What is FineArt paper?

Back then, when I want­ed to enlarge my first pho­tos, I went to the copy store. Black and white plot­ters were my tools, and I was fas­ci­nat­ed by how my motifs sud­den­ly lay before me in A0 for­mat — sim­ple, rich in con­trast, but always a lit­tle rough and technical.

Many years lat­er, I dis­cov­ered Fin­eArt paper. It was as if a new world had opened up. The col­ors, the depth, the soft tran­si­tions and the tac­tile tex­ture — every­thing seemed alive, almost tan­gi­ble. Sud­den­ly my pic­tures were no longer just prints, but works of art. The vari­ety of sur­faces, whether matt or glossy, and the lux­u­ri­ous feel made my work shine in a new light.

But that was not all. The longevi­ty, the acid-free mate­ri­als and the idea that these prints would lose none of their radi­ance over decades con­vinced me once and for all. Fin­eArt was­n’t just paper — it was a promise to pre­serve my visions in their most beau­ti­ful form.

I rec­om­mend every pho­tog­ra­ph­er to give it a try.

But remem­ber, on a reg­u­lar mon­i­tor that works well for weav­ing, prints may become too dark. Check your data on a cal­i­brat­ed mon­i­tor before you buy, oth­er­wise you will burn mon­ey. Believe me, before I had this infor­ma­tion, I burned a lot of money.

I would like to share my expe­ri­ences with the dif­fer­ent features.

My favorite Fin­eArt paper at the moment is Hah­nemüh­le Fin­eArt Pearl.

At the begin­ning I had my prob­lems with glossy paper, because I asso­ci­at­ed gloss with cheap. 

I first had to under­stand the advan­tages, pic­tures with high con­trast, high black con­tent, the dark areas have more pow­er. A star­ry sky, for exam­ple, worked because the black has depth and the stars shine through the gloss. A lantern at night also works bet­ter than on a matt material. 

My all-time favorite Fin­eArt paper is Hah­nemüh­le Pho­to Rag. This is where my jour­ney began.

The matt sur­face in com­bi­na­tion with col­or den­si­ty and sharp­ness, a light card­board tex­ture make this Fin­eArt paper the ide­al mate­r­i­al for beginners. 

I first had to learn that an ink print is much sharp­er com­pared to a pho­to paper. The device is called a Faden­zäh­ler and it is excit­ing to see the dif­fer­ence between the two paper tech­niques with a mag­ni­fy­ing glass.

Marco van Oel Portraitfotografie Eventfotografie in Berlin Exhibition Ausstellungsfotografie Ausstellungsdokumentation Portraitfotograf Design Photo Editor Magazine Design School Color Grading Color Mastering Concepts
Marco van Oel FineArt Papier
Marco van Oel Portraitfotograf Portraitfotografie Eventfotografie in Berlin Portraitfotograf Design Photo Editor Magazine Design School Color Grading Color Mastering Concepts
Marco van Oel Portraitfotografie Eventfotografie in Berlin Exhibition Ausstellungsfotografie Ausstellungsdokumentation Portraitfotograf Design Photo Editor Magazine Design School Color Grading Color Mastering Concepts
Marco van Oel
Fine Art Papier
Marco van Oel Portraitfotografie Eventfotografie in Berlin Exhibition Ausstellungsfotografie Ausstellungsdokumentation Portraitfotograf
Marco van Oel Portraitfotografie Eventfotografie in Berlin Exhibition Ausstellungsfotografie Ausstellungsdokumentation Portraitfotograf Design Photo Editor Magazine Design School Color Grading Color Mastering Concepts
Marco van Oel Portraitfotografie Eventfotografie in Berlin Exhibition Ausstellungsfotografie Ausstellungsdokumentation Portraitfotograf