Fine Art Papers

OffTopic

I do have to thank SmugMug for finally giving us some fine art paper options since I'm one of the people who has been asking for years. I must admit that I'm kinda bummed that they are only available through EZ Prints, which is the lab for your consumer level accounts. I was really hoping for fine art papers through Bay Labs (or even WHCC), and I'm concerned that if you see little demand for these papers from people who are using EZ Prints, it will be said that there isn't enough demand to offer them through Bay for the pros (who probably comprise the majority of people who want better papers). I don't want to use EZ Prints because over the years I've read of many color consistency issues whereas I've never been disappointed by Bay Labs, a true pro lab.

Can anyone at SmugMug let us know if there is anything in the works with Bay Photo for fine art papers, maybe even just one photo rag? I'm cautiously optimistic that since they are now offered through EZ Prints it may mean that you are working on it with Bay.

leftquark

Fine Art Papers from Bay Photo are also in the works.

I don't have an estimated launch date but demand from the EZP papers won't influence the additional paper types from Bay Photo.

Shinrya

For Bay Photo, the only option at the moment is the Giclée Watercolor. This is in-fact a 310g Archival Fine Art Paper called "Elegance Velvet Watercolor" by the brand Breathing Color.

So for Bay users, at least we do have that one option, although it would be nice to be able to choose from more like you can when ordering though BayROES (which ironically is what I find myself doing more and more now over sending people through Smugmug ordering).
Might be a bit of confusion I think for specific customers as the term "Giclée Watercolor" doesn't really tell you straight away it's an actual archival fine art paper, and the word "watercolor" for me at least conjures up the thought that these types of prints are somehow softer/painterly compared to traditional inkjet prints.

OffTopic

Thanks leftquark, I'm happy knowing that it is in the works.

Shinrya, I too have been ordering directly through Bay ROES to get the paper I want, makes it hard to continue to justify the cost of a Business level account because I'm really only using my site for SEO purposes and handling licensing and prints on my own, or occasionally for a commercial client to download files when they don't insist on using dropbox. Thanks for letting me know that the Giclee Watercolor paper is actually Breathing Color's Elegance Velvet. The word giclee has such a cheesy/cheap connotation I'm not sure I'd want to offer it (I never even bothered to look closely at it, I see that in Add Products it is just listed as "Giclee" under paper prints), but maybe I'll order a few prints and see how they look. And I agree about the word "watercolor" as well.

Any consideration to changing the name of it to something more marketable leftquark? Giclee is such an 90s term, everyone knows it means inkjet now.

leftquark

I'll talk to the team about changing the name, assuming most of our customers think of it as something else.

OffTopic

leftquark

Shinrya

you too leftquark.