Paper

So which paper to use? There are hundreds of different papers on the market. The Epson papers are excellent and I do use their premium glossy papers. But for presentation work there are many independent manufacturers of quality papers - Fotospeed, Permajet, Somerset and Hahnemuehle, amongst others.

I have tried both Somerset Enhanced Velvet and Somerset Enhanced Satin which are lovely papers. The Velvet has a lovely texture while the Satin is slightly less textured. There is also a Somerset Enhanced Textured which has more texture. These papers don't suit all subjects but are fantastic. They are 225gsm, 100% cotton and so archival. (Paper is usually made from wood pulp but this is acidic which causes the paper to yellow and the ink to fade. Although it is possible to treat wood pulp to make it acid free by removing lignin, cotton is naturally acid free and so preferable for truly archival results.)

The paper I use most for my presentation work is Fotospeed High White Smooth. This paper is 315gsm so it is a decent weight without being like cardboard. It is much smoother than the Somerset papers and so is a great paper for most subjects. It is also 100% cotton rag with no optical brighteners and so is also highly archival.

One big advantage of Fotospeed is that they offer free custom colour profiles for their papers. They will send you a file that you print on to one of their papers and send back to them. You will then receive an ICC colour profile file by email. You have to do this for each paper/ink combination that you use. Other manufacturers offer canned profiles but custom profiles are the best way of getting the best results from a printer. If your paper manufacturer doesn't do them for free then there are many companies offering to make them for you for about £20. You can also buy the equipment to do this yourself but unless you use many different papers, or have particularly demanding needs, this is very expensive.