can be absorbed easily by coated glossy and semi-gloss papers, they are liquid. Pigment inks are microscopic, solid-coloured particles in a fast-drying carrier fluid. When the ink dries, the particles remain on the paper’s surface which is roughened to keep them in place, although they are vulnerable to abrasion.
The best quality and boldest colours are reproduced by dye-ink printers on glossy and paper. The resulting prints are also more robust because the dyes are absorbed into the paper’s surface coating. They can be used to print on canvas but are less durable than those printed by printers using pigment inks.
Pigment ink printers work best with matte and lightly-textured papers but they are also ideal for heavier ‘fine art’ media, including canvas. To prevent pigments from flaking, prints made on textured media need to be handled with care. It is recommended to spray the print’s surface with preservation lacquer.
When you need long-lasting prints, pigment inks offer superior fade-resistance. The durability of the dye-based inks from Epson (Claria), Canon (Chromalife), and Epson (Claria), is comparable to their pigment-based counterparts, when used under the best conditions.
Choose from paper
There’s no ‘right’ printing paper for every image and every situation, but you can match your paper choice to the end result on the basis of the following criteria:
Size: It is partly determined by the printer’s output size. This makes it easy to quantify. Other than that, there are many options: large prints work best for framing and books, while smaller prints work best in albums.
You can find photo quality papers in many sizes: A4 to A2 to A2 to A4 to A2 to A2 to A3 to A2 to A2 to A2 to A3 to A2. There are also rolls with different widths that will suit different printers.
Thickness: This can also be dictated by the printer as many consumer-level printers can’t handle thicker, heavier papers. Check your printer’s specifications to find its limits.
Paper thickness is usually specified in millimeters (mm) or as ‘weight’, which is defined in grams per square metre (gsm) – and there’s no accurate correlation between these measurements. Some manufacturers use gsm and others use mm.
The feel of thicker papers is more tactile and substantial, which implies higher quality. Lighter papers can be bound more easily into books. Depending on the size of the pages, 170 to 220 gsm is the ideal paper weight for books. A3+ prints should be at least 260gsm, and A2 prints to be framed should be at least 310gsm.
Surface: Paper surface options include high gloss, semi-gloss and pearl, satin, smooth matte, and lustre. Textured papers are also available, along with ‘metallic’ papers with a special surface that contains particles of mica to reflect light with an iridescent sheen. Other options include ‘baryta’ papers that simulate the surfaces of traditional photo papers, canvas, linen and silk media and papers that simulate the ‘hand-made’ look of traditional Japanese ‘washi’ paper.
Independent manufacturer Ilford offers a variety of papers.
Smooth surfaces are better for printing images with lots of detail than textured papers. Heavy textures can distract the viewer’s attention from the image, although they can work well for images with broad tonal gradations and areas of high contrast.
Tonality: Inkjet papers are usually classified as ‘warm’ or ‘cool’ tone. Warm papers retain the pale, buff colour of their source material (usually wood pulp). Cool papers look as close as possible as pure white, usually because they contain optical brightnesseners. However, sometimes cotton rag is used.
Cooler tones are better for landscape photos because they highlight brighter and more vivid colours. Warmer papers are better for autumn photos and portraits, especially if the subject has warmer hues or subtle tones.
Speciality photo papers include ‘baryta’ surfaces, which replicate the surface appearance and tonality of traditional black and white photo papers.
Optical brighteners
Inkjet media are coated with optical brightening agent (OBAs). This makes them appear whiter in papers primarily made from wood pulp. These chemicals fluoresce under ultraviolet light, emitting visible light at the blue/white end of the visible spectrum, which overpowers the paper’s natural buff tone. OBAs-based papers appear to have a wider range of colours, greater saturation, and darker blacks. However, OBAs can only be seen under high UV light, such as fluorescent lighting or sunlight.
Bright white papers are great for photo books, where they get limited light exposure, and other short-term projects. However, OBAs lose fluorescence over time. Papers that have been exposed to bright sunlight will see their natural color fade. This causes colour shifts in the printed image.
OBA-free papers may be available for archival use, but they are more costly because they contain a higher percentage of cotton. While these papers might not replicate the original brilliance of printed images they are preferred by fine art photographers because they retain consistent colour over time, and their natural surfaces complement printed images.
Sample packs
Sample packs are often sold in similar sizes and made by manufacturers to allow photographers to get a low-cost opportunity to try their papers. Where the brands themselves don’t make up sample packs, some professional re-sellers like Image Science make up their own packs, usually containing one or two A4 sheets of each paper type within a particular range of between three and eight different papers. Prices vary depending on what paper is used and how many sheets are included in the pack.
Sample packs are a quick and inexpensive way to test the quality of a paper before buying it.
Once you’ve chosen a suitable paper, you should be able to find a related ICC profile for the paper that matches your printer on the paper manufacturer’s website. If you can’t find a profile, use the closest match in your printer’s canned profiles and make a test print on a small sheet of the paper. It is possible to make several prints. You will need to make small adjustments between each print to adjust colours and contrast levels to achieve a satisfying result.
Useful links
Choice of paper and ink
How to choose the right inkjet media