The Story Behind That Picture 272: "Thorsten Overgaard recommended printing papers for photo printing"

Thorsten Overgaard recommended printing papers for photographs

By: Thorsten Overgaard. July 29, 2026. Most recent update, August 7, 2026.

In this article I go over most of what there is to know about making your own prints at home, or sending them to a professional printer or lab.

Based on what I would expect a print to look like, I have set up these guidelines for myself and others, as to which papers I like to use.

	The buying experience - Play the music you want to hear If you want to sell prints, buying prints from photographers whose work you admire is a good learning experience. When I buy a signed print from a photographer, that it is not only signed on the front but is also a "real photograph," I learn from that what I admire and value, and what my customers may want from my prints. What I learned from buying prints of Henri Cartier-Bresson, Helmut Newton, Peter Turnley, Robert Capa, Elliott Erwitt, Elliott Landy, Inge  Morath, Paul Wolff, Bob Bonis, Sarah Moon, etc. is the following: I want a piece of the artist. That's essentially what I am buying. It is also a statement of support. I want a significant photograph that sums up my idea of that photographer. It has to have a significance, a story about it. The story can be that I really liked this one when I saw it, that I had a good experience. It can also be that this print shows notes on the back for when it was used as original for a magazine printing. The artist has to have made this, or touched it, preferably signed it. It cannot be someone else who took the photo file and made a print. It has to be a photograph, on photo paper. Not a poster, postcard or a cutout from a book. Original prints from when it happened are more valuable than newer prints. I dislike prints that come with several pages of authentication. The print in itself should look so authentic you don't need a certificate. My own prints looks like the prints I buy: Printed with a bleed leaving space for signature and title on the front; which can be seen when framed. Here it is Joni Mitchell by Graham Nash (1969), Helmut Newton (1976), and Beck by me (2020).   This led me to design my own prints so they: My prints look like a print from a darkroom and/or a real lab. My prints are signed on the front (so the signature can be seen when framed). They're signed on the back, a note says what it is, when it was photographed, and when it was printed. There is a copyright sticker on the back, as well as a stamp with the date of printing. I love stamps on the back of photographs. I print them as early as I can, so that they can be old original prints in the future. I sign and finish them, put them in an acid-free plastic pocket and store them in archival boxes (more ont hat later). I'm building a collection of prints, while offering them at exhibtions and on my website.

 

 

The basics about buying a printer to make prints at home

Sending files to a lab/printer and letting them do it is not a bad idea. An 8.5 x 11" (A4 size in Europe) can be $10.00 to $15.00 per print, whereas the initial investment before you start making your own prints is somewhat $1,000.00 (and then it'll cost you about $2.50 per 8.5 x 11 inch print. Consider also the space the printer and printing paper require.

I went to Freestyle Photographic in LA for a one-hour lesson with their vice president, Eric Joseph, a few years ago.

We printed one of my black and white photos on 12 different papers, and then a color photo on 8 different papers. I took those with me, looked at them, and surveyed the waiter in the restaurant, a professional photographer, the receptionist in the hotel, and many more to see which print they liked the best. The result was that I chose one color paper and one black-and-white paper to use for everything. I don't experiment with papers, I just use the same every time.

 

Eric Joseph in his element amongst film rolls, customers and inkjet printers at Freestyle Photographic in LA. Leica M10 with Leica 50mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/0.95. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

Eric Joseph installed the printer, ran the two calibrations that are built into the printer, and then did a test print in color, and another in black and white, which he then took back to read with his calibrator - and then made me one profile for that specific color paper, and another for that specific black and white paper.

Seven years later, I recently had prints made at PICTO in Paris, the lab Henri Cartier-Bresson used. Ms. Lisa Rivierre gave us a tour of the entire facility, darkroom and all. Mr. Thierry Constant has been making prints for 25 years at PICTO, and the Lambda printer he used, they've had that one for 40 years. Lambda print is the de facto state of the art in my view - the gold standard for color photography printing.

