Protect Your Photos

Welcome back to The Expressionist Magazine

Despite what you may think, sometimes the way you display or handle your precious photos can be more harmful than good and the worst part is you may not have even known about it.  It’s a simple mistake, and we’re here to help.

First, before we get to the nitty gritty, we feel that it’s important to point out that a photo can’t be fixed, at least an original.  The best we can do, should damage occur, is to photograph it and reproduce it fixing the damage through photoshop and hours of painstaking precision work.  A good habit to fall into, especially with old photos, is to take a scanned copy of your photo at your local Walgreens, Ritz Camera, or where ever you get your photos developed. Make a copy print of the photo and use that one in the frame or album, just in case damage occurs. That way, you have the original.

Storage: Storage of your photos is very important.  If you use a box, we suggest placing them neatly flat and never stacking them vertically.  Make sure they are nice and even so the corners don’t get bent.  Before actually placing them in a box, get some non- acidic styrafoam packing wrap and line the box with it.  This will allow seperation between the acidic box and your memories.

When storing the photos, NEVER place them around high heat and humidity.  Garages and attics are absolutely off limits.  Place them in a cool dark place, preferably a closet or under your bed.

Displaying: Displaying your photos shows visitors how much you love your family, how proud you are of your little ones and it helps decorate your space.  However, displaying them can be costly especially if you are using originals.  Use these tips when displaying your photos to avoid damage.

1. Never hang or place your photos near a window. When that window is open, the humidity and damaging air comes through the window and touches every part of the surrounding wall closest to the window.  With your photo it is 90% more likely to sustain damage from heat, humidity or water damage.  If you have to hang your photo or place your photos on a window sill or wall, place them as far away as possible, at least 36″ away if you can.  Never place photos you are afraid to lose on a window sill.
2. Never allow direct sunlight to touch your photos.  Sunlight over time will destroy the composition of the picture paper, causing it to become frail and brittle.  In most cases, it will bleach the photo. Sometimes it’s clear that the photo is bleached, and sometimes you can’t tell till you take it out of the frame and see beautiful colored borders around the photo where the frame covered it.  Adjust your frames so that direct sun exposure is minimal or not at all.
3. Never hang photos you are afraid to lose in the bathroom.  The humidity will DESTROY them.  Use duplicates if at all possible and always use a mat board.

Frames are great, don’t get me wrong, but they can be more devastating to your photos and you may not even know it.  Most frames are packed with cardboard to make up for the space.  Cardboard is highly acidic and will destroy your picture in the same fashion as the sun.  We suggest that you get the styrafoam wrap and cut squares till it matches the width of the cardboard.  This will eliminate most of the de-comp from the acidic back.  Even if you put another piece of paper over the cardboard, the acid in the material will seep through the paper and touch the photo.

Also, to avoid the photo from sticking to the glass of the frame due to humidity, we suggest using a mat board, NON-ACIDIC.  Those are best found in Michaels and other fine craft stores.  Many of the mats from Walmart are from China and do carry acid in them.  The mat board gives a safe gap off the glass which also causes damage to the picture, while giving the photo something special.

Handling: There is nothing worse than touching a photo with your fingers, especially high gloss.  Those finger prints are full of oil and dare I say, acid.  Even wiping it off smears the spot away but leaves a larger surface of your acid that did not come up with the wiping.  Always handle your photos with clean hands, and hold them from the sides. To sort through them, grab the least amount of paper on the corner as you can to avoid large surface damage.

When transporting an album in the car, do NOT leave the photo album in the car for more than a half hour, especially in the dead of summer.  The car can get to over 150 degrees in the direct sun which will warp and start the decay process of your photos.  At night, even with the windows rolled up, humidity and dew can get into your car leaving condensation damage.  Take them with you and always carry them in a bag, or box the album came in.

Albums: Albums are fine as long as you get non-acidic archival sleeves.  The cheap sleves are great but will do more harm to your photos over time.

OOPS, I spilled soda on my picture….

1. Immediately grab the picture and tilt it on an angle to get rid of the excess soda or beverage.
2. Take the photo to the kitchen and put a double sheet of paper towels down; one to dry the excess beverage behind the paper, while ensuring no further contamination from stuff stuck to the counter below.  Don’t use a dish towel because it’s too heavy and the paper is now weakened; you can cause a tear in the photo.
3. With a lint free cloth (paper towel) DAB the surface of the photo gently, removing the liquid.  NEVER use a wet cloth, and NEVER ever WIPE; you can wipe the color right off the paper.
4. Once cleaned, let the picture sit in a cool, safe, dry area for 24 hours before attempting to put it away.
5. If there is damage to the photo, like water spots, it’s much easier to get it fixed now so take it to get it scanned and find someone to fix it.

Follow these steps and your photos can last you a long time.