Red River Paper sent a batch of their new Polar Pearl Metallic inkjet paper for testing, which I did last Thursday and over the weekend, and we’re ready to review this new paper option for you guys.

One thing to note; I’ve never really been a fan of glossy papers.  This is a personal taste issue.  Some people like glossy, some like photo rag, and some like linens, etc.  I normally print on cotton rag and there’s a texture and warmth to it that I love for my fine art prints but I’ve been expanding my printing paper horizons and keeping my mind, and tastes, open to change.

How does the new Polar Pearl Metallic paper look?

Before we begin our review I want you to also take note of how I review inkjet papers.  In testing inkjet paper for myself, as well as for you awesome readers, I often think about the application purposes and whether or not this paper would be a good addition to my printing needs.  This paper was tested with an Epson Stylus Photo R2880 Inkjet Printer.

I do this as a user.  There isn’t much “science” behind my methodology because I strongly feel that paper choices are mostly a matter of taste, compatibility, longevity, and price.

As previously stated, I’m not really a fan of traditional glossy prints.  This paper is not traditional.  That’s a good thing.

It’s hard to explain how these photos look on this paper.  I specifically chose images that I had copies of in other paper types to “eyeball” the differences (and one with lot’s of reds and oranges to test the warm color gamut).  There’s a pop and vibrancy that the metallic paper is able to represent.  It’s silky and watery.  Like any other glossy paper you get sharper images as the lines don’t get visually distorted by the texture of the paper.

Warm images, in my tests, seemed to work very well as the paper does have a warm or gold tint to it.  Skin, however, had an iridescent feel to it that probably won’t work for every purpose and wasn’t to my particular tastes.  One of the samples provided by Red River Paper was of a bridal couple with seemingly “strobist” style lighting which did look very pleasing so portraits would need to be further explored.

A very interesting note came from a photograph that had a “holga” type treatment done to it.  The colors are a bit muted and muddy (by design) and the image is blurry (lensbaby) and I initially thought that this image wouldn’t translate on the paper to my liking.  I was wrong.  Very wrong.  The extra sharpness from the metallic paper played very well with the “blurriness” which seemed to create an added interest that kept my eyes lingering upon the image longer.  The muted tones took on a new life that the added contrast and pop seemed to juxtapose.  This photograph has an “old” look on it’s own, by design, and this metallic paper seems to force it into a modern and newer era while playing with the idea of timelessness.  This forced playfulness is something that I think I’ll be looking into very closely as I experiment with the remaining papers.  Perhaps a new direction in my fine art printing for these types of images?

Red River Paper sent a few “sample” images with the sample pack.  They, of course, showed off the wide color gamut and interesting tones that can be reproduced with this paper and help give you an idea of the kind of images that may work well.  There was one very interesting omission in these sample images; there were no sample black and white photographs!

Of course that meant I had to print off some black and white photos to see how they looked on the metallic photo inkjet paper.  I chose two of my newest images one black and white, the other is actually close to black and white but has some gold and green tints that naturally occurred from the angle of the sun and the silhouetting of the tree branches.

I was blown away.  I don’t say this lightly.  I was blown away.  The contrast in the print with the smooth and silky transitions of tone add such a vibrant depth to the photographs that felt like they came straight out of a dark room.

There’s a meta kinda feel to printing inkjet metallic prints from black and white digital images.  The contrast really pops, similar to how it does on your computer monitor, and there’s a mental link I can’t really break between “silver gelatin” and “metallic photo paper”.  Simply put, the Polar Pearl Metallic paper reminds me of silver gelatin.

I find the omission of black and white samples interesting and something that Red River Paper may want to look into.

Here are the specs for this metallic inkjet paper:

Polar Pearl Metallic

• Description – The new Polar Pearl Metallic is a truly unique inkjet paper that closely matches the look of photo lab metallic prints. Polar Pearl Metallic features the same aspects as its lab equivalent – a high gloss finish and a pearlescent base stock that yields an elegant iridescence in your images.

• Specs
  • Paper: Photobase base stock
  • Paper Weight: 66lb 255gsm
  • Thickness: 10.4mil
  • Coating: Microporous inkjet
  • Color: Pleasing warm white
  • Printable: One side only – no printing on back

• Compatibility
  • Epson Photo (dye inks)
  • Epson UltraChrome (pigment)
  • Epson DuraBrite Ultra (pigment)
  • Canon
  • Canon Lucia (pigment)
  • HP
  • Lexmark
  • Kodak

  *Card sizes under 8.5×11 are not compatible with Epson wide format printers

• Suggested Uses
  • High quality photo prints
  • Snapshots
  • Photo books
  • Portfolios

Our final thoughts

I really enjoy this metallic inkjet paper for it’s interesting and particular look.  I was very pleased with almost all of the photographs I printed and very much fell in love with the black and whites we were able to produce.

Not every photograph is going to translate well on this paper but that’s almost always the case with every paper.  When you do get those images that work, though, they work fantastically.   Experimentation is a must and ensuring you use the printer profiles and settings provided by Red River Paper will put you on the right path.

As Red River Paper is a great company that prices their papers very competitively it’s virtually impossible not to recommend that you try out any of their papers for your printing needs.

I will definitely be adding this paper to my arsenal.

We’re giving the Polar Pearl Metallic Paper from Red River Paper a rating of

5 out of 5!