Do you spend much time shopping for printing paper? This expendable item is often overlooked, but the quality of your paper is incredibly important to the outcome of your print job. That’s not to say that you need to use the most expensive paper for every job. But whatever the price, paper has a number of listed characteristics, and understanding these will help you pick the type that best suits to your project.
Finish
For most people, the easiest characteristic to choose is the paper’s finish. While you may already have run-of-the-mill (pardon the pun), smooth, white paper for everyday printing, there are aisles of options – just go to any well stocked office supply store and you’ll find special occasion papers for invitations, greeting cards, flyers and brochures, and of course photographs. Choosing a finish is a personal preference, but some premium papers are designed to be used specifically with inkjet printers or laser printers, and if you mix them up, the results can be unpredictable. For example, we tried printing some heavy inkjet card on a laser printer and the toner flaked off.
For publications, you can get a range of finishes, including fancy variations that look like linen or parchment. Some are embossed or have other treatments to make them look like a custom job. For publications and brochures, you can buy papers that have a slight sheen and thus mimic the look of paper used in high-end magazines. Photo inkjet papers cover the same kinds of finishes that you might find with traditional photographic papers: glossy, pearl, lustre and matte. However, you can also find photo papers that have the texture of artist’s canvas or watercolour paper. One thing to keep in mind with these special finish papers is that they have a good side (the one you are supposed to print on) but it may not be entirely obvious because the back will be only slightly different.
Weight
Weight is measured as the pounds per 500 sheets of a paper at its basic manufactured dimension, which varies by paper type. (The weight of office paper is based on 500 17 x 22-inch sheets.) Metric weight designation is based on grams per square metre. However calculated, more weight generally means thicker, stiffer and sturdier paper. Most office laser and copier paper is 20 pound, premium office and inkjet papers are 24 pound and paper used for report covers or greeting cards is around 60 pound.
On some photo papers, you may also see a specification in mils (for thousands of an inch). This is a measure of thickness, but often interacts with weight to give an indication of density. (If one 10 mil paper is heavier than another 10 mil paper, it is also more dense.) Traditional photographic paper is around nine mils, and inkjet photo papers range from being slightly thinner to slightly thicker than that. HP Premium Plus paper is nine mils, Lexmark Premium Photo Paper is 9.5 mils, Kodak Ultima Picture Paper is 10 mils, while Epson Premium Glossy is 10.4 mils. Office bond is around four mils.
Opacity
Opacity is pretty self-explanatory; the higher the opacity level, the tougher it is for light (and text) to be visible through the other side. This is usually only a serious problem with double-sided printing, but can still have a negative effect on the visual impact of any print if the paper has a really low opacity level. On the other hand, because blue/violet dyes are used to absorb light (increasing opacity), paper with higher opacity-levels can sometimes have a bluish appearance. Opacity isn’t a big factor with photographic papers, since they tend to be quite thick. However, Epson does list opacity ratings of its papers (94 percent for Heavyweight Matte and 97 percent for Premium Glossy). Inkjet papers often have a special coating layer, and papers designed for two-sided printing will be coated on both sides. This improves the inking process and can also make the paper more opaque.
Brightness (or Brilliance)
Like opacity, brightness can be achieved by using dyes and/or various production techniques. Brightness is somewhat related to whiteness, but brightness ratings are based on the reflective quality of the paper, regardless of its colour. Xerox has published a paper called “Demystifying Three Key Paper Properties,” which explains the differences between whiteness (reflectance of all colours in the visible spectrum), brightness (reflectance of a specific shade of blue light) and shade (what we would call the tint or colour of a paper). Brightness is a good indication of the visibility and contrast with black inks as well as the vividness of coloured inks – the higher the value, the more radiant text and images will appear.
Two common but different brightness rating systems come from the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) and the International Standards Association (ISO). Even though different, in both systems a higher number means a brighter paper. Kodak uses TAPPI ratings on some of its papers (Premium Bright White has a TAPPI rating of 97) while Epson uses ISO (Heavyweight Matte has an ISO rating of 97). Interestingly, optical whiteners can be added to papers to give them a brightness rating of greater than 100 percent.
