Choosing a Paper
Last exhibition was printed on Moab Entrada Natural with Epson K3 inks. It worked well, but having since switched back to Piezography, I ran a few comparisons between what I had in stock. It turns out that Entrada is somewhat duller with NK7 inks while Hahnemühle Photo Rag really shines. Deeper blacks, more sparkle in the highlights, and something I can’t really identify combine to give much more pleasing prints. NK7 on Entrada are good prints and I would probably not find flaws if I had not compared to the same on Photo Rag. But I did. And it is like someone turned on the light on the Photo Rag one. Hard to believe.
A close examination also shows the print surface is flawless with Photo Rag while Entrada surface shows some light reflections, as if the ink was not completely absorbed. I have used Entrada a lot with early Piezography and MIS UT7 without noticing that problem, so maybe I could try to create my own Entrada curve with less ink and see. It would not give the higher DMax, though and probably not the nicer tone of Photo Rag.
A problem with Photo Rag is the price, though. Nearly twice compared to its competitors.
I don’t have time before the exhibition to order and test Innova and Bradford papers, but I surely will after the exhibition. Innova is supposed to be very very close to Photo Rag with NK7 and it is sold around the same price as Entrada.
In the meantime, Photo Rag is back!
Stephane :: Oct.21.2007 :: Printing :: 5 Comments »