 

At PICTO Paris, Mr. Thierry Constant in front of the Hostert LL 200 (1982) finishing machine. He's been printing for 25 years, operating the Durst Lambda, and most of the machines are 40+ years old. The Lambda printer is calibrated up to three times a day against test prints. Leica SL3 with Leica 35mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/1.2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

Inside PICTO Paris, printing consultant Ms. Lisa Rivierre . Leica SL3 with Leica 35mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/1.2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

 

What I learned was that my color print made at home and the Lambda print he made for me look identical in terms of colors and tones. And the same was the case for the black and white prints we did on black and white paper (see specifications later). It was very reassuring to see that my color profiles and all were so close to the ideal.

More on printing labs in a moment.

 

 

"Everything has to go somewhere"

Printing a final picture is a great feeling of accomplishment. Once you start making prints, you get an urge to put them somewhere. Frame them, or maybe hang them casually on a board, or make a box on the coffee table with prints guest and family can browse through. Maybe make an exhibition. Sending prints to people who may value them (or just to shock them with a large print since they haven't seen anything but small 3" x 3" photographs on Instagram). Everything has to go somewhere. It's not enough that you took the photo or that you know you did it. It has to be a communication, and that implies a receiver of the idea in the photo.

Once it gets in your blood, exhibitions, competitions, making books and more start developing.

To quote Hemingway: "Every man's life ends the same way. It is only the details of how he lived and how he died that distinguish one man from another." Ideas and memories only continue to exist and have value when they are visible to others.

Oliver Heinz, getting his final print when we did in the workshop in Paris. Leica SL3 with Leica 35mm Noctilux-M ASPH f/1.2. © Thorsten Overgaard.

What I learned about printing myself

I decided that a Canon Pro 1100 would do. I could have chosen a similar Epson model, but for reasons I have forgotten, I went with the Canon. This Canon Pro 1100 is the largest printer before you get into paper rolls that you have to cut afterwards. Of course, if you print on rolls, you can make really large prints. The Canon Pro 1100 can do up to 17x22 inch (A2+), and I reasoned that when I need larger prints, I'd use a printing house who can handle those sizes, both printing and shipping.

I wanted a printer that could work in the background, printing 10 sheets of one size, 15 of another, as part of my editing workflow, and making prints as I move through my editing. Printing on rolls wouldn't work, and if one want to print on sheets on a huge printer, you have to hand feed it each sheet.

Also implied in this is that I reasoned that the likelihood that I one day have so much time on my hands that I will go back and review to find things to print ... is just unlikely. It has to be done as part of the continious workflow or improting, editing and exporting.

Prints are for those who really like the work, and making prints available is a favor you do so they can get a piece of you. I often discover a photographer, then look for a print to buy. If they never did any prints, and thus never signed any prints, I feel a loss. A missed opportunity.

 

Here I am signing prins in the gallery in Salzburg.

 

Here are the headlines of what I learned from Eric Joseph, who has firsthand experience with any photo paper and film ever made for the darkroom, as well as any modern printer and printing paper:

• The bigger the printer, the more economical the ink usage is. For a small office printer, the price per ml of ink is $3.00. For a Canon Pro 1100, the ink is $0.85 per ml. For a roll printer, the ink is around $0.60 per ml.
  
  
• Never turn off the printer. Print one print a week, no matter what. An email or something. Else the printer goes into cleaning the print heads whenever you want to make a print, and there goes $20 worth of ink for no reason.
  
  

• 	Canon Pro 1100 inklevels. No worry!

  You don't change ink when the printer software says so. When the ink cartridge warning goes yellow, you ignore it. When it goes red some weeks after, then you change the ink. Often, the printer stops printing when the ink is at the absolute bottom. Then you have to change it, and I have never had prints coming out of the Canon Pro 1100 where one color was out. They're always full prints, or no prints. In other words, those alerts you can generally ignore (and save a lot of money).
  
  
• Original ink only. Else all color profiles will be a waste of time, and the pigment might not last very long. Professional inkjet prints are supposed to be good for 100 to 200 years (some say 400 years) when stored or displayed correctly (and on proper paper).
  
  
• Print always at 100% size, never scale an original for print.
  
  
• Make 100%-sized "final print" files that are ready to be printed directly to the printer.
  
