Paper Types & Finishes
Hopefully you’ve decided on a type of printing to use for your reproductions. The next choice to make is the type of paper to use. There are literally thousands of different types, all with different qualities. Some will suit specific types of artwork and some will only work with certain types of printing.
Here’s some of the types of paper you’ll come across as well as some of the finishes you’ll be choosing between for your prints.
Baryta
Baryta is a coating applied to cotton or fibre papers, it produces a glossy finish ideal for photographic prints. Baryta papers usually have a warm undertone, they produce highly detailed and colour rich prints ideal for fine art photography.
Coated
Coated papers have a wide range of finishes and properties. The coating can give a base paper many different attributes; extra weight, smoothness, gloss. The coating can also help certain inks take to the paper.
Cotton
The basic material for many fine art papers, cotton gives the paper an archival quality - allowing the ink to not fade and retain their colour for many years. Cotton papers are sometimes referred to as Rag papers.
Glossy
Glossy papers are traditionally used for photographic images, it’s high reflective, shiny surface and bright white paper colour helps create bright, sharp images.
Luster (Lustre)
Another photographic paper with a finish somewhere between glossy and matte, the paper coating sometimes carries a slight texture to ease the reflective shine.
Matte (Matt)
Matte is a paper type with no reflective “shine”, matte papers are available in a number of finishes - textured or smooth, bright white or coloured.
Metallic
This is not paper made from metal, instead there is a layer of a metallic film between the paper and the surface coating, this gives the paper a unique gloss shine and is again, ideal for photographic printing.
Pearl
Similar to Lustre, Pearl is a paper where the finish is somewhere between Glossy and Matte, the paper is usually a warmer tone compared to Lustre.
Rag
Rag is another name for cotton based papers, although with the popularity of specific rag papers - Photo Rag for example - the term groups together smooth fine art papers made for Giclée and ink jet printing.
Rough
A rough surface has a pronounced texture and has the most textured surface of any paper you’ll find available.
Satin
A coated surface with a level of shine lower than Gloss, Luster or Pearl, but more than Matte. The papers are bright white and have little or no surface texture.
Silk
Silk paper has a very similar coating and surface to Satin and within some types of printing, the two terms are fairly interchangeable.
Textured
A medium textured surface, the grain of the paper should be subtle yet still visible to the naked eye.
Uncoated
A natural paper without any artificial coating, this means papers are always matte - without any glossy shine - they can also have various textured and coloured surfaces. The papers may be more porous so ink will absorb into the paper more than a coated paper.
Sources
metroimaging.co.uk/faqs/what-is-baryta-paper
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inkjet_paper
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_paper
printingpartners.wordpress.com/2012/05/24/paper-types-explained/