Printing high quality photos can be affected by two factors – the ink and the photo paper. Printers cannot use any kind of photo paper. There should be compatibility between the printer model or type and the photo paper. This is the reason why it is advised that you use ink and photo paper with the same brand as your printer for photos. If you are desirous of printing photos, you should know how to choose the right paper.
There are five main differences on the papers. These are opacity, brightness, weight, finish and caliper. Opacity describes if the paper is see-through. When the opacity is high (94 to 97), the tendency for the print outs to bleed on the opposite side is less. The brightness of the paper or whiteness of the media is important. The brightness is measured from 1 to 100 and the good quality of photo paper has a high 90 rating. The weight of paper is expressed in grams per square meter. Do not compare by their given weight because different kinds of papers use different kinds of weight scale. You can be deceived if you are not familiar with this. The photo paper finish is given in the glossy and matte finish. You do not only weigh the paper but you should also determine its thickness or its caliper. Photo papers are 7 to 10 mils thick, where the typical inkjet caliper is from 4.3 to10.4 mil.