How to Choose the Best Photo Paper for Printing Your Photography
Baryta, fine-art, matte and glossy papers explained, including colour accuracy, Optical Brightening Agents and how paper choice affects your final print.
Digital photography has made it incredibly easy to capture, store and share images.
But there is still something special about a physical photographic print.
A print takes an image out of the digital world and gives it a physical presence. It can be displayed, sold, entered into a competition, given to a client or passed down through generations.
For professional photographers, choosing the right paper is therefore much more than an afterthought.
The surface, weight, texture, brightness and colour characteristics of a paper can all influence how the finished photograph looks.
So, with so many photographic papers available, how do you choose the right one?
Why photographers should still be printing
We take an extraordinary number of photographs, but relatively few ever become physical prints.
Most images are viewed on phones, tablets and computer screens before disappearing into cloud storage or hard drives.
That makes printing an opportunity for photographers.
A beautifully produced print can become:
- A product to sell to clients
- A piece of wall art
- A portfolio piece
- A competition entry
- A fine-art edition
- A wedding or portrait product
- A physical record of an important photograph
For photographers selling their work, the print can also become part of the experience.
The choice of paper is one of the ways you can make that experience feel distinctive.
What is baryta photographic paper?
Baryta papers are among the most popular choices for high-quality photographic printing.
Traditional baryta photographic papers used a layer of barium sulphate beneath the photographic emulsion. Modern inkjet baryta papers are designed to reproduce some of the characteristics associated with traditional darkroom fibre-based papers.
They are particularly popular for photographic work because they can provide:
- Excellent colour reproduction
- Strong tonal separation
- Deep blacks
- Good detail
- A photographic appearance
- A range of gloss and semi-gloss surfaces
For photographers who want a highly accurate photographic print without the texture of some fine-art papers, baryta can be an excellent starting point.
Baryta vs matte fine-art paper
There isn’t one paper that is best for every photograph.
Baryta papers tend to be particularly strong when colour accuracy, contrast and photographic detail are important.
Matte fine-art papers offer a different aesthetic.
Their softer surface can reduce the apparent contrast and density of an image, but that isn’t necessarily a disadvantage.
For some photographs, it is exactly what you want.
A textured or matte surface can add character and create a more tactile, artistic presentation.
For example, a delicate landscape, watercolour-style image or fine-art project may benefit from the appearance of a textured matte paper.
The best paper is therefore the one that complements the image rather than simply producing the highest technical measurement.
What are Optical Brightening Agents?
One of the factors you’ll encounter when comparing photographic papers is OBA, or Optical Brightening Agents.
OBAs are used to make paper appear brighter and cooler by converting ultraviolet light into visible blue light.
This can produce a visually striking print.
The additional brightness can make certain colours appear more vibrant and give a photograph more apparent “pop”.
But there is a trade-off.
OBAs can become less effective over time, particularly with exposure to light. This can alter the appearance of the paper as it ages.
For work where long-term stability and archival presentation are particularly important, photographers may therefore prefer papers with little or no OBA.
For other applications, the additional brightness may be entirely worthwhile.
Should you avoid OBA papers?
Not necessarily.
This is an important distinction.
An OBA-containing paper isn’t automatically a bad paper.
It depends on what you’re producing and how the print will be used.
For example, a competition print that needs to make an immediate visual impact may benefit from the brightness and contrast of an OBA-containing paper.
A fine-art print intended to hang on a collector’s wall for many years may lead you towards a paper with greater long-term stability and little or no OBA.
Think about the purpose of the print first, then choose the paper.
Colour accuracy isn’t everything
Modern photographic printers are capable of producing remarkably accurate prints.
However, technical accuracy doesn’t automatically make an image better.
A paper can reproduce colours extremely accurately and still be the wrong choice for a particular photograph.
Think about the characteristics of the image.
Product and commercial photography
Accurate colour reproduction may be critical.
A low-OBA baryta paper can be an excellent choice when colour fidelity is important.
Portrait and fashion photography
You may want a combination of accurate skin tones, strong contrast and a little extra visual impact.
