How Long Do Photographs Last?

In my business of restoring photographs, one of the most common complaints is faded color photographs from the 1970’s- 80’s. Daily, I see pictures that have bleached out to various shades of green to magenta.

I got into the photo finishing business in 1973. Before that I was involved in photographic retail where we not only sold equipment but handled a lot of photofinishing as well. It was in the 1970’s that a scandal of sorts broke out when people began to be concerned by the lack of longevity of color prints. Just about everyone in the business knew that the color prints of the day had a life expectancy of somewhere between ten and twenty years. Since photos were promoted as a way to hand down memories through generations, this was a big concern that started to become known to the general public, especially on the many professionally produced images that were proudly displayed on the walls in customer’s homes.

Our business was strictly black and white photography, which is inherently stable, primarily because we wanted to make only permanent prints. I couldn’t in good conscience make prints that I knew would begin fading in a very short time. That is the big reason that fine art photography was limited to black and white for many years.

I would expect that there may still be photo labs that are using the old cheaper chromogenic process, though the papers have improved somewhat over that used in the 70’s and 80’s. Most color prints today, though, use permanent pigments which do not fade. The paper and ink manufacturers are saying hundreds of years without any deterioration should now be possible.  That is the only kind of paper that I use and a savvy customer will make sure that an image they want to be enjoyed by their grandchildren is printed on this type of paper.

When a customer brings a faded color print from 25 to 50 years ago, I scan the print and then use the computer to adjust the curves of the various color layers to as close as possible to what they were when the image was first made. Sometimes this is fairly easy but sometimes the color is so far off that it cannot be brought back. If I cannot bring back the original color by adjusting the curves, luminance, saturation, and the like, it is actually possible to paint the missing colors in by hand.

I then make new prints using permanent pigment ink and museum quality acid free paper, providing the kind of heirloom quality color photos that were only wishful thinking forty years ago.

Black and white pictures? They have always been permanent if correctly processed, sometimes they weren’t. The issues I see with old black and white photographs are tears, scratches, or damage that may have been attributed to the family dog.

Do you have faded color photos or “dog chewed” black and whites? Give me a call. I can help.

Restoration Samples

These are examples of various photo restoration projects we have done.