Digital BW, The Print

Hi Steve,

>I met with Paul Roark this afternoon at the gallery he displays at ...

>In my own printing so far I have been printing on E. luster
>because I like the dmax ...

>... [Paul's] photos I viewed were on matte papers, 
> but had beautiful dmax...


I like matte paper for display.  Under glass they are easier to deal with,
and what I use is far more affordable than the glossy papers I like the
best.  

In general, what paper has the best apparent dmax depends, in part, on
lighting variables.  Reflections can make a glossy paper have an effective
dmax that is rather poor.  In good spot lighting, where reflections are not
a problem the glossy papers look terrific.

For matte papers, I will not even consider a paper with a dmax of less than
1.6 density.  Now I think 1.65 is becoming the expected base.  1.7+ of Photo
Rag and Premier Art Matte BW look great to me.

With a matte paper that has a good dmax, it's then a question of how the
image is printed.  That involves all the usual B&W printing skills that one
would get either in the darkroom or with Photoshop experience.  The dmax is
just one small technical number that I use to filter out the weak papers
quickly and evaluate new papers' potential -- one of many variables.

Hope this helps.  It was good to share information with you at Gallery Los
Olivos.

Paul
www.PaulRoark.com