Hahnemuehle B&W problem

[Aaron Basus]

Dear All,

SOS on a severe Hahnemuehle B&W printing problem.

Having some B&W photos (with very reach solid black areas) printed by a local Lab successively on William Turner, Photo Rag, German Etching and Baryta, I ended up with loosing more than half of the prints due to the appearance of white spots (extremely visible and totally unacceptable on the solid black areas) either because of some minute dust particles falling and sticking on the paper surface, or because of ink being detached from the prints.

I understand that these papers have a warning on their surface being susceptible to abrasion. But does that really means that the susceptibility is up to the point of somebody not being able even to lightly touch the printed surface?

Whatever the case, is there is a way out there for the images to be stabilized and/or covered by a thin neutral coating -the Lab had all my prints sprayed by a substance for UV protection- so that a subtle handling of the prints would be allowed?

Best Regards from Thessaloniki, Greece

Aaron Basus

[agape01]

First for Hahnaemuhle paper, always print the paper yourself and do not rely on a lab to do it for you.

Now, the central thing is to make sure that the print settings are precisely the same settings found on hahnaemuhle's website.

To prevent all the spots and stuff like that, the printer must print slowly and it does take between 5 to 10 mins to finish a print.

[Ansel]

This might be flaking of the coating. Try dusting the surface of the paper with a soft brush or cloth prior to printing. This should remove the loose powdery flakes and your print may be better.

[Aaron Basus]

Dear agape01 and Ansel,

My apologies for the late reply, due to an absence from my base.

Thanks a lot for your suggestions.

Aaron Basus