  
• JPG or TIFF is the never-ending discussion. Professional labs will tell you which file type they want, and usually it's JPG. However, Eric Joseph was firm in his instructions to me that I should make 16-bit TIFF files using the Adobe RGB color profile. Even though I can't see any difference, I save my "print editions" as 16-bit TIFFs and make an original "print edition" ready for 100% print size, in these sizes:
  
  5.5 x 8.5 inch print
  (for which I make a 8.5 x 11 original with 2 prints side-by-side and cut it in half after printing as my "small prints").
  
  8.5 x 11 inch print
  
  11 x 17 inch print
  
  13 x 19 inch print
  
  17 x 22 inch print
  
  120 x 180cm print (6 feet tall print): I make one TIFF original in this size, to be used by an external printer, for when I do exhibitions at that size.
  See my video on how to upscale a file to a 6 feet (180 cm) original, 300 dpi, 16-bit Adobe RGB, in my video, "360 megapixels camera files from an 18MP camera." My large 6 feet tall prints I always print on glossy paper, laminated on Aluboard (aluminum plate for hanging directly without a frame), and then with a clear glossy protective layer on top. Never matte to "avoid reflections," as it kills the depth of the black in the photo.
  
  
• Explanation: Whenever I find a photo in my archive, or during editing, that I deem an "artprint," worthy of being printed and signed, I make a final edition (look) and create an original in each of those above sizes, ready for print. All other photos I have in my archive that are not "artprint," are just high resolution images, edited and finished so they are ready for magazine or online use.
  
  
• Use Canon's free software, "Professional Print & Layout," for managing prints. It holds profiles, paper types, and all that, and works in the background. Photoshop may be designed for printing, but it's a mess. Lightroom and Capture One are not designed for printing.

• Some recommend adding 4% cyan to black and white originals. It appears like a coating. I tested it and it works, but ultimately I decided I did not want to use it on my b&w originals and prints.
  
  
• For Canon printers, make your printing originals 300 dpi. For Epson printers, make your printing originals 360 dpi files.
  
  
• A printer adds a clear Chroma Optimizer (by Canon) or a Gloss Optimizer (by Epson), which makes the print look even, so that non-printed areas of white have the same reflective surface as the areas with print, and the print has the same overall surface.

 

The printing papers I use for my own photographs

People always ask, “which paper do you use?” and here are the papers I use at home and when I print at labs. My choice of paper is governed by my own perception of how a print look, supported by surveying people what prints of mine they like best, showing them the same photo on different papers.

 

The black and white papers I use:

	Hahnemuhle Photo Gloss Baryta X 320

Hahnemuhle Photo Gloss Baryta X 320gsm. This is a new paper as of 2026 that (finally) replaced the Hahnemuhle Photo Gloss Baryta 310 that went out of production in 2022. While I was waiting for its replacement, I used the one I recommend for colors, the Canson Infinity Platine Fibre Rag 310. In other words, you could choose that one as your one and only paper and never look back. But I do prefer the black and white look (the surface of the paper) of the Hahnemuhle Photo Gloss Baryta X 320gsm over the fiber-rich Canson Infinity Platine Fibre Rag 310.

Price is about $2.00 per sheet in 8.5 x 11 inches.

Order Hahnemuhle Photo Gloss Baryta X 320gsm from Hahnemuhle via this link.

Order Hahnemuhle Photo Gloss Baryta X 320gsm from Amazon via this link.

Order Hahnemuhle Photo Gloss Baryta X 320gsm from BH Photo in New York via this link.

The color papers I use (and also can use for black and white prints):

	Canson Infinity Platine Fibre Rag 310

Canson Infinity Platine Fibre Rag 310 gsm is a semi-gloss fiber-like surface. Colors as well as black and white look great on it, and it resembles a photographic darkroom print.

Price is about $2.00 per sheet 8.5 x 11 inches.

8.5 x 11 inch, 25 sheets Canson Infinity Platine Fibre Rag 310.
Order from Amazon via this link.
11 x 17 inch, 25 sheets Canson Infinity Platine Fibre Rag 310.
Order from Amazon via this link.
17 x 22 inch, 25 sheets Canson Infinity Platine Fibre Rag 310.
Order from Amazon via this link.

