Everything you need to know about buying printer photo paper

Lots of people use the overpriced photo paper sold by their photo printer manufacturer but you can get even better printer photo paper and save money too!

Photo paper is printer paper especially designed for photo printing and photo printers. Use your computer printer for photo printing by downloading images or using your digital camera. Since you don't need to have photo film developed and printed, digital photo printing saves you time and money and is becoming very popular. With digital images, you can also 'edit' or change the appearance of digital photographs.

1. All photo paper for inkjet printers is not created equal.

Many have tried cheap printer paper for printing their photos, and have found that an inkjet photo printer without the right photo paper is not a photo printer. This leads many people to use the over-priced printer manufacturer photo papers (Canon photo paper pro, Epson photo paper, HP photo paper, or Lexmark photo paper). Some also use photo paper designed by mainstream photography companies, like Kodak photo paper or Illford photo paper.

2. It is not necessary to pay a premium for great inkjet photo paper if you understand the technology.

Inkjet paper is made to absorb ink without letting it "bleed" into the other colors on the page. There are two primary technologies used to give inkjet paper this quality:

• Clay polymer-based coatings that absorb and hold the ink. Clay polymer photo paper is best for matte photo printer papers, but tends to make glossy photo paper appear dull.
• Micro-pore photo printer paper. The design is similar to the pores in human skin. It's a surface is made up of a polymer layer filled with microscopic holes (pores) over a relatively standard paper weave. This type of photo paper is great for glossy, satin and luster photo printing. The technology is a little more expensive, but creates superior results and can be purchased for less than the high end versions of Cannon photo paper, Epson photo paper, or HP photo paper.
• thINK4inc.com's selection of photo paper and inkjet paper includes both clay and micro-pore technologies. All of thINK4inc's photo papers are a better value than comparable quality papers from the "brand names". We buy our paper by the roll (6 ft diameter) and have it cut to our specifications. Although our printer paper is manufactured by a recognizable company, we buy it without the brand licensing and pass the savings on to our clients.

3. When shopping for glossy photo paper and low luster (satin) photo paper, look for these features:

• thINK4inc.com premium 68# glossy photo paper, 68# low luster (satin) photo paper, and 50# glossy photo paper are all made using micro-pore technology.
• They are all instant dry and waterproof once cured (in 15 minutes).
• These are top of the line photo papers with a 75 year lightfast rating on the 68# inkjet paper and a 15 year rating for the 50# inkjet paper.

Glossy and satin photo paper is available in a wide range of sizes, including

• 4x6 photo paper
• 5x7 photo paper
• letter size
• 11x17 (tabloid size) photo paper
• 13x19 (super B size) photo paper
• 17x22 photo paper

Glossy and satin photo paper is also available as 33 foot rolls in widths of 4 inches, 8.5 inches and 13 inches.

Look for glossy laser printer paper and laser photo paper in the future as we work to locate the best product at the best price for you!

4. When shopping for matte photo paper, look for these features:

• thINK4inc.com premium matte photo papers are clay-based and come in 50#, 46# double sided, 32# double sided, and 27# weights.
• All are instant dry and waterproof except for the 32# double sided photo paper, which is instant dry, but not waterproof.
• The 50# is a bright white photo paper that is artist quality, UV stabilized, and acid free.
• The 46# is great for art projects or any full color card stock printing.
• The 32# double sided photo paper makes great tri-fold brochures at true photo quality, and the 27# is a great all around economy photo paper.

Our inkjet photo paper is some of the best available, and at our every day discounted prices you can't afford not to try it ! Our glossy photo paper is waterproof 30 minutes after printing, along with most of our matte photo paper. And for high-quality photo paper at an every day great price, try our economy 27# matte photo paper for as little as $0.08 a sheet!

(Note from Trevor the webmaster: So how cool are those package designs? Pretty slick, huh? I'm not even sure who did those designs. I bet it was the new designer/photographer guy with the really nice motorcycle. The package design has taken a big step up around here since the new designer/photographer guy with the really nice motorcycle showed up. The leopard looks great on the web, but the Tibetan mural just doesn't look like it does when you are looking at it in your hands. It's an incredible image.)

thINK4inc.com also stocks specialty photo printer papers including photo transfer paper, watercolor photo paper and inkjet transparency film.

Get Creative! Transfer any image you can print on your inkjet printer—including photos—to a t-shirt with our t-shirt transfer paper. Also available is our specially designed quick drying Transparency film.

Oh yeah, and we can sell you bulk photo paper and bulk specialty printer paper.

We can sell you miles of the stuff on rolls. We can ship you a ton or two of cut paper on pallets. We're buying, in many cases, from the same manufacturers that produce paper for name-brand manufacturers so you are buying the same product at a huge savings! Just contact us and we'll get you set. See, another big difference between us and our competitors, is that most of our competitors are all re-selling the same products from the same sources. We do our own sourcing, and we contract with people all over the world to bring you the best product for the best price. It's all due to Jeff Ian our founder and chief technologist. Jeff, believe it or not, was one of the pioneers of the ink refill market and he started thINK4inc.com from home about...oh, 15 years ago. He's kind of a mad scientist, pretty obsessed with ermerging trends in the ink and toner industry. That's why we can say with utter confidence that this outfit knows what it's talking about in terms of the technology and the performance of the products we sell. Did I ever tell you about the in-house test facillity?