What printing papers do you use?

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I've decided to experiment a little with papers. I don't have a lot of choice as there aren't many icc profiles for my printer, a six ink Expression 860. Epson of course do some but not for all their papers, Ilford do some and Fotospeed do some. There's still a bewildering choice even in that limited sphere.

I'm only going through the Epson stuff at the moment, printing different pictures on Matte, semigloss, premium gloss and trying to work out where I'd use what. I quite like the depth of the Matte but it's quite pastel, it can also be quite different in representation for some colours and for B&W you don't get the deep blacks of a gloss. Gloss seems to be good for bold colours but I'm finding it a bit too shallow for some subjects compared to matte, it doesn't draw you in in the same way. The semigloss seems to be a pretty good half way house and on my printer, the most accurate representation to the screen profile.

What I intend to do next is get some of the Galerie papers which I can get profiles for and compare Matte and pearl and things and then perhaps try some of the more exotic rag and fine art papers just so I can get a handle on what kind of things different papers will give me. I suppose ultimately I might change printers when I understand more.

So I wondered what others who print choose and why?
 
I generally use Calumet/Wex Brilliant Lustre for most of my printing.

I've tried Permajet Oyster and Fotospeed pf Lustre and like them as well (particularly the Permajet Oyster) but tend to go back to the Brilliant Lustre.

I've experimented a bit with matte and baryta papers and metallic papers a few years back and tended to go back to the lustre/semigloss. My problem with these papers is that I just don't print enough to really get a handle on selecting them with confidence - so tend to return to lustre.

(If looking for profiles then you can get custom profiles from Permajet).
 
Most of the time I use Permajet Oyster with a custom profile from the makers.

I do have various other papers mostly from trial packs picked up at shows and experiment with them sometimes.
Also have a pack of Titanium something or other that I got after trying and liking it, only problem is I put it somewhere safe.
 
Dryce said:
I've experimented a bit with matte and baryta papers and metallic papers a few years back and tended to go back to the lustre/semigloss. My problem with these papers is that I just don't print enough to really get a handle on selecting them with confidence - so tend to return to lustre.
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This may end up being my problem as well. I have decided to print out a collection of photos and from now on, print anything I add to a collection, in order to begin to get more of a feel for printing.

A semi gloss is looking like a good all round paper, which is not too surprising as I mostly printed on Pearl in my darkroom days.

I'll probably compare different Semigloss/pearl/lustre/matte for depth and dynamic range and colour reproduction and for b&w look more at tonal range, I'd like a matte with a deeper black and purer white than the Epson matte, if that's possible, as I'm liking the matte look.
 
Well, bizarrely or perhaps not, as we're talking about profiles, I've just discovered that the Ilford Galerie Matt duo profile produces much better results than Epson's own Matte profile. Suddenly I'm loving a lot of the Matt prints, the profile shift had put me off a bit but it's spot on now (slightly warmer than it should be). The only thing I don't like is the Epson matt is 189g paper so it does tend to ruffle a little bit with heavy saturated colours, hopefully the matt due from Ilford which is 300g won't.
 
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the best i have found for my Epson printer Is " Ilford GALERIE prestige smooth gloss, I have been using it for years

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Generally Ilford Galerie of some sort but sometimes Canon's own.
 
I tend to use fotospeed or Hahnamule ( or however you spell it). Sometimes a metallic paper but usually a semi gloss lustre or a baryta.
I also have some cheap WH Smith’s paper for when a relative asks me to print something.
 
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