groping in the dark

Picking a Paper

Let's talk about paper, since I don't seem to have much else to talk about...

(Actually, I have spotting and matting & framing to talk about, plus about 8 rolls of film to develop, so I should start posting more regularly again soon.)

Since I took up black & white photography two and-a-half years ago, I've been constantly amazed by the variety of choices and decisions one has to make as a photographer. In addition to the purely artistic choices, you have to be on top of the various film, chemistry, and equipment options that are available. Probably one of the most confusing and diverse areas for the budding black & white photographer is also one of the most important: printing paper.

The first decision to make, since it affects your entire development process, is the choice between fiber-based or resin coated (RC) paper. Note that fiber-based paper have an emulsion layered in a way that allows the paper to absorb the developing chemistry directly. Contrast this to resin coated paper which holds the emulsion in a sandwich of resin layers above the surface of the paper itself and thus forms a barrier between the paper and chemistry. This difference affects the developing process: fixing fiber-based paper is a longer, multi-step process and the paper requires a much longer washing time.

Many people claim that fiber-based paper can capture a wider range of density and more subtle variations in tone than RC paper. In practice, this is difficult to justify. I find it difficult to determine whether a print, hanging in a gallery, framed behind glass, is fiber or RC. The other argument in favor of fiber-based paper is its longevity. It is difficult to verify this advantage, due to the fact that recent RC papers have not been around long enough to determine their life span. Plus, RC paper is just so darn easy to work with. It rinses cleaner, dries quickly, is easier to handle, and requires fewer processing steps than fiber paper.

I'm not pooh-poohing fiber, because in skilled hands it can produce some truly stunning prints, but right now, the advantages of RC paper for beginners like me outweigh whatever benefits we might be able to eke out of the fiber-based printing process.

Another decision to make is whether to go with graded paper or variable contrast paper. If you are interested in being able to help your prints along by adjusting and tweaking the contrast of your prints in the darkroom, you must choose the variable-contrast paper. If you know how your negatives are going to print and you don't need to futz around with filters, choose a paper that has already been graded at a particular level of contrast. I've only worked with variable-contrast paper so far, so I have nothing to say about what other differences might exist between the two kinds of paper.

So okay, a search for resin coated, variable contrast black & white paper on Calumet's website returns almost 250 results. What gives? Turns out there is more to think about. The first, sheet size, is so obvious I won't even talk about it here. What size print do you want? get that sheet size.

There are several different manufacturers to consider. In my limited experience, I have only printed paper made by Ilford and Kodak and have only really come into contact with one other paper manufacturer, Bergger. Bergger is on the high end; their paper tends to have higher silver content, resulting in deeper, richer tones...but I'm not on the high end yet. Between the remaining two, I've used only their more entry level papers: Kodak Polycontrast IV and Ilford Multigrade IV. I find that Kodak Polycontrast paper is harsher, a little too contrasty for my tastes. Ilford Multigrade produces subtle gradations, accurately rendering the film grain nicely.

So but wait, there are still nearly 100 Ilford options alone listed on Calumet! Oh yeah, there is also paper weight. The thicker the paper, the "heavier" the weight. Typically, these papers are distinguished as medium weight or double weight, but if you peruse the technical data closely enough, you might see the paper weight listed in lbs. or g/m². In either case, the higher the number, the thicker the paper, and the thicker the paper, the harder it will be kink or otherwise damage it during developing.

Finish is yet another difference, one that many people are already familiar with. The basic finishes are glossy, pearl (or satin), and matte. Glossy prints tend to produce a more contrasty look, while matte prints are much more subdued and subtle. Pearl or satin finishes fall in between and can sometimes have a somewhat mottled surface.

The last distinguishing characteristic is the color balance or tone of the emulsion. At it's most basic, paper can be either neutral, cooltone or warmtone. In cooltone paper, the grays veer toward the bluish/purplish side of the spectrum, in warmtone paper, the grays tend more toward the brown side of gray. Neutral paper is, of course, supposed to present a perfectly neutral gray tone. In truth, the tone produced by different manufacturers' paper is one of the most distinguishing characteristics. Each paper seems to not only produce slightly different tones from each other upon printing, but they can react differently to toners.

Given all of the factors above, experimentation is the only way to determine your personal preference.

So what do I use? For right now, I'm having fun with Ilford Multigrade IV RC Warmtone paper, pearl finish.