Proper Care For Photographic Negatives
- Date: 2009-04-21 - Word Count: 515
Share This!
The best way to preserve your older photographs is to carefully preserve the negatives. Negatives fade much more slowly than printed pictures, but they are a bit fragile if not cared for carefully. To keep your negatives free from dust and scratches, consider these steps.
Use Archival Sleeves
You can purchase plastic sleeves for your negatives to be stored in. these are different than the sleeves the film developer may have put on your negatives. They are typically on a paper-sized sheet with holes for a binder, so you can easily store your negatives in an organized manner. Be sure to use an acid-free product to store your negatives, because acid that is sometimes found in plastic can damage your negatives.
Why are sleeves so important? Archival sleeves keep dust off of your negatives. Even small pieces of dust can cause permanent scratches on a negative that will ruin any future reprints you might want to make. Archival sleeves also make it easier to handle your negatives without the risk of fingerprints. Fingerprints on a negative are not removable, and they will show up in a printed image.
Proper Storage Box
If you wish to house your negatives in a box for long term storage, choose either a metal box or a box made from acid-free cardboard. This is important even if you have the negatives in an archival sleeve. Again, the acid in most storage containers, including plastic and wood containers, can damage negatives.
Protect from Moisture
Moisture is one of the biggest enemies of a photographic negative. Keep your negatives dry by throwing a silica gel pouch into the box where you are storing them. Even if moisture does not touch the negatives, moisture that is in the air can cause them to curl or cause mold and mildew growth on them, which destroys them.
Choose the Proper Storage Location
Your negatives need to be in a relatively dry location. The humidity should be around 60 percent in the area where you store your negatives. Also, they need to be protected from extreme heat and exposure to sunlight. A cool, dry place, like a basement, is ideal.
Consider a Permanent Storage Solution
No matter how careful you are with your negatives, damage can occur. You cannot control all of the factors in the environment, no matter how hard you try. Also, storing your negatives becomes cumbersome over time, as you have to constantly deal with boxes and binders. Instead of storing your negatives, you might want to consider permanently storing them in a digital format.
You can send your negatives to a lab with specialized equipment that can scan them, create a positive digital image, and store it on a CD or memory card. The CD or memory card can then be used to make prints if you should want them at a later date. High resolution scanners make it possible to turn that box of negatives into a carefully preserved digital file, without sacrificing image quality. Instead of a box crammed full of negatives, you will have one or two CDs with all of your pictures on them ready to share online or offline.
Use Archival Sleeves
You can purchase plastic sleeves for your negatives to be stored in. these are different than the sleeves the film developer may have put on your negatives. They are typically on a paper-sized sheet with holes for a binder, so you can easily store your negatives in an organized manner. Be sure to use an acid-free product to store your negatives, because acid that is sometimes found in plastic can damage your negatives.
Why are sleeves so important? Archival sleeves keep dust off of your negatives. Even small pieces of dust can cause permanent scratches on a negative that will ruin any future reprints you might want to make. Archival sleeves also make it easier to handle your negatives without the risk of fingerprints. Fingerprints on a negative are not removable, and they will show up in a printed image.
Proper Storage Box
If you wish to house your negatives in a box for long term storage, choose either a metal box or a box made from acid-free cardboard. This is important even if you have the negatives in an archival sleeve. Again, the acid in most storage containers, including plastic and wood containers, can damage negatives.
Protect from Moisture
Moisture is one of the biggest enemies of a photographic negative. Keep your negatives dry by throwing a silica gel pouch into the box where you are storing them. Even if moisture does not touch the negatives, moisture that is in the air can cause them to curl or cause mold and mildew growth on them, which destroys them.
Choose the Proper Storage Location
Your negatives need to be in a relatively dry location. The humidity should be around 60 percent in the area where you store your negatives. Also, they need to be protected from extreme heat and exposure to sunlight. A cool, dry place, like a basement, is ideal.
Consider a Permanent Storage Solution
No matter how careful you are with your negatives, damage can occur. You cannot control all of the factors in the environment, no matter how hard you try. Also, storing your negatives becomes cumbersome over time, as you have to constantly deal with boxes and binders. Instead of storing your negatives, you might want to consider permanently storing them in a digital format.
You can send your negatives to a lab with specialized equipment that can scan them, create a positive digital image, and store it on a CD or memory card. The CD or memory card can then be used to make prints if you should want them at a later date. High resolution scanners make it possible to turn that box of negatives into a carefully preserved digital file, without sacrificing image quality. Instead of a box crammed full of negatives, you will have one or two CDs with all of your pictures on them ready to share online or offline.
Related Tags: picture, slides, photo, photos, photograph, negatives, 35mm, large format, slide scanning, photo scanning, negative scanning, medium format
Britepix offers you negative scanning of your original 35mm negatives. Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles
Recent articles in this category:
- A Subject And His Personality
The challenge to all portrait painters is pleasing the beholder as well as having the ability to fix - A Review Of The 28 Page Free Report "shoot Digital Pics Like The Pros"
There are a lot of fine, relatively recent products coming available to buy daily. A few of these ar - Night Vision Scope- Explore The Beauty Of Nature In Night Also
Going out for a camp in forests??? Or somewhere?? Not possible to see far of objects or things in th - Commercial Photography - Photography As A Business
Photography- I guess this won't be a strange word to hear for most of you but commercial photography - Night Vision Camera Ensuring Your Safety
No one can see anything in darkness. But imagine you are capable enough to do so then what would you - Looking For A Wedding Photographer In Edinburg?
You've spent sleepless nights to ensure that your wedding day is picture perfect and goes smoothly w - Hiring A Budget Wedding Photographer?
Wedding Photography accounts for almost 10 % of the entire budget of the wedding. Does this mean tha - Cost Effective Wedding Photography
It's the most special day of your life and you've dreamed about this day, since you were a child. Yo - Image Editing:a Must For Advertising Agencies And Publications
When you see any attractive image in any online publication or in print, have you ever thought who t - How To Guide For Properly Storing Photographs
Photographs are more than just pieces of paper, they are reminders of a life once lived, and cherish
Most viewed articles in this category:
- Matting Fine Art Photographs
Picking the right mat when framing fine art photographs and other pieces of art can enhance the visu - What Are Giclee and Digital Prints?
Digital images are created from photographs taken with a digital camera or from scanned images. Fine - 32 Bit Images-Stunning New Style Of Photography
The new version of Photoshop which came out last year offers a whole new feature which allows photog - Ten Tips For Working With Macro Digital Photography
Macro photography is a fun way to get close up shots look stunning. If you want to get technical, th - Buying Limited and Open Edition Prints
When you're buying fine art photographs, lithographs and other printed art, you'll notice that they - Merging Two or More Images in Photoshop
Have you ever noticed how magazines, newspapers and some web designers are able to combine multiple - Do You Have A Passion For People Photography?
Well, I'm sure you have a passion for photography and that's why you are reading this article.If you - What to Look for When Shopping for a Digital Camera
Shopping for digital camera for the first time can be a confusing and daunting experience. With so - Hong Kong Photographer Stock Photography Royatly Free vs. Licensed
There are two types of licenses for the reproduction of photographs. One is called Traditional Licen - Stock Photograhy Lesson - Quality Requirements for Online Stock Photograph Sales
Most online stock agencies require that your images be submitted in TIFF or JPEG format at resolutio