Photographic Paper

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It wasn’t too long ago when our only option to print pictures or graphics was at the photo lab. But with such a high demand and need for special printing paper, there are now many types of photographic paper to choose from. The only problem now is that it is hard to figure out exactly which type of photographic paper you should use for your particular job. So let’s look at some of the most common types of printing paper and how they can be used.

Matte Paper - This type of paper looks pretty dull and has no shine or glare. This paper is also a bit cheaper so you will find it mostly for use with inkjet printers. There are also different grades of matte paper such as premium and semi. To break those in to something a bit simpler, premium is expensive and will give you the best quality with as little blur as possible, where as semi will be somewhere in between premium and regular matte. Matte paper is often used for photographs and is very similar to the paper that you would your film developed on to at a photo lab, just a bit thinner.

Gloss Paper – Gloss paper, or glossy paper, is very shiny and brings out colors really well. It will have some glare when under light so depending on the angle you are looking at it, you might not even see the image. Most high end printing services use gloss photo paper because of its ability to make your pictures look even better than they did on the computer. It is a bit more expensive but well worth it if you are printing pictures for a gift or an art piece for your wall.

Photographic Paper – Professional Photographic paper is something a lot of people get confused with. This paper is not just in the style of matte or gloss, in fact, it has a special coating that makes the paper thicker and easy to use for both inkjet and laser printers. You can use it with a dye sublimation printer as well. This is the number type of paper that people will want to print their digital pictures on to, if they can afford it.

Iron Transfer Paper – If you are in the T-Shirt printing business than you probably already know about this paper. This paper allows you to print a digital image on the paper, and then iron that paper on a shirt or piece of fabric. No messy inks or dyes to worry about, just print, iron, and you’re done. This is a really special type of paper and it can be difficult to find in regular stores. Your best bet is to buy it online in bulk because you will save a lot of money that way.

No matter if you are using iron-on transfer paper or photographic paper, the printing industry keeps getting better and better. This allows all of us to take advantage of professional printing and not just the professionals themselves. You will be able to enjoy a life of memories with any of those types of printing paper.