As I am sure most others are, I am on lockdown because of the pandemic, and I am using some of my time off to scan a hue volume of family photos, both loose ones and from albums.
The photos are of various vintages, going back to the 1930's or earlier. Of course, the oldest ones are on mediums which I am not about to mess with trying to clean in any way other than digitally. The newer ones, the vast majority are less than 35 years old. Many are from the 1990's and 1980's.
For most, I have the prints but not the negatives. They were processed at many different facilities and use a variety of Kodak and Fujifilm paper. Most of the prints came from places like CVS or Walgreens. A few came from photo shops. But it's all the general commercial stuff used between 1975 and 2004. (and mostly 1990's vintage) Nearly all of it is glossy.
The problem is that when I look at it, it tends to look fine, but you can see problems if you hold it on an angle to the light. When scanned, there are obvious streaks, contamination and grime. Most of it is fingerprints and finger oil. Some of it is stuff from adhesive albums. The worst is when it has tape on the surface or the goo left behind after tape is removed. Some of them also have dust and hair that adheres to them because of the grime.
Digital correction can only get you so far with these. I have fine lint-free pads, which I've tried buffing the surface with, but that does nothing other than risk adding some abrasions. Looking online, I found some advice that recommended distilled water. I tried it on some photos I don't care a whole lot about, but I was quite frightened, because the when water is applied and I go to wipe it off, it seems to feel sticky. It doesn't glide off like a smooth turtle-waxed surface. That doesn't seem good at all to me.
Based on other advice, I gave rubbing alcohol a shot. That actually seemed to work better. However, I'm still not happy with the results. It has been less than 100% effective at removing finger prints. Another issue is it has introduced streaking. Despite my attempts to wipe the prints with clean lint free pads, being careful and trying swirling or back and forth motions, they have all kinds of streaks now.
It may be that I'm being overly cautious and I need to rinse them off better to get all the grime off, but I'm afraid of damaging them. The worst thing would be if the surface somehow comes off and the dyes start to soak out or get streaked. I absolutely can't have that!
The photos are of various vintages, going back to the 1930's or earlier. Of course, the oldest ones are on mediums which I am not about to mess with trying to clean in any way other than digitally. The newer ones, the vast majority are less than 35 years old. Many are from the 1990's and 1980's.
For most, I have the prints but not the negatives. They were processed at many different facilities and use a variety of Kodak and Fujifilm paper. Most of the prints came from places like CVS or Walgreens. A few came from photo shops. But it's all the general commercial stuff used between 1975 and 2004. (and mostly 1990's vintage) Nearly all of it is glossy.
The problem is that when I look at it, it tends to look fine, but you can see problems if you hold it on an angle to the light. When scanned, there are obvious streaks, contamination and grime. Most of it is fingerprints and finger oil. Some of it is stuff from adhesive albums. The worst is when it has tape on the surface or the goo left behind after tape is removed. Some of them also have dust and hair that adheres to them because of the grime.
Digital correction can only get you so far with these. I have fine lint-free pads, which I've tried buffing the surface with, but that does nothing other than risk adding some abrasions. Looking online, I found some advice that recommended distilled water. I tried it on some photos I don't care a whole lot about, but I was quite frightened, because the when water is applied and I go to wipe it off, it seems to feel sticky. It doesn't glide off like a smooth turtle-waxed surface. That doesn't seem good at all to me.
Based on other advice, I gave rubbing alcohol a shot. That actually seemed to work better. However, I'm still not happy with the results. It has been less than 100% effective at removing finger prints. Another issue is it has introduced streaking. Despite my attempts to wipe the prints with clean lint free pads, being careful and trying swirling or back and forth motions, they have all kinds of streaks now.
It may be that I'm being overly cautious and I need to rinse them off better to get all the grime off, but I'm afraid of damaging them. The worst thing would be if the surface somehow comes off and the dyes start to soak out or get streaked. I absolutely can't have that!
