Great article. It also takes time to get use to a particular paper and what its pros and cons are. Papers are also subject to change if the manufacturing process is changed or the sourced paper stock is different (Ilford Gold Fibre Silk is a good example as was Museo Silver Rag; two papers I used quite a bit some years ago). It is useful to standardize on a small number of papers that you know well and print on those. It's fun to experiment with new papers but you have to go through the profile making and do a lot of test printing.
Great advice regarding having a couple of go-to papers you know well. Advice we give in EVERY WORKSHOP. If you don't have something you know well how does one even begin to evaluate other options...
Printing on today's papers is a lot different than when we printed b/w or on color paper. We just hoped we had black blacks or spot on color. It was where some of us could see point shifts less than 10 color points. Now it seems that there is a plethora of papers with base tones and print finishes to choose from. Is there a way to get a print sampling from a paper maker to see the broad spectrum? It would be nice to choose from the sampler the paper you would like to print your image on to. That way if you wanted something cooler or warmer, you would have the options in front of you. Great article, as we never consider OBA's
No worries, I was not talking about soft proofing I was advising using tools like the split tone tool (now called "color grading") in Lightroom to simulate the base color of the paper you are thinking about using.
Here's a link that shows how to make the "color grading" work like the older split tone tool which may be easier if you are not used to adding color toning to an image.
In reality any tool you know how to use will probably have some way to do that (curves with color channels, a dozen different tools in Photoshop, and some processing tools that specialize in BW have various "paper toning" options that simulate various brown/yellow/warm tones digitally.
I should have explained this clearly but there's dozens of different tools and apps and ways to add a color tone to a digital image. My point is to use any of those to get some idea how your image will look on a paper with an obvious base color prior to committing it to paper.
Great article. It also takes time to get use to a particular paper and what its pros and cons are. Papers are also subject to change if the manufacturing process is changed or the sourced paper stock is different (Ilford Gold Fibre Silk is a good example as was Museo Silver Rag; two papers I used quite a bit some years ago). It is useful to standardize on a small number of papers that you know well and print on those. It's fun to experiment with new papers but you have to go through the profile making and do a lot of test printing.
Great advice regarding having a couple of go-to papers you know well. Advice we give in EVERY WORKSHOP. If you don't have something you know well how does one even begin to evaluate other options...
Printing on today's papers is a lot different than when we printed b/w or on color paper. We just hoped we had black blacks or spot on color. It was where some of us could see point shifts less than 10 color points. Now it seems that there is a plethora of papers with base tones and print finishes to choose from. Is there a way to get a print sampling from a paper maker to see the broad spectrum? It would be nice to choose from the sampler the paper you would like to print your image on to. That way if you wanted something cooler or warmer, you would have the options in front of you. Great article, as we never consider OBA's
Glad you took away something from the essay.
Yes, most manufacturers have some sort of sampler and/or a sample pack of paper. We have a bunch. Did I understand your question?
Some labs let you buy a paper sampler with one image printed on it for comparison. Does Red River or others do this?
Great article. When you say simulate the base tone color, is that the same as soft proofing? Forgive my ignorance, I’m still learning.
Hi Sara,
No worries, I was not talking about soft proofing I was advising using tools like the split tone tool (now called "color grading") in Lightroom to simulate the base color of the paper you are thinking about using.
Here's a link that shows how to make the "color grading" work like the older split tone tool which may be easier if you are not used to adding color toning to an image.
In reality any tool you know how to use will probably have some way to do that (curves with color channels, a dozen different tools in Photoshop, and some processing tools that specialize in BW have various "paper toning" options that simulate various brown/yellow/warm tones digitally.
I should have explained this clearly but there's dozens of different tools and apps and ways to add a color tone to a digital image. My point is to use any of those to get some idea how your image will look on a paper with an obvious base color prior to committing it to paper.