8.5 x 11 inch, 25 sheets Canson Infinity Platine Fibre Rag 310.
Order from Freestyle Photographic in Los Angeles via this link.

17 x 22 inch, 25 sheets Canson Infinity Platine Fibre Rag 310.
Order from Freestyle Photographic in Los Angeles via this link.

 

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The black and white papers I use when I print from labs:

	The seemingly endless types of papers available. Pick one and stay with it.

PICTO Paris print on their Epson P20 000 using pigment inkjet on Baryta Hahnemuhle 315g or Platine Fibre Infinity Canson 310g. Those papers look almost the same once you get the final print, so either one will do in my opinion. For these prints, they request JPG or TIFF with sRGB or Adobe RGB color profile.

Interestingly, I spent an hour going through paper samples at PICTO Paris when I first went there, and the ones I selected as "my papers" turned out to be the same as the ones I use when I print at home. There are a lot of different paper types, matte, canvas, ivory, etc.

You can also get special B&W prints made at PICTO Paris on their 1986 Lambda printer on Ilford Galerie FB Digital Silver paper 310g Baryta, or Satin RC Paper Ilford 190g, or classic glossy RC Ilford 190g paper. For these Lambda prints, you download an ICC profile from their website to prepare the image to match.

 

The color paper I used for prints from labs:

Lambda Print on Fujiflex High Reflexion 250g. Printed as C-print by PICTO Paris on their 1986 Durst Lambda 130 printer in Paris. About $12 per 8.5 x 11 inch print.

This is a plastic-like super glossy surface that reminds me of good old high-gloss darkroom color prints from slides. I find it is not suitable for black and white prints, because it looks so plastic or something. But for color photography, the Fujiflex High Reflexion 250g has to look fresh, this is very cool.

They also offer Satin RC Color Paper Fuji 230g, Matte RC Color Paper Fuji 250g, and Glossy RC Color Paper Fuji 250g from the same Lambda machine. I didn't go there.

It is also a historic printing method with light on light-sensitive paper, unlike inkjet that is ink on paper. Price around $12.00 per sheet printed and ready for pickup at their office in Paris. PICTO will ship to anywhere in the world, often $30.00 in shipping cost for an order of 5-25 prints.

 

Finding a pro lab anywhere in the world:

If you google for “lambda print,” or “C-print” or “Giclee fine art printing” + “aluboard” (prints mounted onto 1-2mm aluminum, not prints on aluminum) or “Dibond mounting” or “Alu-Dibond“ (but you are looking for traditional photo prints laminated onto Dibond aluminium composite panels, not printed directly on the Dibond), and you will likely find a professional printer that already work for galleries and museums. This is a way to distinguish any other place that does “color prints” or “photo prints.”

Few do Lambda printing, but they will usually mention it, and actually use C-print on inkjet printers (which then will look as great and professional as Lambda printing).

Skip the sponsored results on Google and look for real labs that does both in-house. For example:

Around London you will find Genesis Imaging and METRO Imaging, and Lucid Imaging (Surrey) amongst others.

In Germany you will find DINAX LAB in Neuss by Dusseldorf.

In Paris you will find PICTO Paris
and can order online via their on-line printing portal on https://www.pictoonline.com

In Amsterdam you will find Artprint, Key Color and  CRE8.

In Copenhagen there is Baggaardsprint and Art Print Studio by Mathia Bager.

In Stockholm there is Kornskarpt.

In Boston there is Digital Silver Imaging.

In New York there is Light Print.

In San Francisco there is Dickerman Prints.

In Berkeley there is Photolaboratory.

In Los Angeles there is Weldon Color Lab.

In Chicago there is PrintLab.

In Vancouver there is Print Maker Studio.

In Toronto there is Riveros Art.

And so on ...

Signing prints at PICTO in Paris back in 2021 for shipping to collectors.

 

Where to buy:

Acid-free plastic sleeves to store each print in. About $0.30 per pocket in size 8.5 x 11 inches and available in all sizes.

Sakura 50154 Micron Drawing Pen, archival ink to sign prints.  Get a set with different thickness to decide which ones to use for what (I use 0.8 for signature and 0.2 for title, etc.) $12.50 from Amazon. I use 0.2 and 0.8 size pens.

