Choosing the right type of Fine Art paper for your photograph or artwork reproduction can take your print from being simply beautiful to jaw-droppingly sensational.

 

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Please note: Our standard turnaround time for Fine Art orders is 7 days. Orders can be rushed with a 50% surcharge. Please email imaging@michaels.com.au once the order is placed to advise of an earlier pick up time. 

 

 

michaels is home to Australia's premier Fine Art Printing service and is used by professional and amateur photographers, artists, galleries, art collectors, illustrators, interior designers, advertising firms, graphic artists and a wide array of creative professionals looking for photographic and art reproduction services. Our Fine Art printing options are ideal for reproducing photographs as well as artwork such as paintings and drawings.

Our Fine Art prints (also referred to as Giclée prints) are printed to the highest industry standards and will make your images look exceptional. Using our large format Epson 9900 printer and state-of-the-art high definition pigment inks, you’ll see vibrant colours, smooth gradients and enhanced detail in prints up to 40x60 inches!

 

Colour Management

We take colour management very seriously. We operate fully colour calibrated monitors and custom-made profiles specifically for each printer and paper combination. This means that every paper in our Fine Art Printing Department is custom-profiled. This guarantees that your print will look its absolute best and also ensures that months or even years down the line, any reprints will continue to match the original.

From archival 100% cotton rag to our more modestly priced photo papers, image quality will never be sacrificed. We are happy to answer any questions you may have about the printing substrates available. All prints are made on Epson large format printers using Epson’s UltraChrome K3 inks - the standard for high quality inkjet printing.


Guide for Choosing Your Fine Art Paper

The predominance & strengths of blacks is the key determinant in paper selection:

  • Low-key images (having primarily dark tones, usually with little tonal contrast) are more suited to non-matte papers. It is hard to see distinguish between the subtleties of the dark tones when printed on matte papers.
  • Predominantly high-key (primarily light tones, usually with little tonal contrast) or images with pale tones look great on matte papers.

The main issue with matte papers is that the surface of the matte papers scatter light, i.e. the paper diffuses the light. This has a dramatic effect on the appearance of blacks. Blacks are deeper and richer in glossy/semi-gloss papers compared to matte papers. 

For a print with many fine details, such as a photo of a fashion model, a glossy bright white paper may give the best result, considering resolution, sharpness, detail and wide colour gamut. A print of a landscape with picturesque scenery may look better on a watercolour paper. Likewise, a Black & White print of a portrait may look best on a paper with a slightly off-white tint, or ‘natural white’ or ‘warm toned’.

While there are many technical specifications to note when choosing a suitable fine art paper, it is still a subjective decision - there is no wrong or right choice.


Our Fine Art Papers

We offer a huge range of exquisite Fine Art paper options, each one offering its own unique texture and contrast.

michaels Premium Satin - 280gsm

  • Heavyweight, slightly textured satin paper
  • Perfect for photographic, proofing and fine art reproduction
  • Bright white point
  • Soft finish and less reflective than michaels Premium Gloss
  • Maximum print width of 34”

michaels Premium Gloss

  • Large colour gamut and high dynamic range
  • Deep, rich blacks with excellent detail in shadow areas
  • Bright white point providing clean highlight detail
  • Perfect for high end photographs and fine art reproductions
  • Maximum print width of 22”

Matte Papers

Canson Arches Aquarelle - 310gsm (Classic)
  • 100% cotton rag
  • Heavyweight, natural white, highly textured watercolour paper
  • No Optical Brightening Agents
  • Acid-free
  • Specifically coated to be water and scuff-resistant
  • Warm white tone is perfect for photographic reproductions and renders art reproductions accurately and beautifully.
  • Ideal for all wet painting techniques; watercolour, gouache, acrylic and pastels
Canson BFK Rives - 310gsm (Premium)
  • Smooth, soft-textured matte
  • 100% cotton
  • Watercolour paper
  • Acid-free
  • Unique pure white without Optical Brightening Agents
  • Prints have a prestigious aura
  • Ideal for medium to high-key images but not recommended for low-key images (i.e. predominantly dark tones)
  • Better suited for colour rather than Black & White images. Perfect for portraits
Canson Rag Photographique - 310gsm (Classic)
  • 100% cotton museum grade white Fine Art and photo paper
  • Extra smooth surface
  • Warm-toned - perfect for portraits
  • No Optical Brightening Agents
  • Acid-free
  • Deep blacks
  • Excellent for colour and Black & White images
  • Similar to Canson BFK Rives but with a smoother texture
  • Water resistant
Hahnemuhle Bamboo - 290gsm (Premium)
  • 90% Bamboo fibre, 10% Cotton matte natural white
  • Our most eco-friendly paper
  • No Optical Brightening Agents
  • Slightly warm toned
  • Surface is smooth and hard, with a subtle and elegant parchment look
  • Particularly suitable for warm-toned color and monochrome prints
  • Bamboo is the world’s first digital fine art inkjet paper made from bamboo fibers. Bamboo represents spirituality, naturalness and resource-saving paper production.
Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Matte - 308gsm (Classic)
  • 100% cotton
  • Smooth matte finish
  • Bright white
  • Relatively smooth with slight texture
  • Often considered the industry standard paper
  • Ideal choice for Black & White and high contrast images
  • Perfect for images with lots of detail and bold color including prints of original artwork in acrylics or oils
  • Acid free, lightfast and extremely resistant to ageing

Photo style papers

The following papers have gloss or lustre finishes. They are ‘shiny’ compared to the matte offerings described above.

