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How to Choose Color Printing Paper for Photographs

Step 1:
RGB Color Model (Additive)First it helps to understand some of the basic science behind color printing and have an appreciation of color theory. In order to see color, we need light, an object and an observer. When we see a red apple, the green and blue rays of the spectrum are absorbed by the apple and the red light reflects back to our eye. Every observer is different; we all see color differently and it is dependent on the structure of the rods and cones in our eyes. There are about 120 million rods in your eye and they handle light and dark sensitivity. In the center of the eye there is the fovea which contains about 7 million cones. There are three types of cones that are responsive to red, blue and green transmissions and determine how we see color. Our eyes are essentially RGB devices and see a part of the visible spectrum. Televisions, computer screens and projectors are also RGB devices. The RGB color model starts with black and we add red, green and blue to it to mix any color we can see. If they are all mixed together, you achieve white.

Step 2:
CMYK Color Model (Subtractive)Printing operates on an entirely different color model. Full color prints that you see from your printer or in newspapers or magazines use a subtractive color model called CMYK. Yellow, magenta and cyan inks-toner are mixed together to make the various colors. Black is added to this color model because without it deep shadows and black shades would look muddy brown. The object that the observer sees in this model is the ink-toner and paper together. You don’t see the apple; you see a picture of the apple. The light travels through the transparent ink-toner and bounces off the white paper back to your eye. How the ink modifies the colors is through a subtractive process that starts with white and the ink which is a secondary color allows the primary color to be reflected back. There are books written about this subject and this is an attempt to condense it to make sure you understand the basics of color gamut. Painters also add colors to plain white or color paper stock to create original art. This original becomes the object and is different from a photograph which is a copy of an object. One of the most difficult photograph assignments is to copy original art since the original contains so many out-of-gamut colors and lighting large pieces of art can be problematic.

Step 3:
GamutThe reason the above information is important is because the color space of the CMYK model is significantly smaller than an RGB color space. Your monitor can display and your eye can see colors that most printers are not capable of printing. This image shows the difference between a RGB and CMYK color space. You can adjust your monitor to display a CMYK color space like SWOP to help you make better decisions about color printing. If you want to do this, see my article on Adobe Gamma and visit the International Color Consortium (see links in Resources below).

Step 4:
Peggy's Cove, Nova ScotiaMany people choose a photo printing paper based exclusively on brightness. There is nothing wrong with this, and for most projects it will be the best choice. The brightness of a photo paper is based on a scale of 1 to 100 with 100 being the brightest. Most photo papers are in the high 90s. Brighter papers tend to give better reproduction of an image and will allow you to take maximum advantage of the printer's CYMK gamut. All devices have a different gamut and the same paper will look different on two different printers. This image of Peggy’s Cove was printed on a warm white paper that has a distinctive brown town. The choice was made to add to the fog and mistiness of the area. A bright white paper would have totally changed the look and feel of this image.

Step 5:
Cream Burlap StockMost people automatically choose glossy paper, which is a fine choice for most images and family snapshots. However, cream burlap stock may be a better choice when creating original artwork or printing a mood shot or one with texture.