My prints are signed front and back with archival ink pen, and then stored in acid-free sleeves (and then into storage boxes).

 

Acid-free archival museum storage boxes. $25.00 per box for size 8.5x11 inches prints, available in many sizes.

Avery labels 6878 for boxes, can be printed on a laser printer. I use size 3.75”x 4.75” that I can “print double on” and fold across the edge of the archival box so the same label text can be read from the front and the top. You could also just write on the box with a marker, but I like that it is easy to read and I can stick a new label on top if the content changes.

Avery labels on the archival boxes. I also use smaller size address labels to add individual titles that are in the box when all sizes of a particular picture are in the same box.

 

	Clarifications and definitions:   Lambda printer Durst's Lambda printer (1994 – 2010) was a photographic printing machine that uses three lasers (RGB – red, green and blue) to print the photograph digitally exposes a light-sensitive photographic paper that is then developed. The word Lambda means “the physics of particles.“ They are not produced anymore, but several are in use at labs that can handle the workflow, chemicals, etc. But most professional printing houses replaced Lambda with inkjet, and match the quality using inkjet printers.   Inkjet printer (Giclée printer) Giclée is a French word meaning to spray or squirt, and usually refers to high-end inkjet printing. Pigment inkjet printing is another word used to indicate very high standards. The point is that it’s all ink sprayed onto paper, but you want to find a printing house or lab that produce high-end, as opposed to any printing place that have an inkjet printer. EPSON P20 000 Epson 9900, Epson SureColor P2000, and so on would usually be the types of printers those labs or printers use, along with high-quality ink and papers. Hahnemuhle is a German brand for coated papers that has been around since 1584 and employ around 200 people. Canson is a French brand that bas been around since 1557 and employ around 400 people.   Inkjet Inkjet printers were invented in 1976 by IBM (96 dpi resolution) and have evolved over the years to 1400 dpi resolution. But generally, you set an Epson to 360 dpi and a Canon to 300 dpi.   Matrix printers Matrix printers (1970) were the aunt of inkjet, an electronic technology using computers to print by pressing dots onto paper to form text and images using tiny metal pins inside a moving print head that would strike an inked ribbon, usually 60 dpi. It was never used to print photographic prints, but mostly computer-generated writing on endless rolls of papers (like invoices, letters, etc). Before that, it was typewriters operated by a person, or the first typewriters that had memory (1964), and then for example the NEC Spinwriter (1974) that was a typewriter operated by a computer, writing on letter head or blank paper, fed by an automatic feeder. Naturally not used for photographs, but part of printing history.   Digital printing press Digital printing started with the Indigo (1993) made to replace traditional offset wet print for smaller print runs. Xerox did release their model in 1991, but only for printing of black & white books. Digital press is widely used these days for postcards, books in smaller runs, magazines, etc. For example Blurb books are made in digital printing presses, and the on-demand books you can order via Apple or Adobe are likewise digitally printed.   Offset printing press The offset printing press was released in 1904 by Ira Washington Rubel (the Rubel Press USA) and Caspar Hermann (The Triumph, Germany), both realizing the idea to print on paper using a machine. Today offset is generally four colors where each color is added to the paper at a time as the paper goes through the press. It involves making press plates (made of aluminum or polyester, sometimes paper for small runs), adjusting the intensity and precision of each color to match before one speeds up the press. Offset is usually more economical than digital print on runs from a few hundreds and up to thousands. Some publishers use digital printing for language versions, or to have little or no stock and be able to ship on demand (Amazon books, for example). As offset technology has advanced, additional presses have been added to the printing machines, so it’s not unusual to see 5-color, 6-color, or 8-color presses to add custom spot colors, special brand hues, or protective coatings in the printing process. The book Fan Ho “My Passion. My Life”, for example, is printed with a 6-color press (adding a Pantone color hue to make the photos look classic, as well as coating).

 

 

 

More to come

Bon voyage with it all. Sign up for the newsletter to stay in the know. As always, feel free to email me with suggestions, questions and ideas. And hope to see you in a workshop one day soon.

 

Thorsten Overgaard