A brighter photographic paper may work well.
Fine-art photography
A matte or textured paper may complement the artistic character of the image.
Black-and-white photography
Paper choice can have a significant effect on the appearance of monochrome images.
Some papers produce deep blacks and strong contrast, while others create a softer, more traditional appearance.
Watercolour or painterly images
Textured fine-art media can complement the visual character of the image and make the print feel more like a physical artwork.
Why printer profiles matter
Choosing a good paper is only part of the process.
Your printer also needs to understand how that particular paper behaves.
This is where ICC profiles become important.
An ICC profile describes the colour characteristics of a particular printer, ink and paper combination.
Using an appropriate profile helps your colour-managed workflow translate the digital image into a more predictable physical print.
This is particularly important when you’re working with demanding colours, subtle tonal transitions or accurate reproduction.
If you’re using a paper manufacturer’s profile, make sure you select the correct profile for your printer and ink set.
For the highest level of control, some photographers create custom profiles for their specific printer, ink and media combination.
Don’t judge a paper from one test print
Paper comparisons can be surprisingly difficult.
A paper that looks fantastic with one photograph may be completely unsuitable for another.
If you’re trying a new photographic paper, don’t judge it using just one image.
Build a small test set containing different types of photographs:
- A portrait with skin tones
- A landscape with greens and blues
- A high-contrast image
- A black-and-white photograph
- An image containing saturated colours
- A photograph with subtle shadow detail
This gives you a much better understanding of how the paper behaves.
Look beyond the average colour error
Technical paper testing can become extremely complicated.
Colour accuracy can be measured across hundreds of individual colour patches, and averages can sometimes hide problems in particular parts of the colour gamut.
A paper may achieve an impressive average result while still showing a noticeable error in a specific range of colours.
This is why looking at the complete test data can be more useful than simply asking which paper has the lowest average colour error.
For most photographers, however, the practical solution is simpler:
Make your own test prints.
Look at them under appropriate lighting and compare them with your calibrated screen.
Paper surface changes the photograph
It’s easy to concentrate on colour and forget about the physical surface of the paper.
But the surface itself can change the way an image is perceived.
Glossy and semi-gloss papers can provide strong contrast, crisp detail and saturated colour.
Matte papers can produce a softer, more understated appearance.
Textured fine-art papers can introduce a physical quality that becomes part of the artwork.
The same photograph printed on three different surfaces can therefore look like three different photographs.
The importance of viewing conditions
The environment in which a print is displayed also matters.
A print displayed next to a window and exposed to strong sunlight is going to experience very different conditions from one displayed in a room with controlled lighting.
If you’re producing valuable or limited-edition prints, consider:
- Where the print will be displayed
- How much direct sunlight it will receive
- Whether it will be framed
- What glazing will be used
- How the print will be handled
- How long you expect it to remain on display
UV-filtering glazing can be particularly useful where long-term print preservation is important.
How to choose the right photographic paper
Rather than asking:
“What is the best photo paper?”
ask:
“What is the best paper for this photograph and this purpose?”
Start with the image.
Then consider:
1. What is the subject?
Portrait, landscape, commercial, black and white, fine art or something else?
2. How should it feel?
Clean and photographic, bright and punchy, soft and subtle, or tactile and artistic?
3. How important is colour accuracy?
For some applications it is critical. For others, creative interpretation matters more.
4. Where will it be displayed?
A competition print, portfolio, gallery wall and family album may all require different considerations.
5. How long should it last?
For archival or collectible work, permanence becomes more important.
6. What does your printer work well with?
Not every paper behaves identically on every printer.
Don’t underestimate the value of printing
For years, photography has moved increasingly towards screens.
That’s made images easier to share, but it has also made physical prints feel more special.
For photographers, that creates an opportunity.
A beautifully produced print isn’t simply a digital photograph transferred onto paper.
The paper, ink, surface, colour management and presentation all become part of the final image.
And when you choose them deliberately, they can enhance the photograph rather than simply reproduce it.
There is no universally perfect photographic paper.
There is only the paper that best serves the image you’re trying to create.
