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How to Choose a Paper Color
by Tim Campbell, editor —
I
f you've ever visited a paper store, you've noticed that there are dozens of shades of white paper. Some white paper has a soft creme coloring while others are a soft gray, soft blue or even a soft pink. Viewed separately, these papers each appear to be white. This gives you just a glimpse of the paper color choices available to you.

Things to consider
If you're going to be printing any full-color photos, then white paper is definitely the way to go. Remember, when you print on a colored stock, what was white in a photograph, will now be the color of the stock. This can significantly change the way a photo looks. A photo of a person, landscape or plate of food, can appear radically different when printed on a colored stock. Our eyes aren't really accustomed to this color shift and it may be a distasteful effect.

a photo printed on "white"
a photo printed on light blue

A neat trick
A compromise to using colored stock might be to cover most of the page with a light tint of a color. This way, you can have the flexibility of using a white background for photos as well as having the benefit of appearing to have a colored paper stock. It's the best of both worlds.

Planning ahead
If you're considering a colored stock, you should plan it from the beginning of the project. Make sure that you take this important factor into consideration when designing your piece. If the paper stock color is chosen at the end of a project, you may be in for some unpleasant surprises when it's printed.

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