By Jon Canfield

One great advantage of inkjet printing is the ability to print on various types of paper or media. Dye-sub and laser printers are still very limited in choice, but inkjet printers can print on many different surfaces, ranging from traditional photo-type papers to fine-art media. How much choice you have depends a bit on which printer you’re using, and whether it uses dye or pigment inks.

Dye-based inkjet printers work best with papers designed to receive the dyes. The coatings on these papers are designed to swell around the ink to encapsulate it on the page. Examples of this type of paper are HP Advanced Photo Papers in Glossy and Satin finishes which are optimized for the Photosmart series, and HP Premium Plus Photo Gloss and Satin papers for the Designjet 90 and 130. Most of these papers will work with other printers, but may not give you the results you’re expecting unless you create custom profiles.

Although you can certainly use fine-art papers (e.g. Hahnemühle’s Photo Rag or Moab’s Entrada) with dye-ink printers, the print life is going to be much lower (sometimes measured in months rather than years). A second concern with dye-based inks and papers is water resistance. Unless you spray on a protective coating or laminate the print, any moisture can ruin the final print.

Pigment-ink printers, such as HP’s new Photosmart Pro B9180, Designjet Z2100 and Z3100 and Epson UltraChrome K3 printers, are designed to print on almost any paper that can be fed through the printer. While prints on traditional gloss and satin photo paper surfaces are comparable to those output on dye-ink printers, prints on fine-art papers really shine with pigment inks.

One of the most popular choices for high-quality prints is photo rag. Like the name suggests, photo rag paper is made from cotton rag rather than wood pulp. This paper is available in multiple weights and typically has a smooth surface suited to most image types.

Another popular choice is textured fine art, or watercolor-type papers. These papers, which are available with a variety of surface textures, work well when high detail isn’t a concern. Think soft landscapes or images that have been worked to look more like paintings.

Another option growing in popularity is canvas. Like traditional painter canvas, this media works best when mounted on stretcher bars. As demand for inkjet-printable canvas has grown, so has the variety of different products. Canvases are now available in various thicknesses, cotton or poly/cotton blends, natural or white surfaces, and matte, satin and gloss finishes.

Pigment-ink prints are much more water-resistant than their dye counterparts. In fact, HP advertises their Vivera pigment inks and papers as being waterproof.

Because pigment inks can generate prints that will last 200 years or more, pigment-ink printers are quickly becoming the standard for professional photographers, most of whom want to use their inkjet printers for more than proofs or portfolio prints.

Now that HP and Canon have joined Epson in offering professional-grade pigment-ink printers, we’ve started to see a corresponding rise in media options. For example, Crane, Hahnemuhle, LexJet and Innova Art are among the companies that have introduced fiber-based art papers with coatings designed to reproduce highly detailed images. We’ll talk more about these new photo art papers and other developments in media in future posts.