Effect of paper on printed photo

[klwinding]

I'm a beginner with a point and shoot who's just getting into the details. I'd like to get a printer so I can start experimenting a little. I'd like to know how paper - texture, thickness, etc. - effects the image. What's a good resource for more information on printing photos?

[morts]

Originally Posted by klwinding

I'm a beginner with a point and shoot who's just getting into the details. I'd like to get a printer so I can start experimenting a little. I'd like to know how paper - texture, thickness, etc. - effects the image. What's a good resource for more information on printing photos?

Generally, if you want to print photos, you should use photo paper. Matt or gloss - up to you. The denser the paper, the less the ink will "soak" into it and distort the colour, I find.

Also, your printer drivers (if you didn't buy it in the stone age) should have a "paper type" setting - if you set it to "Ultra Heavy Gloss" and load it with 80gsm generic office paper you'll find the results somewhat scary as the setting dictates how the device applies the ink to the paper...

[Japaslavian]

Paper for photography doesn't generally make a big difference because you're mostly using photo paper. The differences you will see in color density will be partly from paper, but also from the inks and the quality of the printer you're using.
Different papers will absorb ink more, depending on the weight of the paper, and the coating (or lack of a coating), but since you're usually using bright white, you won't notice huge differences. Mostly just the shine of gloss versus the flatness of matte.
I'm personally a matte person, but it really doesn't make a huge difference unless you're really picky.
If you start using other types of paper like cottons, linens, recycled, textured, etc you will start to see differences because the inks won't show completely true and will take on the properties of the paper.

Just some stuff to think about.