Recommend a new portrait paper.

[W. Fisher]

I'm sort bored with the luster and canvas for portraits and need something new. Matte is too dull. Glossy is, well, too glossy.

Something with a bit of skin-like texture or a bit of tooth perhaps?

Any recommendations of maybe something new or different out there to try out in portrait land?

Tia.

W.F.

 

[Ink stained Fingers]

Try something unusual - papers which are not made for or considered suitable for portraits like this one

http://www.tecco-photo.de/EN/produkte.php

Klick on ISG250 Iridium Silver Gloss , they show a portrait, but recommend that paper for industrial etc
photos . It will not be good for lots of motives but exceptional for some.
Or try highkey to get much of the surface present and uncovered with ink, 'regular' pictures tend to get a 3D look. Other paper manufacturers closer to you should have somthing similar in their portfolio. Get samples, monitor images won't show really the specific characteristics of this type of paper.

 

[RogerB]

I'm sort bored with the luster and canvas for portraits and need something new. Matte is too dull. Glossy is, well, too glossy.

Something with a bit of skin-like texture or a bit of tooth perhaps?

Any recommendations of maybe something new or different out there to try out in portrait land?

Tia.

W.F.

Get hold of a sample of Innova Warm Cotton Gloss IFA-45. It's a PK ink paper but has a unique combination of warm tone (no OBA), sheen and texture. Of course, being 100% cotton it's not cheap, but you can't expect anything that is a bit different to be cheap.

 

[W. Fisher]

Thanks Roger! Never tried Innova and I see it is readily available in the States from my supplier. Just ordered a pack of 13x19 25 sheets to try out.

W.F.

 

[W. Fisher]

Hey Roger!

I really do like that Innova Warm Cotton Gloss IFA45 for portraits that you recommended. It has added lot of snap to the portraits over a canvas I was using when looking at them side-by-side. Being warmer, it helps a lot with the skin color overall and the blacks are very deep and rich on it too. It is a very flat paper too and didn't curl up in the 3880 nor did it leave pizza wheel and roller marks, although I did use the front feed for it as it is pretty thick and heavy. I've used another brand about as heavy as the Innova before and it bowls up (humidity?) and it will edge strike or end strike in the 3880 and is annoying as heck!

I did make a profile of the Innova using BasICColor dropRGB and their Catch with the x-rite i1 PhotoPro 2 head. My profile is a bit smaller than the factory one, but not by much. Much larger than the canvas one too. I'll attach a ColorThink Pro 2D of the three profiles. I made the same print with all three and the factory one is a bit darker overall with their profile and a bit cooler too perhaps, I'd guess it to look maybe 1/2 stop darker than my profile. The one I made just pops off the paper so that's good!

So I guess I'll order an Innova Sample pack and see what else they make. Sort of expensive stuff though.


Sidebar:
I ran out of Premier Art Shield in a spray can and the supplier of Innova paper only sold the Hahnemühle protective spray. They do seem very different. The Premier Art seems to be a finer mist than the Hahnemühle and not so glossy as the Hahnemühle. Might be due to the thicker viciousness of the Hahnemühle vs. the Premier Art? Krylon was awful in any spray I ever used being too thick and sputters. I have the Premier Art Shield in the quart liquid and it seems to last forever for gun spraying and works well there (Again, maybe it's a thinner liquid?). Maybe 3 ounces per 17x25 in the Sata gun's cup.

W.F.

 

[Emulator]

About £1 a sheet for 25 x A4?

 

[RogerB]

About £1 a sheet for 25 x A4?

Yep! Quality doesn't come cheap, but if you're trying to sell prints then quality is important.

If you prefer a "cooking" paper you might like this one

https://www.fineartfoto.co.uk/olmec.../olmec-satin-inkjet-paper-260gsm-a4-x-50.html

Only 23p a sheet for 50 x A4, and pretty good paper too.

 

[RogerB]

Hey Roger!

I really do like that Innova Warm Cotton Gloss IFA45 for portraits that you recommended. It has added lot of snap to the portraits over a canvas I was using when looking at them side-by-side. Being warmer, it helps a lot with the skin color overall and the blacks are very deep and rich on it too. It is a very flat paper too and didn't curl up in the 3880 nor did it leave pizza wheel and roller marks, although I did use the front feed for it as it is pretty thick and heavy. I've used another brand about as heavy as the Innova before and it bowls up (humidity?) and it will edge strike or end strike in the 3880 and is annoying as heck!

I did make a profile of the Innova using BasICColor dropRGB and their Catch with the x-rite i1 PhotoPro 2 head. My profile is a bit smaller than the factory one, but not by much. Much larger than the canvas one too. I'll attach a ColorThink Pro 2D of the three profiles. I made the same print with all three and the factory one is a bit darker overall with their profile and a bit cooler too perhaps, I'd guess it to look maybe 1/2 stop darker than my profile. The one I made just pops off the paper so that's good!
W.F.

Glad you like it. Like you, I love the fact that it's so flat straight out of the box. That, along with the colour and the finish, was a big factor for one of my customers. Her framers were very unhappy with the curl on the Harman Gloss Baryta that we used for her work previously. Having said that, for my own work, which is mainly B&W, I much prefer the HGB - curl and all. Horses for courses I guess.