Canson Baryta Photographique - 310gsm (Classic)
  • Baryta paper (featuring a true Bartya / barium sulphate coating) developed for inkjet technology
  • Consists of an alpha-cellulose, acid-free pure white paper with the same barium sulphate coating as for traditional silver halide and a premium inkjet colour receiving layer
  • Unique look of traditional silver halide photo paper
  • Extended tonal range
  • Extra smooth surface
  • Satin finish
  • Creamy whites and deep velvety blacks
  • Ideal for traditional Black & White images
  • Fantastic for colour images with vibrancy and depth
  • Acid free, water-resistant, free of Optical Brightening Agents
    Ilford Gold Fibre Silk - 310gsm (Premium)
    • Lustre paper with minimal shine
    • Has a baryta (barium sulphate) coated layer rendering the look and feel of traditional baryta photo paper
    • Slightly warm white base, therefore great for portraits
    • Perfect for Black & White and colour images
    • A favourite for those who want the saturation of a glossy paper but with less reflection
    Metallic Pearl - 255gsm (Premium)
    • Slightly warm toned with a high degree of luminance and reflectivity
    • Exhibit rich, dense blacks
    • Superb colour gamut and contrast range
    • Excellent paper choice for images with metal such as machinery, cars, trucks, planes etc.
    • The finish is similar to silver halide metallic photo papers, and offers exceptional image clarity, and brilliant colour reproduction with a high-gloss metallic finish
    • High moisture resistance
    Museo Silver Rag - 300gsm (Classic)
    • 100% cotton
    • Acid-free
    • Semi-gloss / Lustre finish
    • Ivory tone producing glowing whites and deep blacks
    • No Optical Brightening Agents
    • Prints resemble traditional darkroom fibre-based photo paper
    • Deep black, rich colours
    • Colour prints are slightly warm - perfect for capturing morning and early evening light

    We can print your work at any custom size up to 42 inches by almost any length!

    *** Fine Art prints come standard with a 1.1″ border unless noted otherwise.

    Pricing

     

    Fine Art Terms Explained

    Acid-Free This group of papers is made for the ages. The absence of acid in them means they will not brown or decompose the way some papers would. Would you be able to tell the difference as you’re printing? No, not at first, but eventually, when it’s too late, and your beautiful image is stained and discoloured, you would. Good acid-free paper is usually identified as such. Some are made with 100% cotton rag, but it’s also possible to find archival quality papers which are not made of 100% cotton.
    Fine Art Paper The term 'Fine Art Paper' is a classification for high quality papers for different applications. Paper containing wood that yellows quickly suffices for the mass market, where long life expectancy is not an issue. Wood-free papers produced from bleached pulp offer improved quality. Fine papers distinguish themselves from bulk papers due to their light constancy and resistance to ageing. They are normally much thicker and is made from archival cotton rag. This results in a product that will last 75-100 years. Museum quality archival prints and reproductions.
    GSM Grams per square meter; an indicator of the paper weight. Regular copy paper (used in a photocopier or printer) is typically about 75gsm.
    OBAs (Optical Brightening Agents)

    Chemicals in papers to make the whites of the papers look brighter to the eye. These chemicals absorb invisible ultraviolet light and then emit the absorbed invisible light as light our eyes can see, in a process of fluorescence.

    When this happens, the white of the paper looks incredibly white, “whiter than white,” because our eyes are seeing a combination of the white of the paper shown by standard light and the light being emitted by the chemical in the paper.

    Paper Colour The paper is not just "white." If you line up multiple papers together, you will see there are many variations to that basic tint. Fine art papers range from warm (sometimes called natural) to bright white. Sometimes OBAs or optical brightening agents are used to make the paper brighter. These can break down over time; though they do not damage the paper, it will lose some of its brightness.
    Photographic Paper Prints with a professional photographic look and feel
    Pigment Ink

    Pigment ink printed on acid free cotton rag or alpha cellulose paper is the most versatile commonly available printing being done today. It is significantly longer lasting than prints on colour photographic paper and the choices of papers that can used is far greater.

    Pigmented ink particles tend to settle into the tiny fibres that make up the paper. As the ink dries, the pigment particles get stuck in the fibres. Thus, the pigmented inks are more water resistant than the dye-based inks.

    Pigment particles are similar to large pebbles on a beach. It is much more difficult for sunlight and chemicals to react with all of the pigment molecules, since most of them are hidden inside the "pebbles". That makes pigmented inks perfect for archival print life and colour stability. They can last more than 100 years on some paper types under ideal display conditions and are therefore considered fade resistant.

    Today, inks for serious printmakers are pigment-based. Older model dye-based printers have mostly faded (no pun intended) and it’s generally accepted that pigment-based ones are best for longevity and light fastness.

    Print Permanence

    It is important to think about how long you want your images to survive. Photographic papers can last up to 100 years if well taken care of, but if you want your image to be passed down for generations - a print of a special original painting, or an important family photo - you may want to select a paper made from 100% cotton. This will prevent yellowing and degradation from ruining the image, and can last for hundreds of years.

    While a bright white paper is often desirable, for images of great importance you may want to choose a paper that does not have any artificial brighteners, as these can break down over time.

    Rag papers Rag papers, photo rags or cotton rags are made out of cotton instead of wood fibres. Cotton fibres are longer than wood fibres thus leading to a stronger paper that is more durable. Used for archival quality prints, cotton is naturally pH neutral leading to longer life of photographs.

     

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