Digital BW, The Print

From:  faeofavalon

"I'm curious... What is the advantage to printing on traditonal uncoated
Arches over Canson's infinity Arches aquarelle rag? I print on the latter
and it looks beautiful and I believe there are no OBAs correct?"

I'm not sure 'advantage' is the right word. 'Preference' might be, well,
preferable. For me, anyway.

I have the experience and perspective to know that people who claim to make
wonderful products for photographers don't bother to take the necessary
precautions and don't care about an undesirable result, as long as it isn't
immediately noticeable.

For decades, Kodak sold what they knew to be highly defective color papers
to the public. They had to be sued before they would stop doing it. Ilford
sold B&W 120 roll film they knew to have photo-reactive inks on the backing
paper (I told them myself, so I have no doubt they knew; others told them
too) for even longer, and as far as I know, they still do! Epson,
Hahnemülle, Moab and others are selling papers they know will yellow in a
very short time. Red River sells Aurora, which they know (again, because I
told them) streaks irreparably when used in HP printers because the inks dry
too slowly. So for me, from a practical standpoint, if it is coated, it is
suspect and I won't use suspect materials.
Another consideration: these coated inkjet papers have not been around long
enough to know their long term characteristics and accelerated aging tests
can't account for every consideration. The fewer components in my materials,
the better I think my odds are.

From a strictly personal perspective, comparing the same image on watercolor
paper to coated paper, the watercolor paper image is simply more alive. With
a coated paper, you don't really see your image on top of the paper, you see
it on top of a coating. The paper is hidden underneath. I think of it like a
cheap plastic veneer obscuring a high quality piece of wood.



David Kachel

___________________

Artist-Photographer
Fine B&W Photographs

www.davidkachel.com
david@...

Gallery:
www.reddoorfinephotographs.com
director@reddoorfinephotographs.com

PO Box  1893
Alpine, TX 79831
(432) 386-5787




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