I really like Museo Silver Rag paper.

I was reminded of this tonight as I worked up a print (San Francisco Skyline, July 17, 2006) for a client. I had test-printed the image on Epson Premium Luster paper, but tonight I was making the final print on this heavier (more expensive) paper.

Museo Silver Rag feels like real photographic paper and does not have the slightly plastic feel and texture of some other papers. It has a nicely textured surface with an appropriate amount of reflectivity. It does a wonderful job at the dark end of the spectrum, especially when printing in black and white – there is more detail in the shadows than I generally get with other papers. Silver Rag has a warm tone compared to papers made with optical brighteners. The print I was working on tonight is a black and white image, but I’ve had good results with color prints as well.

Just thought you might want to know. :-)

Note on 8/30/08: I have continued to work with this paper, among others, since I originally posted this message. I still like Museo Silver Rag a lot for certain prints that benefit from the rather warm tone of the paper. I do notice that the ink seems to diffuse a bit more on the surface of this paper compared to some other high quality papers. In some cases the slight softness that this produces could be a good thing in and of itself, but if not it is a good idea to sharpen a bit more aggressively before printing.