How Paper Brightness Affects Image Quality

Posted by Jessica G. | Posted in , , , , | Posted on Monday, May 24, 2010


When you’ve been shopping around for photo quality inkjet paper, you may have noticed that every package has a brightness level listed along with the weight and thickness. To the untrained eye brightness may seem like a trivial thing to include on the packaging, isn’t most paper white anyway? The answer is yes and no. Yes, all white paper is white, but different paper has different levels of whiteness. Individually all papers seem the same shade of white. But when you put them side by side, you see the subtle nuances in their colors: sometimes one’s a bit warmer and ivory-toned while the other is a strikingly cool, bright white.

The whiteness/brightness can really have an affect the vividness of an image’s print out. Specifically, the whiter and brighter a paper is the lighter and more vivid an image is going to be. The brightness level is typically expressed on a scale of 1 to 100, with 100, of course, being the brightness. Multipurpose copy paper generally tends to have brightness in the 80s while photo quality inkjet paper tends to be in the 90s. Sometimes paper manufacturers tends to use terms like Bright White and UltraBright to indicate brightness, which is actually a little misleading because the numerical indications are more precise.

Clear and Transparency InkJet Film: What's the Difference?

Posted by Jessica G. | Posted in , , , , | Posted on Monday, May 17, 2010

If you’ve had the chance to browse our immense selection of photo quality inkjet paper, you may have noticed that we have a huge selection of all sorts of different professional grade photography paper. To the untrained eye, all of these types of papers may seem similar, but in reality they all have a number of little characteristics that make them special and unique.

Two categories that get confused frequently are InkJet Clear Film and InkJet Transparency Film.

Transparency Film is a special photo quality inkjet paper designed specifically for digital negatives and screen printings. The name is a little misleading because Transparency Film actually has a milky surface. It is used commonly in screen printing and for digital negatives because it needs high DMAX and heavy ink-load to look its best, but the results aren’t 100% crystal clear. Which is good because digital negatives and screen printing actually doesn’t require the images to be perfect.

Clear Film paper differs in that it is actually clear. This is the type of paper used for overhead projector presentations. (Which is confusing to me because when I was in school all of the teachers called them “transparency sheets”) These are clear because the overhead presentation process requires a 100% clear paper, but unlike the transparency film, it doesn’t need high DMAX or heavy-ink load.

Glossy or Matte?

Posted by Jessica G. | Posted in , , , , | Posted on Monday, May 10, 2010


There’s nothing better than printing photos from home. I used to hate having to take film to the developer and wait around all day for the phone call to come get my prints. Now, thanks to the amazing advances in digital cameras and photo printers, I can get the same professional quality from home. But when I first started printing images from my DSLR, I was really overwhelmed with all the paper choices.

Expecting to be in and out, I went to the nearest store and was bombarded with tons of selection of paper. I had no idea there was that much to choose from. It was insane! But after a few trial and errors, I finally figured out what type of paper works for me and the prints I produce. I found that when I’m doing high contrast black and white shots, I like heavy saturation and high gloss. That means I need to stock up on inkjet glossy photo paper. I also keep premium matte photo paper for those cool, colorful shots I take using my art lenses.

Skip Hallmark This Mother’s Day: Make Your Own Card

Posted by Jessica G. | Posted in , , , , | Posted on Monday, May 03, 2010


Mother’s Day is undoubtedly one of Hallmark’s biggest sales days.

Have you ever tried going into a store the week of a big holiday like Mother’s Day? It’s like being at Best Buy on Black Friday, but instead of people fighting over flat screen TVs and iPods, there’s pandemonium over greeting cards—set to the sweet sounds of Michael McDonald and Kenny G. (Is it a requirement for Hallmark stores to play such bad music?)

If you’re not looking forward to the inevitable chaos of a Hallmark store this Mother’s Day, why don’t you make your own greeting card with some photo quality inkjet paper. In actuality, homemade greeting cards are a lot more heartfelt than a mass-manufactured greeting card with an unoriginal message. And they will probably have a longer shelf-life.

In addition to photo quality inkjet paper, you can actually buy a pack of Archival InkJet Greeting Cards with matching envelopes. Making a custom card can really show your mom that you put a lot more thought, heart and sentimentality in the card. So this year, go the extra mile and make your mom something special with photo quality inkjet paper or inkjet greeting card paper.