New Ways to Restore and Protect Your Precious Photographs
Few possessions mean as much to us as our family photos. Whenever we see news coverage of a disas¬ter on TV where people have lost their homes, their furniture and their mementos, the things that they say they regret losing most are their photographs.
Natural disasters aren’t the only things that can destroy a photo collection. The passage of time, poor storage conditions, mishandling and neglect take their toll. For many of our photos, especially older shots, the negatives don’t exist, so each photo is very precious.
Good news: Personal computers, affordable “flatbed” scanners and digital-imaging technology—as well as archival storage technology—have made preserving and restoring photos easier than ever. With a small investment of time and money, you can halt the deterioration of old photos, reverse the damage and resurrect even the mostly badly injured pictures.
CAUSES OF PHOTO DAMAGE
Photographs deteriorate over time due to heat, humidity (high humidity encourages mold growth) and inherent long-term chemical reactions.
What you may not know: Those inkjet prints that many of us have been making at home look good right now, but they will fade, too—maybe faster than traditional photo prints did.
What to do: Use pigmented inks if your printer accepts them (as opposed to dye-based inks) because they fade at a significantly slower rate. To find what inks are compatible with your printer, contact the manufacturer. It’s also best to use the photo-quality paper recommended by your printer’s manufacturer.
Photos are also damaged due to storage in non-archival albums or boxes, because acids in the storage materials react chemically with the photos to speed fading and color shifting. There’s also plain old physical damage—pictures get torn and prints get wet.
STOP THE DAMAGE
To protect photos…
• Keep framed photographs out of direct sunlight and away from bright windows. Reduce light damage by moving framed photos to darker parts of rooms. Better: Keep heirloom orig¬inals in drawers and bring them out only for family gatherings.
• Frame prints with UV-filtering glass. Ultraviolet light is the real culprit with light fading, so have important photos framed with UV-absorbing glass. Most good-quality frames come with this kind of glass—check the packaging.
Smart trick: Duplicate heirloom photos and frame them while storing the originals away from light.
• Store photos in acid-free archival albums. Cardboard boxes and cheaper photo albums release harmful chemicals. You can buy archival-quality storage products at camera shops. Be sure to specify “archival” or “acid-free.” On-line sources of quality archival storage products include Light Impressions (www.lightimpressionsdirect.com) and University Products (www.archivalsuppliers.com).
• Avoid dampness. Store photos in cool, dark and dry locations. The National Archives recommends optimum storage temperatures around 60°F to 70°F with a relative humidity of 40% to 50%. In a typical home, these conditions are most likely to be found in an interior closet on the main floor. The National Archives (www.archives.gov/preservation/family-archives) site offers lots more preservation advice.
RESTORING MEMORIES
Quality photo restoration (actually, a clear new print—your old photo is not altered) used to be time-consuming and expensive. Today, even severe damage can be whisked away and missing bits replaced in a matter of minutes—and you may be able to do some of this restoration yourself.
What you’ll need: A home computer, flatbed scanner and an image-editing software program. The restoration process consists of three basic steps…
1. Scanning the original on a flatbed scanner to create a digital file of the image.
2. Correcting faded or damaged photos using image-editing software.
3. Printing the final images to whatever sizes you specify, and resaving/recopying the restored digital version for storage.
Adobe Photoshop Elements (www.adobe.com, about $80 to $100 at many stores) is the consumer version of the software program used by most pros, and can make nearly all of the same types of corrections to photos that labs can make. To learn how to use it: Check adult-education programs in your area for introductory classes in Photoshop Elements.
Professional restoration: Most local camera shops and minilabs provide reliable restoration services, and you’ll find many similar mail-order services on-line. Portrait studios often offer this service, too, and skills there are generally higher than at the minilabs—as are fees. Discount and chain drugstores often offer restoration services (they farm the work out to a central lab), but I wouldn’t hand off a family heirloom to a teenager behind the counter at my local drugstore.
Always ask for the restored images to be burned onto a compact disc (typically $5 to $10 extra). This gives you a digital backup that you can store in a safe-deposit box or at a family member’s home. Having an entire album copied? Ask about having a slide show created on a DVD disc. Many labs offer custom slide-show services that include a music track and visual effects, such as fades, wipes and dissolves similar to those used in TV documentaries.
Cost of professional restoration depends largely on the condition of your original photo and is often based on an hourly rate…
•Basic restoration. Minor dust and scratch removal, fixing minor photo blemishes on the subjects’ faces (requires more skill than retouching other areas, such as clothing) and fixing minor mold spotting, $10 to $25.
•Medium restoration. More extensive dust removal and facial blemishes, as well as large faded areas and larger areas of mold or discoloring restored/re-created, $30 to $50.
•Extensive restoration. Large areas of face or body missing, significant areas of background missing or damaged, severe staining or major mold or water damage, $40 to $100 and up.
Restoring images puts you in touch with your family history—and copies make great gifts for all generations in your family.
Jeff Wignall is a professional photographer and writer based in Stratford, Connecticut, and author of The Joy of Digital Photography (Lark Books). His newest book, Exposure Photo Workshop (Wiley) is due out in February 2008. Mr. Wignall’s photos appear regularly in books, magazines and ads, as well as on CD album covers.
(Article originally published October 1, 2007)
Reprinted with the permission of:
Boardroom Inc. and Bottom Line Publications, Inc.
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