Fill in the blanks...what paper?

Total newbie question, because that's what I am.
I'm looking to expand my hobby into printing and recently was given an enlarger.
I settled on Dektol to start because reading the forums, it looks like the 'developer of choice' for most basic work.
Now I need some paper to practice on but am clueless.
Any suggestions? (B&W)

I know what matte, satin, semi-gloss, and gloss are but what is pearl?
Is there one type of paper that allows you to produce cool, warm, or neutral prints depending upon filters used?
What are the advantages to RC paper and fiber???

Any direction would be appreciated (just not, "go away"...I'll keep asking questions no matter what. )

Thanks in advance.

Ken

Pearl is kind of a compromise and I doubt if you will dislike it. Personally, I find something enriching about matte, but for most, that is not the first choice. With pearl you will get some lustre but without the glare being overwhelming, as it has a very mild roughness that is hardly noticeable. It holds good detail. It is a good choice and sells well. - David Lyga

you want RC to start, its cheaper and faster. you want variable contrast and you will need a set of contrast filters, either Ilford or Kodak will work. look on eBay for an inexpensive set.

Follow these directions from Ilford: http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/200629187211322.pdf

Hard to go wrong with Ilford MGIV RC. The pearl is my favorite. Wide range of tones if you ever get to bleaching and toning.

Resin coat paper will cut your processing time in half, and even less than half with the washing. I think this is very helpful at the start, more time playing and making mistakes and less time watching the clock.

Google Eddie Ephraums and see what can be done with this paper.

RC paper processes, washes and dries much faster than fiber. Personally I prefer the look of fiber over RC. Also the RC glossy has a high gloss while the fiber glossy is flatter with less gloss and must be ferrotyped to get a high gloss. I prefer the fiber glossy paper without the high gloss.

Start with inexpensive RC paper to start, 250 sheet pack of 5x7 and 100 sheets of 8x10 of the same ilk, maybe a small pack of 11x14. I recommend those quantities because, quite frankly you will eat through it before you realize it. Obtain a good book on darkroom printing.

Gloss paper gives the widest range of tones, but can glare due to reflected light. Matte paper doesn't glare but has a narrower tonal range. Pearl is in-between, and I find it to be a good compromise.

RC paper is easier to use - it's quick to wash (2-5 minutes) and dry, you can dry it by hanging it from a line, and typically doesn't require the use of hypo-clear while washing. Fiber paper takes longer to wash (30 minutes or so), required hypo-clear during the wash to eliminate fixer that has soaked into the paper, and should be dried flat. Fiber paper may be a better archival choice, as some problems have been reported with deterioration of RC prints over time, especially when they are mounted under glass.

Fiber prints have nicer texture and are in some circles regarded as having more cachet than RC prints.

My recommendation would be to start with a pearl finish multigrade RC paper, assuming you have multigrade filters or a colour head on your enlarger. Multigrade paper allows you to vary the contrast of the print by adjusting the color of the light used to expose it. If you don't have multigrade filters or a color head then you could use graded papers - for me, Grade 2 would be rught for general printing, but YMMV.

Once you've got into printing with RC paper, then you can move on to fiber based paper if you wish to.

As to brand, I use Ilford Multigrade IV RC and have been entirely happy with it. It's entirely consistent from box to box, I've never had a bad sheet, and I like the tonality of the prints. Also, I have confidence that it will still be around next year!

I must say this site and all of you are amazing.
In less time than it would have taken me to drive to a store and ask the same questions and receive ONE answer, I have received 6 answers giving me enough information to make a confident choice.
I just placed my order with Freestyle for 25 sheets of Illford 5X7 Multigrade RC Pearl.

Thank you

Well, that ought to last you about one short session.

OptiKen said:

Is there one type of paper that allows you to produce cool, warm, or neutral prints depending upon filters used?

Ken

Click to expand...

This is the part of your thread that maybe we haven't answered as well as the rest so here goes. In terms of warmth there are essentially 3 kinds of paper Warm Tone(WT) neutral tone and Cool Tone. Each kind of paper will have much more effect on tone than developer so expecting more than a hint of warmth from say neutral or CT paper even in a WT developer is unrealistic.

Ilford MG, Adox MCP Fotospeed paper will all give neutral tones even in a WT developer. Unless a paper is titled WT or CT then it will have neutral tones in almost any developer with only a slight change in a either WT or CT developer.

So no there isn't one kind of paper that will give WT or CT depending on developer. Filters are for grades of hardness or softness not for warm, neutral or cool tones.

To get a good overview of paper and printing it is worth buying a good book. I'd recommend Tim Rudman's The Photographer's Master Printing Course. Obtainable second-hand and not expensive in terms of the knowledge it will give you.

pentaxuser

There are no rights and wrongs here. Just preference. But as a beginner, I'd try RC paper because it's easier to use.

Rick A said:

Well, that ought to last you about one short session.

Click to expand...

hahaha
I know. Ultimately, I want to print mostly 8X10 or larger but i figured 25 sheets of 5X7 would be just enough to lay claim to the bathroom as my new darkroom and I could expand from there.
I am fully prepared (mentally) to throw away 24 of the 25 prints I get from this new venture but am hoping to end up with the experience to know what I am doing when I get my first order of 8X10

You are going to be using "test strips," which I believe are discussed in that Ilford publication I referenced.

Enjoy printing, Ken.

If I may give you three suggestions:

1. Test your safe light / darkroom light-tightness. It's quick and easy and only takes a scrap of paper. If stray light is fogging your paper you will never get good prints.

2. Use test strips to reduce paper wastage. Different printers use different methods. Mine is simple: I cut one sheet of paper width-wise into 8 strips. When I'm not sure of an exposure, I position a strip so it covers key areas of the image (e.g. a highlight, a shadow and a skin tone) and expose it using my best guess of the exposure. Then I see how the highlights, shadows and mid-tones have printed which allows me to adjust both exposure and contrast (paper grade) as required. Others like to make multiple exposures on one strip, but I prefer a single exposure that covers multiple image tones. No right or wrong. Either way you do it, one test strip can save you a wasted sheet of paper.

3. Learn to dodge and burn. It's easy and I found that simple dodging and burning gave me a significant improvement in my prints.

Good luck!
Andrew

Ken. There are many good papers around. Some are better than Others. I would start with Ilford. Constant results are guaranteed. Enjoy your Printing and don't get discouraged by failures....Just learn from errors and keep going

I would buy a few sampler packages of papers before buying a quantity of anything. Fiber papers too, so you can compare them to the RC. The sampler packs are quite cheap. You never know, you might decide right at the start (as I did) that the fiber is what you want.