Acid-free
Papers used to print photographs or other special mementoes need to last a long time, and one of the characteristics of paper that relates to that is whether it is acid free or not. Acids can occur naturally in wood pulp and over time they cause the paper to become brittle, turn yellow and generally deteriorate (think of old newspapers). Acid-free paper is paper that has a neutral pH value (6 or 7). Calcium or magnesium salts are often added to pulp during the manufacture of paper to neutralize such acids
Finish
For most people, the easiest characteristic to choose is the paper’s finish. While you may already have run-of-the-mill (pardon the pun), smooth, white paper for everyday printing, there are aisles of options – just go to any well stocked office supply store and you’ll find special occasion papers for invitations, greeting cards, flyers and brochures, and of course photographs. Choosing a finish is a personal preference, but some premium papers are designed to be used specifically with inkjet printers or laser printers, and if you mix them up, the results can be unpredictable. For example, we tried printing some heavy inkjet card on a laser printer and the toner flaked off.
For publications, you can get a range of finishes, including fancy variations that look like linen or parchment. Some are embossed or have other treatments to make them look like a custom job. For publications and brochures, you can buy papers that have a slight sheen and thus mimic the look of paper used in high-end magazines. Photo inkjet papers cover the same kinds of finishes that you might find with traditional photographic papers: glossy, pearl, lustre and matte. However, you can also find photo papers that have the texture of artist’s canvas or watercolour paper. One thing to keep in mind with these special finish papers is that they have a good side (the one you are supposed to print on) but it may not be entirely obvious because the back will be only slightly different.
Weight
Weight is measured as the pounds per 500 sheets of a paper at its basic manufactured dimension, which varies by paper type. (The weight of office paper is based on 500 17 x 22-inch sheets.) Metric weight designation is based on grams per square metre. However calculated, more weight generally means thicker, stiffer and sturdier paper. Most office laser and copier paper is 20 pound, premium office and inkjet papers are 24 pound and paper used for report covers or greeting cards is around 60 pound.
On some photo papers, you may also see a specification in mils (for thousands of an inch). This is a measure of thickness, but often interacts with weight to give an indication of density. (If one 10 mil paper is heavier than another 10 mil paper, it is also more dense.) Traditional photographic paper is around nine mils, and inkjet photo papers range from being slightly thinner to slightly thicker than that. HP Premium Plus paper is nine mils, Lexmark Premium Photo Paper is 9.5 mils, Kodak Ultima Picture Paper is 10 mils, while Epson Premium Glossy is 10.4 mils. Office bond is around four mils.
Opacity
Opacity is pretty self-explanatory; the higher the opacity level, the tougher it is for light (and text) to be visible through the other side. This is usually only a serious problem with double-sided printing, but can still have a negative effect on the visual impact of any print if the paper has a really low opacity level. On the other hand, because blue/violet dyes are used to absorb light (increasing opacity), paper with higher opacity-levels can sometimes have a bluish appearance. Opacity isn’t a big factor with photographic papers, since they tend to be quite thick. However, Epson does list opacity ratings of its papers (94 percent for Heavyweight Matte and 97 percent for Premium Glossy). Inkjet papers often have a special coating layer, and papers designed for two-sided printing will be coated on both sides. This improves the inking process and can also make the paper more opaque.
Brightness (or Brilliance)
Like opacity, brightness can be achieved by using dyes and/or various production techniques. Brightness is somewhat related to whiteness, but brightness ratings are based on the reflective quality of the paper, regardless of its colour. Xerox has published a paper called “Demystifying Three Key Paper Properties,” which explains the differences between whiteness (reflectance of all colours in the visible spectrum), brightness (reflectance of a specific shade of blue light) and shade (what we would call the tint or colour of a paper). Brightness is a good indication of the visibility and contrast with black inks as well as the vividness of coloured inks – the higher the value, the more radiant text and images will appear.
Two common but different brightness rating systems come from the Technical Association of the Pulp and Paper Industry (TAPPI) and the International Standards Association (ISO). Even though different, in both systems a higher number means a brighter paper. Kodak uses TAPPI ratings on some of its papers (Premium Bright White has a TAPPI rating of 97) while Epson uses ISO (Heavyweight Matte has an ISO rating of 97). Interestingly, optical whiteners can be added to papers to give them a brightness rating of greater than 100 percent.
Acid-free
Papers used to print photographs or other special mementoes need to last a long time, and one of the characteristics of paper that relates to that is whether it is acid free or not. Acids can occur naturally in wood pulp and over time they cause the paper to become brittle, turn yellow and generally deteriorate (think of old newspapers). Acid-free paper is paper that has a neutral pH value (6 or 7). Calcium or magnesium salts are often added to pulp during the manufacture of paper to neutralize such acids
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