Glossy and matte paper recommendation

I am looking for glossy and matte paper for landscape and wildlife prints on my Epson 3880 and 9900. I realize not everything looks good on matte and not everything looks good on glossy either.

This is a difficult forum to search but looking at the previous threads I see that most people recommend Canson Infinity Rag photographique, Breathing color Optica one and Hahnemuhle Photo rag. I've done my own testing with all the others except Breathing color (trial roll ordered). I found the Canson and Hahnemuhle to be about equally good. Others tested were Epson Exhibition Fiber, Premium Matte,  Velvet Fine Art, the Hahnemuhle Trial pack including my one time favorite Fine Art Pearl. I've narrowed it down to either Canson Photo Rag or the Hahnemuhle Photo Rag. Waiting for the Breathing color package to arrive.

I am not fond of brilliant white (baryta types) or coated matte papers like FAP because of the mild metamerism or glare. If it is matte, it should be just that and slightly warmer for my taste.

Glossy is another matter altogether. I've used the common glossy ones and want to get something that will really pop the prints off the page for urbanscapes at night, sunsets, etc where the printing will almost exclusively be in color. I am a bit stumped for choice in this section.

I've ordered a trial pack of Breathing Color's Vibrance Gloss and VIbrance metallic. Has anybody used these? Any other recommendations?

So far, the best 'pop' I've seen is with some of my prints that were printed and mounted in a plexiglass/dibond sandwich by a company out in LA (I believe they use a Lightjet and Fuji Crystal Flex archive paper). These with proper track lighting look unbelievably 3-D (pardon the cliche`). I am trying to get that look at home without the mounting process. Will mat and frame them of course or use a gallery wrap sort of process.

Too many choices!

Thanks for your help,

Pradeep

I use Breathing Color paper frequently including Vibrance Metallic.  While it's excellent for black and white prints if you put glass over the framed print you sort of lose the metallic effect.  I've also used BC Elegance Velvet, Optica One, and Lyve canvas which I think are outstanding.  

Steve

Steve, thanks for the information. I like B&W prints on matte media, they look more 'traditional' to me. However, for some color images esp detailed landscapes with a lot of highlights, I prefer glossy paper. Have never used a 'metallic' media though there are many companies that will directly print your images on aluminum.

I have the Optica one on order from BC. Will try it out for matte printing. So far I am very happy with Hahnemuhle photo rag and Canson, but they are quite expensive (about equally so) and if the BC alternative is equally good, then that would be the one to go for. I am not concerned about archival quality since these are not for sale - just to hang at home and give to friends and family.

Regards,

Pradeep

I have gone to printing most of my prints on matte paper anymore as Breathing Colors papers have excellent dynamic range and can handle color tones very well (if you put glass over your print it becomes glossy anyways).

Due to that my two main papers are BC Optica One (very smooth but scratches easily until coated) for a nice rich texture I use BC Elegance Velvet.

Red River has a decent smooth matte paper called Polar Matte at a better price point.

Although I haven't tried them yet Epson was recently sending out trial packs of some new papers the line is called Signature Worthy and they are fine art papers.
The ones that look interesting to me are: Hot Press Bright and Hot Press Natural for a smooth finish and for a textured finish, Cold Press Bright and Cold Press Natural.

Thank you Randy. I finally tried the Canson Baryta paper yesterday and was quite impressed. It looks very much like Epson Exhibition and Hahnemuhle FAP but has less glare and reflections. Bright white and color images are looking very good. Tried some B&W on it, didn't like it that much. It's a personal preference I guess, but I like a dull finish for B&W and the Hahnemuhle photo rag is my current favorite.

Can't wait to try out the BC papers.

Update on a work in progress.

So I tried out the BC optica one, Pura smooth and vibrance gloss. Very impressed. The Optica one is the best of all the matte papers I've tried, the profile works out of the box without any tweaking needed in softproofing, the paper is bright, but not as glaringly white as the Epson EF, prints esp B&W look great.

The Vibrance gloss shows up the sharpest, with best contrast, colors are outstanding, blues are deep and much closer to the original and to my eye the gamut is wider. Waiting for the Vibrance metallic and the Lyve Canvas.

Only problem is BC papers are no cheaper than Hahnumuhle or Canson and you have to buy it direct from the company in CA with the long and expensive shipping.

Currently I'm using these a lot:

• Ilford Galerie Gold Fibre Silk, a very slightly warm semi-gloss baryta fibre paper. A truly excellent paper that looks good with seemingly almost anything. It's my go-to paper for general work.
• Harman by Hahnemühle Gloss Baryta, a white glossy baryta fibre paper. Replaces my previous favorite in the glossy category, Harman Gloss FB Al, which sadly was discontinued.
• Also in the glossy category, I'm just now evaluating the brand-new Ilford Galerie Gold Mono Silk, and white glossy fibre paper (non-baryta).
• Hahnemühle Photo Rag, a white matte fibre paper. Or more frequently these days, Hahnemühle Bamboo, a very similar media to Photo Rag but slightly warm.
• I do like the Canson Infinity Baryta Photographique, a white semi-gloss to glossy baryta fibre (cotton rag) paper. I've used a good deal of it but it's harder to come by locally. Edit: Forgot to mention I've run through some Canson Infinity Platine as well. Equally nice -- a cotton rag semi-gloss to glossy white paper (no baryta). Both Canson papers have no optical brighteners.
• I will use Moab Slickrock if I want some screaming punchy output.