What is the difference between a traditional silver paper print and an ink jet print?
Traditional silver paper prints are printed on you guessed it silver halide paper. Tiny bits of silver are embedded in the paper which then reacts with various chemicals in the darkroom. These prints are made in a wet darkroom using an enlarger and various photographic chemicals and techniques. Ink Jet prints are printed on a printer similar to the printer you may have on your desktop. They are printed on specially designed photo quality paper using four to six colors of ink. In place of the darkroom and chemicals, a computer is used to manipulate the image and then print it. Ink jet prints can be made from scanned negative or positive film and of course from digital files generated by digital cameras. Today, prints made with top quality ink jet papers and inks will last as long or longer than traditional silver print.
