master test T
he moment you receive a pack of paper labelled ‘Iridium Silver Gloss’ which describes itself as a ‘silver- metallized glossy paper with Iridium surface’, you know there’s absolutely no way of showing what this paper is about on the printed page of this magazine. Like Pearl and Metallic photo
papers, it’s something you have to see and hold – preferably move around, in three dimen- sions, under changing light. It remains a dilemma for me that in past annual awards papers of this quality have won through to high marks, but the images reproduced on them could never be shown to the same quality as they appeared when exhibited. Papers with a distinct tactile
quality, texture or visual look remain one marketing tool which has so far not been wrenched out of the hands of professionals. You can show clients prints which they do not know how to create themselves, and do not see elsewhere, by selecting materials for in-house inkjet (fine art giclée) printing. Colour Confidence is very much a professional supplier and while we’re sure they would seize any chance to flood Boots or PC World with Tecco papers after acquiring the UK distribu- tion, it’s more likely they will concentrate on professional trade counter sales and direct orders. There are benefits for professional photographers in choosing to deal with this kind of distributor or brand. Ideally, you want to have access to materials which Joe Public can’t get or doesn’t know about, can’t afford or lacks the skill to use. Remember canvas prints? The three Tecco papers looked at here are the Iridium Silver Gloss, the 300gsm Baryt Glossy, and the extremely heavy weight 330gsm Gallery Board. Tecco offers a full range of inkjet media. These three stand out as premium papers to create high value finished art.
MASTER PHOTOGRAPHY 30
The most unusual – in name at least – is the Iridium Silver Gloss. The effect is not the same as a metallic or pearl base, it’s more like a sheen on the surface of the paper over the image. Despite this, the print has a full range of tones and looks just a touch softer visually than regular gloss papers. There is a sort of champagne metallic look overall even though the base is just as white as other papers when compared directly. It is a very subtle effect and well-suited to portrait and wedding work. The paper weight is a good resin coated double- weight equivalent. This paper does need plenty of drying time and remains fairly vulnerable to handling marks.
Testing the results
Density and grey balance were measured using ColorMunki Photo, which provides Lab value and sRGB readings from the spot colorimeter function of the device (above with GrafiLite viewing light). None of the papers gave an absolutely perfect neutrality from white to black, but even a shift of 2% in relative RGB value would have reported neutral. Any colour shifts were too small for normal human colour vision to detect. The Gallery Board was more neutral but its maximum black was twice as light as the d-Max of the Baryt Gloss, which offers the richest black and greatest overall dynamic range. For ColorMunki Photo, Tecco and Grafilite see
www.colourconfidence.com
The Baryt (baryta) Gloss is a heavier 300gsm paper, quite stiff and with a ‘real bromide paper’ look and feel. The grain of the paper is well distributed creating a slight dimple exactly like a fibre-base photo paper. This baryta paper is totally free of ink lay or bronzing with the Epson 3800 used for tests. No matter how it was held to reflect light, I couldn’t get the usual difference between high- light and solid black areas to show up the ink. Baryta papers
photography
Tecco inkjet papers may not be well known yet – but with Colour Confidence behind them, that’s set to change. We test three of their unique premium lines.
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