What Papers Do I Use?

I Mainly use two papers both from Fotospeed who make and distribute fine art papers they have been around for over 35 years providing darkroom chemistry and specialised fine art printmaking needs.
I use Fotospeed Platinum Etching 285 on the majority of my prints it is 100% acid free, fine art Matt paper with a slightly velvety, textured surface. The 285 is grams per square meter( I looked it up) which means it is a nice thick paper with a good feel anything around the 300 gsm is good in my opinion. The paper shows a wide colour with deep blacks (for a Matt Paper).

The other paper I often use is Fotospeed Platinum Baryta 300 which is 100% acid-free, Fine Art paper with a smooth unglazed gloss surface. I use it more for black and white images although it is great for some colour images as it does have a far wider gamut ( more colours) than matt papers the high contrast is what it is really good for though and that is the Baryta it is more like the old traditional darkroom print papers..

I have used a few other of their papers the Fotospeed Art Smooth DUO 210 Short Grain 210 a double sided smooth matt which I produced a couple of books on and plan a zine soon. It is a wonderful paper not quite as wide a gamut as the platinum but I do love it it just takes a little finesse when printing, but that is what Photoshop is for. I have Fotospeed Natural texture bright white 315 in my arsenal too, it has a much more pronounced texture and narrower gamut great on the right image but terrible on the wrong one. I have an icey image of Rannoch More on my wall at home the texture just fits perfectly with the frosted locken this isn’t usual I wouldn’t normally pair this paper with snow but it does work on this one!

I can’t recommend Fotospeed enough I have used them for years, and they provide printer colour profiles so you can print accurately with confidence. website is https://fotospeed.com/ and also available all the other usual places too..