Preserving Prints

Morning PT, prints that you are putting behind glass, what are you spraying or doing to them to preserve them?  

All there is to do is to keep it away from sunlight!

Isn't there a spray for this?

Isn't there a spray for this?

This is the one that I have used. It does help, but I wouldn't expect it to be the best answer.

amazon.com/Krylon-K01305-Coatings-11-Ounce-UV-Resistant/dp/B00397STRW/ref=sr_1_3?crid=J3VPUNIZURTJ&keywords=uv+protectant+spray&qid=1652720474&sprefix=uv+protectant+spray%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-3

Search Amazon for UV protectant sprays and you will find many, but this is the only one that I have any experience with and haven't used it in about 20 years.YMMV.

Charley

CharleyL wrote: This is the one that I have used. It does help, but I wouldn't expect it to be the best answer.

amazon.com/Krylon-K01305-Coatings-11-Ounce-UV-Resistant/dp/B00397STRW/ref=sr_1_3?crid=J3VPUNIZURTJ&keywords=uv+protectant+spray&qid=1652720474&sprefix=uv+protectant+spray%2Caps%2C87&sr=8-3

Search Amazon for UV protectant sprays and you will find many, but this is the only one that I have any experience with and haven't used it in about 20 years.YMMV.

Charley

Hey Charley, I'll jump in on this thread, have you tried this stuff yourself?

"Hey Charley, I'll jump in on this thread, have you tried this stuff yourself?"

I used it about 20 years ago, when digital photo printer ink was far from UV Proof.
It made a considerable difference in the reduction of print fading. I had a photo on my office wall that I sprayed 1/2 and left the other half unsprayed. In 6 months of only air and office fluorescent light, the unsprayed half showed considerable fading. This is the spray that I used back then, and although the manufacturer may have changed the contents over the past 20 years, it worked well back then and still does for me now. 20 years ago I had a photo retouch business, doing mostly work for others, where I was sending back CD's of the finished work and not printing them. Whenever I had walk-in customers and I needed to print for them, I sprayed all of the prints with this, and I still spray prints that I want to keep from fading for as long as possible, even though the new photo inks of today are significantly improved.

Framing prints with glass covering, especially when the glass is special UV Protectant Glass, should help too, although all glass offers some UV protection, it is still no guarantee that the glass covered photo will last without fading if Sunlight and air can get to it. @Nikon Shooter's method is the best guarantee to keep prints from fading.   Unfortunately, the photos can't be viewed and enjoyed while stored this way. 

I think we are doing far better at prolonging photos today than we did just a generation or two ago. Go back and look at your parents and grandparents photos, if any still exist. A lot of my walk-in retouch work involved repairing and restoring precious photos of long gone relatives of my customers.

Charley

Nikon Shooter wrote: All there is to do is to keep it away from sunlight!

  anything will fade if left in sunlight regardless if you have protectant of some sort on the print.