Inkjet Printer Photo Paper Guide

Inkjet printers these days seem to offer print quality and resolution far beyond the copier papers capacity to absorb and display ink. Most of the current generation of inkjet printers require high-quality coated or glossy paper for the production of photo-realistic output, and this can be very expensive.

Inkjet paper should be tailored to your printing needs and budget

Inkjet printers can become expensive when printer manufacturers tie you to their proprietary (their own brand) consumables. Paper produced by independent companies is much cheaper than that supplied directly by printer manufacturers, but it tends to rely on its universal properties and rarely takes advantage of the idiosyncratic features of particular printer models.

A great deal of research has gone into the production of universal paper types which are optimized specifically for colour inkjet printers. Some brands such as Epson tend to have good reasons for buying their own brand of photo paper since it's designed for the specific mechanism of ink transfer unique to their printers.

However most generalist brands will give you good results, certainly much better results than on copier paper.

Paper pre-conditioning (or coating) seeks to improve inkjet quality on plain paper by priming the media to receive ink with an agent that binds pigment to the paper, reducing dot absorption and spreading. A great deal of effort is going into trying to achieve this without incurring a dramatic cost increase.

Over the last few years plain paper results have been improved but what has emerged is a divergence of the inkjet printer market with specialized photo printers tuned to give fantastic results on special paper but don't offer the results of a more general use inkjet printer on plain copier paper.

If your interested in buying some specialized inkjet photo paper read the characteristics below you'll be surprised at the amount of choice you have.

Inkjet photo paper characteristics

• Opacity How see-through is the paper? The higher the opacity, the less that printed text and images will bleed through to the other side. This is especially important for double-sided printing. Inkjet photo papers have a relatively high opacity (94-97 usually) compared to ordinary inkjet or laser papers so bleed-through is less of a problem with these papers.
• Brightness How white is white? In terms of paper, there are many different levels of whiteness or brightness. Brightness is expressed as a number from 1 to 100. Photo papers are usually in the high 90s. Not all papers are labeled with their brightness rating; therefore, the best way to determine brightness is simply to compare two or more papers side-by-side.
• Weight Paper weight may be expressed in pounds (lb.) or as grams per square meter (g/m2). Different types of paper have their own weight scale. The bond papers which include most inkjet photo papers are found in the 24 to 71 lb. (90 to 270 g/m2) range. Terms such as heavyweight do not necessarily indicate a heavier paper than other comparable papers as you will see in the Weight comparison.
• Caliper Photo papers are heavier and thicker than typical multi-purpose papers. This thickness, known as caliper, is necessary to accommodate the greater ink coverage typically found in photos. Typical inkjet paper caliper may be anywhere from a thin 4.3 mil to a thick 10.4 mil paper. Photo paper is usually 7 to 10 mils.
• Texture generally matt surfaced inkjet paper will have the option of a texture or rough surface as opposed to a completely smooth surface.
• Gloss Finish The coating on photo papers give your printed photos the look and feel of photographic prints. Because the coating keeps the paper from readily absorbing the ink some glossy papers dry slowly. However, quick-dry gloss finishes are common today. The finish may be described as high gloss, gloss, soft gloss, or semi-gloss, each reflecting the amount of shine. Satin is a less shiny coated finish.
• Matte Finish Images printed on photo matte papers appear soft and non-reflective, not shiny. Matte finish papers are not the same as regular inkjet finish papers. Matte finish photo papers are thicker and are specially formulated for photos. Many matte finish papers are printable on both sides.

In the end you'll have to experiment a bit with a few different paper types to find one you like.

If you're interested in browsing for some photo paper check out InkJetArt.com We're not affiliated with them in any way but they have a huge selection of paper for you to look at.