In Search Of Great Baryta Papers
Let the testing begin.
Choosing a paper is far more than measuring specs. There is no such thing as the best paper when it comes to aesthetics. Theoretically one could merely measure which paper has the highest on-print resolution capability and the best contrast under controlled lighting conditions. Would this make it the best?
With the above spec based criteria of “best”, just chuck out all of the papers that have any surface texture, print black and then measure how black that is. Then measure the white base. Why would we need the huge diversity of paper available? Aesthetics for your particular art and vision are far more important.
For more than a decade the vast majority of work I am involved in printing has been black and white on mat papers. Hazarding a guess that would be 80% with the rest loosely divided between both color and black and white on either Moab Juniper Baryta semi-gloss or highly specialized pearl papers.
Why Moab Juniper Baryta? Simple, I took the advice I give people who attend various print workshops that I am involved with. Choose one quality mat paper and one quality semi-gloss then learn those two papers well. Get experience with a wide variety of the work you do on those two papers. Doing this will prepare you to evaluate alternatives and make you a better printer. Juniper has been our workhorse semi-gloss paper. Les and I know it very well. On the mat paper side, we have meticulously compared many papers to our workhorse Moab Entrada Natural. As you may have guessed we’ve added a few specialized papers to our repertoire, namely Awagami papers.
It’s not like Les and I live under a rock. We’ve anecdotally tried quite a few semi-gloss papers most of them baryta based. Of those baryta-based papers, there are none that we completely disliked. We’ve wanted a thorough comparison of offerings available on the agenda for far too long without actually starting down that road. As they say, there’s no time like the present.
Instead of starting blind or with some arbitrary system such as testing alphabetically, why not reach out to the community and see what baryta papers are the favorites or workhorses you prefer. We’ll start there and give our assessments compared to what we are using now over the coming months.
So… please let us know with a comment or email what your favorite baryta paper is and why. Did you critically compare it to anything else? Any ups or downs you’ve observed with your particular work?
We know there are many, many brands out there as well as multiple options for those brands. If you have time let us know the details by dropping a comment with all the gory details.
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I love MOAB Juniper, but also use Canson baryta, Red River Big Bend 310, and Hahnemuehle papers. I use Moab more frequently than the others. Bought a 100-sheet box and have never regretted it.
Been very pleased with Red River Big Bend 310. Printed a 9-image project yesterday,6 B&W 3 color. Had intended to do the color on something else but decided that consistent is better than right every time, as I was told 45 years ago. Originally came to it as an alternative to Epson Exhibition Fiber, which ti matches up against nicely.