How to Print Photos on Watercolor Paper

1. Determine the best weight of paper for your printer. Research the best paper weight for use in your particular printer, because if the paper is too thick or heavy it may jam up or not feed through the printer at all. Ink jet papers are usually measured in grams per square meter (gsm) and a medium-weighted water color ink jet paper will be about 250 gsm. Check your printer's capabilities before feeding any heavy-type paper through.
2. Buy a sample pack of watercolor ink jet papers to determine the best textures and coatings for your prints. There are a variety of different types of coated and textured papers that will drastically change the look of the prints. Coated watercolor paper will absorb the prints better and highly-textured paper will make photographs of people look lumpy or abnormal. Buying a sample pack of paper will prevent you from wasting a bunch of money on paper that is unusable. Sometimes the sample packs will come with coupons or discounts for future purchases to reduce the initial cost.
3. Print a test page on a piece of paper from your sample pack. Printers often come with default color-testing options that you can use on different sheets of paper with different quality settings to find the best fit for your photograph. You can find custom printer profiles on the manufacturer's Web site to get the best color test print page possible before beginning your prints.
4. Determine the best paper coating for your prints. Ink jet watercolor papers can be bought with coatings already on them that will help extend the life of the print and prevent the colors from fading or changing. There are also print shield sprays that can be bought to coat the paper before printing begins.
5. Brush your paper with a drafting brush before you begin printing. Some matte or watercolor papers are more susceptible to flaking than others, so when the final print is done, darker spots may flake off to the bare color of the paper. This can be problematic if your photos will end up stacked on top of each other or if they will come into contact with other surfaces often. Finding which papers are more prone to flaking will take some trial and error.