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Feature: Pick the Perfect Photo Paper

In the old days, printing photos was easy. You'd take a roll of pictures to the corner drug store, and you'd have your prints a few days later. There were disadvantages, of course: You had no control over the color, cropping, or exposure, and the quality of the prints was totally out of your control. But it was easy.

These days, printing your digital photos is a very different experience: You have tons of control. But even after using an image editor to make all the tweaks you need to get an outstanding image, a great printout can still be elusive as that gopher in the movie "Caddy Shack." So what's the final component to a top-quality print?

Getting great results with your inkjet printer usually comes down to picking the right paper. We've all seen gorgeous prints on display at the computer store--samples of what you could accomplish with the newest photo-quality inkjet printers. But getting those same results at home can be difficult if you don't feed the right paper into your printer. This week, let's talk about how to choose paper.

Believe the Printer Manufacturer

It's no secret that the big names in printers--companies like Canon, Epson, and Hewlett-Packard--offer their own complete lines of inks and papers. Each manufacturer claims that you'll get the best results when you use their products with their printers, and they warn you to steer clear of paper sold by other companies.

And believe it or not, they're generally right. Photo printers are typically designed to work with specific inks and papers to yield the best results. Using Brand X paper with your particular inkjet printer, for instance, may cause the ink to spread too far into the paper before drying, which causes inaccurate colors, lower print resolution, and a dull finish. In most cases, you really do get the best results by sticking with the inks and papers recommended by your printer's manufacturer.

Which Paper Is Best?

Once you've decided to stick with your printer's brand of paper, you still have some decisions to make. The paper section at your local camera, computer, or office supply store can be fraught with many seemingly similar choices.

Consider Epson, for instance. The company offers a broad selection of papers with names like DuraBrite, Premium Glossy, Photo Quality Glossy, and ColorLife. But let's keep it simple. You'll get the best results when you match the paper to the kind of ink you are using. Epson's Premium Glossy Photo Paper is the right choice for most Epson printers, but if your printer uses DuraBrite ink, then use DuraBrite Ink Glossy Photo Paper instead. For less formal photo printing--and where print quality and longevity are not the prime factors--you can use Epson's less-expensive All Purpose Glossy Paper.

Canon has made your choice easier. Just look for the colored stripe that runs down the center of all its paper packages: Papers with a gold stripe are premium blends intended for the highest-quality prints, while bronze identifies the paper as an everyday variety.

HP sells a line of paper called Premium Plus. This is the top-of-the-line photo paper for HP printers. For routine photo printing, you want to print on HP Premium paper--which, HP claims, is slightly better than the kind of paper used by your local photo lab.

Everyday Printing

Now you know how to choose the right paper for making great, special-occasion prints. But what if you just want to print photos for casual and short-term use, and you don't plan to mount them on the wall? The good news is that almost any paper will do. If you won't be framing or sharing your prints, you can grab any old photo paper off the shelf, even if the package doesn't have your printer company's name on it. The prints will be somewhat dull; the colors won't look as accurate; and the inks will fade much quicker than photos on premium paper; but you'll pay pennies instead of a dollar or more per sheet.

The cheapest papers you can buy are usually sold for everyday printing and called "inkjet paper" or just "photo paper." This type of paper is porous and usually lacks a protective polymer coating. It's very inexpensive, and your prints will dry much more quickly than when you use photo-grade papers. The downside of using this type of paper is that it degrades in short order: Your photos will last only a few years if they're exposed to direct sunlight or contaminants in the air. Of course, if you're just printing out pictures of a truck you're trying to sell, that won't matter.

For more tips on getting the best results from your inkjet printer, check out these articles:

• "More Photo Printing Tips"
• "Fix Printing Problems"
• "Get Great Photo Prints Without Breaking the Bank"