optical brighteners in paper

paddler4

I'm trying to settle on a standard luster/satin paper, and the issue hanging me up is OBAs. I'm curious how others have resolved this. Here's what I think I have figured out so far:

--most luster and satin papers I have looked at are fairly to very high in OBAs. E.g., Moab Lasal and Red River Arctic Polar.
--The less UV, the less OBAs matter. I have tried pairing high- and lower-OBA prints under various conditions, and placing them under UV-resistant glass (which I usually use) reduces but does not eliminate the difference. In daylight, the differences are striking, but who displays prints in broad daylight?
--the less UV, the less OBAs deteriorate over time.

I've been doing some reading to see if I can learn how fast OBAs deteriorate substantially. They have been used in photo papers for more than half a century, so there are old prints to examine. Some of what I have read so far suggests that if papers are not exposed to bright light with a lot of UV, OBAs deteriorate quite slowly, but what I have found so far does not seem conclusive.

I'm also printing with dye-based inks, so I am not looking for century-long durability.

Anyone have advice to offer? Anyone experience what appears to be deterioration of OBAs?

thanks.

arodney

OBA’s should be avoided if possible. Not an easy task. One major issue (other than how difficult they can be to profile and how colors can look different depending on the illuminant) is that the OBA’s can fade at a faster rate than anything else and produce color shifting. How fast? I can’t say although this web site might be a start: http://www.aardenburg-imaging.com/

paddler4

Andrew,

Thanks. I will check out the site at that link.

Dan