{"id":1229,"date":"2017-09-01T00:51:32","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T00:51:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.kgphotoworkshops.com\/blog\/?p=1229"},"modified":"2017-09-01T00:51:32","modified_gmt":"2017-09-01T00:51:32","slug":"dealing-water-damaged-photographs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kgphotoworkshops.com\/blog\/2017\/09\/01\/dealing-water-damaged-photographs\/","title":{"rendered":"Dealing with Water Damaged Photographs"},"content":{"rendered":"

When we experience a flood, so many of our personal items are damaged. The whole experience can be quite overwhelming. Keep in mind that even though many of our “things” can be replaced, our photographs can be severely damaged by water, mud, etc. and not so easily replaced.<\/strong><\/p>\n

If your have water damaged photographs, I encourage you to deal with the damage as soon as possible.<\/strong> Especially if you have a stack of photographs that are all wet, you must take action quickly<\/strong>. \u00a0 If you let them dry, the process of separating the images can be quite tedious and permanent damage is much more likely.<\/p>\n

How you deal with water damaged photographs depends on how the print was made. \u00a0If the photograph was made using the traditional photographic process, it was originally developed in water-based chemicals and you can use water to rinse and clean and possibly separate the photographs. If the photograph was printed by inkjet or other type of computer printer, the paper used may be damaged by water<\/em>\u00a0way more quickly, so especially be careful.<\/p>\n

If you are unsure whether rinsing with water might damage the print further. \u00a0Try putting a little water on just one of the prints and test it first.<\/p>\n

The first step is to carefully try to remove as much dirt as possible. Then use care to gently flow water over the prints to clean them. \u00a0What type of water should you use? \u00a0Some folks say tap water. \u00a0Others say you should use distilled water. \u00a0Either way, it is safer if you use cool water (not hot water).<\/p>\n

Use extreme care to not damage the emulsion on the prints. \u00a0If it is stack of photographic<\/em> prints stuck together, you can soak them and then attempt to ever-so-gently peel them apart, starting with the photo on top. \u00a0Once the photographs are rinsed, cleaned, and separated, then lay them out to air dry separately. \u00a0Having air flowing over the top and bottom is best. (Idea: you could use a non-metal window screen to lay them on).<\/p>\n

This is such a tedious process. Use caution, and before you try to do this yourself, I would highly recommend you read some of these great articles posted on the web by these authorities on the subject:<\/strong><\/p>\n