At the present moment one can find a variety of photo paper for printing at home. There are also a great number of amateur and professional digital cameras which give photos of exceptional quality due to the huge resolution power of their matrix. Therefore an amateur photographer sets the problem to find not only a good photo printer but photo paper of the best quality for day-to-day printing and art photo exhibitions as well.

Photo paper represents paper specially designed for photo printing, graphic presentations and illustrations. It is a dense paper with multilayer surface meant for the improvement of mixing of inks to impenetrate the paper. Photo paper also has a special superficial layer that protects the image from external actions. Thanks to a special structure, the photo paper provides a high resolution of image. Photo paper is also distinguished by high density, to prevent the printing of an image on the other side of paper. You can purchase photo paper in various formats. Depending on the character of special covering, photo paper can be Semi-gloss, Glossy, High-gloss and Matte. You can find double-sided paper such as Glossy/Matter and some other variations.

The glossy photo paper is characterized by high density and the presence of glossy layer on its surface. This layer prevents washing-off and discoloration of inks from the paper surface. It is usually used for printing of photos with soft halftones and bright sceneries. The glossy photo paper is also good for portrait photos and some other types of printing that requires rich color rendition and high reflectivity. The disadvantage of this type of photo paper is the following: you can not use pigment inks for printing as they are easily obliterated. If you want to print photos on paper with glossy effect by using pigment inks, in this case you should apply super glossy paper that has a special layer that prevents the physical tear and wear of a photo.

The matte photo paper can be of various densities. The matte paper with less density is mainly used for the production of the printing produce such as booklets, leaflets, presentations, etc. The matte paper with higher density is used for the printing of high quality photographs for exhibitions and photo albums. As distinct from glossy and High-gloss paper, the matter one goes very well with all types of inks such as water, sublimation and pigment ink. The matte paper is ideal for images with many details, for such photos where it is more important to render small parts rather than halftones. The advantages of the matte paper are characterized by its low cost and its steadiness to mechanical failures such as scratches and fingerprints.

There are also a variety of specialized photo paper such as self-adhesive and textured (canvas) paper, heat transfer paper and many others. You can use both water and pigment ink for these types of photo paper as it is mainly used for the needs of printing industry.

As regards the durability of photos printed at the inkjet printers, the type of paper covering plays a very important role. The photo paper covering meant for inject printers can be swelling or porous. The swelling covering consists of synthetic and natural polymers that swell when getting into contact with water or ink. Once the printing dries up, the dye stuff is airtightly fixed in the paper covering, and this prevents the contact with the air and its admixtures. The photo paper with porous covering dries faster than that with the swelling covering. However the photos printed on the paper with porous surface fade under the influence of the air, therefore such photos should be kept under the protective glass.

Photo paper is produced for inkjet, laser and sublimation photo printers. It is produced in various formats from A3+ (Super A3) to wallet cards for printing of photos. The characteristics of up-to-date high quality photo paper for inkjet printers are characterized by lightfastness and steadiness to discoloration. A photo can preserve its initial state in the course of approximately 20 years if you will keep it under glass and in the course of 15 years without keeping it under the glass. It is recommended to keep printed photos in a cool and dry place with relative humidity no more than 80 %.

Not the least of the factors is of course the price of photo paper. The most expensive photo paper is the original one such as Epson, Canon, HP, etc.

Modern photo printers help you to create beautiful photos. However sooner or later your paper runs out and you have to buy a new batch of it. Besides, at the present time with advancement of digital processes a great variety of paper has emerged. Therefore, before purchasing a photo paper one has to determine its type in order to get lasting photos of high-quality.

It is worth mentioning, that photo paper is created for printing of photos and graphic presentations. Thus it differs from the paper intended for usual printers. It consists of several layers, and each layer has a definite function: for example, one layer fixes the dye; the other one protects the photo from external actions, etc. An expansive photo paper of high quality has more layers. Consequently, its compactness is higher and in this case dense photo paper does not let dye ooze out on the other side of a photo. In addition pictures on dense papers are more durable.

Depending on the content of photo paper, it can be indented for inject, sublimation or laser printers. This fact should be taken into account while choosing photo paper for your printer. There is also universal paper which has the average properties; however it does not secure high quality of photos.

One can also single out glossy, semi-gloss and matte paper depending on the coating of paper. The glossy coating of a photo makes it bright by the light. Such photos, which have saturated colors, stand out against the background of the other ones. Moreover the glossy coating secures the picture from moisture, however fingerprint marks are more visible than by the matte ones. As concerns matte photo paper it is able to render even the smallest details of a picture. Physical deformations which appear on the expiry of some time are not very noticeable and besides the colors on such photo paper do not smudge. There are also single-sided and double-sided photo papers. The latter type of paper is used for printing on both sides. At the same time, the coating on each side may be either matte or glossy. Usually such paper is intended for printing of dodgers. There is also a particular photo paper which is used for photos printing and their subsequent thermo transfer on fabrics.

In conclusion it should be noted that photo paper is a very fragile material, therefore you should store it in dry and cool places. Exclude the ingress of moisture and the intensive influence of sun. These factors are also able to influence upon the quality of your photos.