Photographs

[ottomaton]

First I wanted to say thanks to those of you who responded to my last post (about leather) in this forum. It was very helpful.

Regarding photographs, I have absolutely no idea how to properly care for them other than the obvious general preservation tips (i.e. keep away from sunlight). I don't even know where to begin looking. So, I have a few questions that I'd thought I'd ask. All of them concern WWII-era photos, no daguerreotypes or anything obscure, on normal glossy photo paper.

1. Several photos that I have keep wanting to curl up along 1 axis. I thought of placing them between the pages of a heavy book at the bottom of a pile, but I'm not sure this won't damage the photo some other way. Any suggestions?
   
   
2. Is it possible to clean the surface of a photo in a non-distructive way? How should this be done?
   
   
3. What are the best methods for organising and keeping photos that will preserve them, but also allow for quick and safe access for viewing?
   
   
4. How about humidity. Do photos and the involved chemicals dry out? Do they suffer under extreme humidity? Any general info along these lines would help.
   
   

Thanks.

[Ken1967]

Hi there! I can't answer all your questions, but storing them is pretty easy (I think). I bought several really nice three ring leather binders for the covers. The photographs I store in acid free sleeves. Most of them I bought at Staples. They have several sizes that support postcards, small format pictures (most German snapshots) and full size sleeves for PK photos. When I feel like looking at pictures, I simply pull out the album and flip through the pages. I never have to touch the photos again.

Light and humidity are the enemy for any collectable item. I have a dehumidifier for my collection and keep the albums on a bookcase away from any direct light.

Hope this helps!
Ken

[Marc Garlasco]

Mine are in a museum black-out binder with acid free mylar sheets. I also scan every photo before they go inside, and I place a copy of the scan on a removeable hard drive for backup.
Marc

[MikeB]

Photographs...

Ottoman-
Here is a great website provided from the Northeast Conservation Document Center that covers the proper care and storing of Photographs. These guys seem to really know their stuff and I have used their recommendations in the past. www.nedcc.org/leaflets/phocar.htm Mike

[ChrisM.]

Marc-
where would you get a museum black-out binder? Can you get this type of thing at Michaels or anywhere locally?

[MikeB]

Photographs...

Hi Chris-
I'm not sure if Michael's has them but you can find them on the Digital Lucida website. Their site is www.digital-lucida.com.au/products/photo.html. Another site, The American Museum of Photography has a great website that covers conservation/preservation tips as well as products for sale too. Mike

[ChrisM.]

That's great information-Thanks Mike!!!!

[Marc Garlasco]

I get mine here:
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...arch&Q=&ci=922

[Strider]

Conservation Resourses is also a great company for archival storage materials. They have branches in both the UK and USA:

http://www.conservationresources.com/

But I guess the most important advice about preserving photographs is to make good quality copies of them. All photographs will eventually fade, how fast depends on how well they were created in the first place, if they were "fixed" for long enough and then were properly washed. And of course how well they are stored will affect their life.

Personally for important black and white photographs I tend to scan them with a good quality scanner at 1200 ppi in greyscale (16 bit if you really want to be anal) and then make three back-ups (one on a hard drive and two others on decent quality gold CDs/DVDs). (The scanner should have an opitical resolution of at least 1200 x 1200 ppi and a high density range).

The same applies for any paper item.

Lee
www.psywar.org

[Mat Holloway]

so eventually we will all have white pieces of paper!!!1
Any idea on how long this will be if they are stored correctly?

[MikeB]

Photographs...

Great advise Lee on the production of digital images for photographs. As you say, virtually all of our photographic images will fade away eventually. Making back up copies is a great idea, and I concure on your scanner settings. I know alot of guys who do the same thing for their autographs, and then actually frame the copy. I can understand the logic, but it seems rather hollow to admire a "fake" autograph when one has gone to so much trouble to acquire the real thing! As for Mat's question on how long photos will last, I don't know the exact period of time it will take the image to go blank. I will have to do some digging.... I just located this site www.wilhelm-research.com They have some detailed articles there on how long digital as well as standard images can expect to last. There is also an article listed on preserving images indefinetely through cold temperature techniques. Very interesting.... Mike

[ChrisM.]

another idea

Check these out-I think they are a good idea for photos-

http://www.bcwsupplies.com/cat-Delux...d+Displays.htm

[Strider]

so eventually we will all have white pieces of paper!!!1
Any idea on how long this will be if they are stored correctly?

Difficult question to answer as it is very much dependent on how well the photograph was developed and how it has been stored.

Back in the 1980's when I studied such things, the estimates were for a colour photograph processed automatically at "Snappy Snaps Ltd" - 30 years, a properly developed Black and White photo kept out of sunlight - 100+ years.

A photograph that has been sepia toned should last forever, in theory.

The problem is very often the photograph wasn't developed properly in the first place and can start noticably fading and yellowing in a matter of weeks or months.

I have a box full of B&W TV photographs dating from the late 1980's, early 1990's that I printed and were processed in an automated machine. All are starting to yellow and they haven't seen daylight hadly at all.

Lee
www.psywar.org

[Lucky Duck]

Scanning a photo isn't really going to help preserve a scanned image unless its backed up regularly and copied onto new discs every few years. Prefereably scanned photos should be copied and mailed around among friends so that its recorded on other people's hard drives to increase the survivability odds.

http://www.clir.org/PUBS/reports/pub121/sec4.html

But the average WW2 vintage photo properly stored out of sunlight will looooong outlast an average CD, or hard drive. None of the photos in my collection have faded noticably in the 20+ years I've had them, this includes the few framed ones that hang on my wall (no direct sunlight on them!)

I can't count how many failed computers, infected disks & dead hard drives I've tossed out in that time!

Ray

[Strider]

Scanning a photo isn't really going to help preserve a scanned image unless its backed up regularly and copied onto new discs every few years. Prefereably scanned photos should be copied and mailed around among friends so that its recorded on other people's hard drives to increase the survivability odds.

http://www.clir.org/PUBS/reports/pub121/sec4.html

But the average WW2 vintage photo properly stored out of sunlight will looooong outlast an average CD, or hard drive. None of the photos in my collection have faded noticably in the 20+ years I've had them, this includes the few framed ones that hang on my wall (no direct sunlight on them!)

I can't count how many failed computers, infected disks & dead hard drives I've tossed out in that time!

Ray

Good point about possible data loss. Also disc formats become obsolete very quickly. But the point about having the image in data format is that it can be copied over and over again without degrading the quality and new hard copies can be printed at anytime. The purpose is to preserve a photographic image before it degrades anymore. Sure some images may last 100 years or more but many won't plus can get lost in fires, flood, theft, etc.

One useful way to help prevent losing a digital image is to store a copy on a web server as well, which is generally backed-up every day. My web server has Gigabytes of storage much of which I use for storing important files rather than just hosting my website.

Don't rely on CDs for more than a few years and have multiple copies in different physical locations. Gold CDs last much longer than the cheapo types. I think the issues with disk-rot/oxidisation have been sorted out now too.

Lee
www.psywar.org