EPSS042327 - Epson Hot Press Bright Fine Art Paper

This is a superb paper for both color and monochrome inkjet printing, but because I generally prefer a lustre or glossy surface for my color work, I will discuss this paper only in connection with black & white printing, for which Hot Press Bright has become my "go to" paper. Hot press bright has an extremely smooth, bright white matte surface exhibiting very rich, deep blacks, excellent sharpness, and a long, smooth tonal scale. Unlike other matte papers I have tried I find that Hot Press Bright exhibits minimum curl and loads relatively easily into the rear manual paper feed with a minimum of jamming. The paper's weight is substantial without being overly heavy. I find that Hot Press Bright is a perfect fit for my personal photography which primarily consists of landscapes, interiors and graphics with an emphasis on line, form, and spatial relationships. Photographers whose work focuses on people may prefer a slightly warmer paper such as Hot Press Natural. Because inkjet print quality is so closely tied to the printer, profile, ink, and paper combination in use, as well as the accuracy of monitor calibration, I can only vouch for my own system setup which consists of a Mac Pro running Snow Leopard, an Eizo Monitor utilizing the manufacturer's calibration software in conjunction with a Spyder2 Colorimeter, an Epson Stylus Pro 3880 printer utilizing Epson Ultrachrome K3 inkset, and Epson's built in Advanced Black & White print mode. In short I don't think you can go wrong with this very excellent paper from Epson.

This paper is really exquisite--beautiful color and a velvety finish. I do a lot of still lifes and portraits and both come out exceptionally well. My only complaint is that the surface is very delicate. Prints need to cure for a day before you handle them. I've ignored this in the past and had problems in that any speck of dirt or dust will adhere itself to the surface. The biggest problem though is that even after the prints are fully dry, they scratch very easily. Even just stacked in a box, they will scratch. The info that comes with the paper says prints should be stored with protective paper in between each one. I don't have that much spare paper sitting around, so I don't do that. I just try to be very careful. For my work, the quality of the prints makes this hassle worth it. I don't think this paper would work well for high volume production situations.

This paper has great blacks, excellent tonality and faithfulness to the original image. Has great hand feel or can be framed to excellent result.The paper is dusty and needs to be carefull wiped before printing.

Beautiful prints

Not impressed! There is no pop!

I am a watercolorist and mapmaker who sells prints of my work online, and this paper is excellent; I use it with an Epson R2000 and there have been times when the prints looked as good as the originals. It really captures vivid colors beautifully. Granted, it takes a lot of ink and fiddling to make them look that good, so the prints end up costing quite a bit to make, but I've had excellent feedback from customers.

No problems with Hot Press Bright. It is a cotton fiber sheet that I use almost exclusively for my photographic prints. The problem was with the dealer who substituted a box of hot press natural into my order for 3 boxes of Hot Press Bright. The color difference is slight but nevertheless unacceptable. It was not worth my time to go through the hassle of shipping the one box back so I went ahead and used the unwanted paper for proofing. I wish that whoever filled the order had bothered to read the label on the box.

I have an Epson P 400 and do my own prints from my original artwork (watercolors) this paper gets all the detail and really the prints look very much like the originals. Beware of the challenge of getting the values adjusted. I use photoshop. One needs to go lighter with image to get the brightness correct with the print. Obviously one must do some test runs. I have tried several finishes. I feel this is the best for what I am doing.