How to Save Water-Damaged Photos
photo by eyenigelen via iStock
Whether you’ve just dealt with your house flooding or you’ve just adopted a ton of old family portraits, chances are that you are dealing with water-damaged photos.
Water-damaged photos are unsightly, and they can be really disheartening, especially if your water-damaged photos haven’t been backed up digitally. There’s nothing worse than losing old memories due to carelessness.
Thankfully, there are ways to restore photos with water damage. Photo restoration is difficult, but not impossible. And while it’s frustrating to have to deal with water-damaged photos at all, you can repair photos with water damage with a little bit of time and effort.
Here’s how.
Prevent the Water Damage in the First Place
photo by Olga Ihnatsyeva via iStock
If you want to avoid the need for photo restoration services in the first place, then it is important to make high-quality scans of all of your family photos in case the hard copies become damaged.
However, if you are simply trying to prevent your images from getting water damaged while you wait to have them scanned, then you can also do the following.
First, you can purchase an acid-free photo album to hold all of your images. You can store that photo album inside of a sealed box to give them twice the protection.
Next, make sure that you’re keeping the albums in a safe area of your house. Basements flood most frequently, so don’t store your images there. Likewise, attics and garages are not usually the same temperature as the inside of your home, so these also aren’t good places to store your images.
For the best results, store your images somewhere the temperature is maintained. Additionally, do not store them near windows (where water could get in from a storm) or kitchens/bathrooms (where water could get in from plumbing problems).
While this advice is good, if you’re in a place where you’re wondering, “Can photos with water damage be saved,” then you likely need some better photo restoring advice.
Learn More:
Properly Dry Wet Photos Out
photo by Georgethefourth via iStock
The first step to learning how to save water-damaged photos is learning how to dry wet photos properly.
Unfortunately, since different photographic processes have been used over the last century, this is not a one size fits all scenario. So, if your water-damaged photos are priceless, then you need to seek the help of a professional.
However, the NorthEast Document Conservation Center does offer some tips that you can use in the case of an emergency.
First, while you may water to pull all of your water-damaged photos apart, you should absolutely avoid this at all costs. If you pull your water-damaged photos apart, they will likely rip and tear. Instead, leave any photos that are stuck together alone.
Whenever you are handling these images you should be doing so with gloves. This will prevent oil from your fingers from mixing with the ink. Make sure that you’re also handling your images incredibly carefully. Do not touch any portion of the image with ink on it if you can help it. Even lightly brushing the ink on your photos when they are wet could result in irreversible ink smudges.
Put all of your wet photos on a paper towel. Make sure that your images are face up so that the ink does not bleed onto the paper towel. When the paper towel becomes wet, get a new one. Continue this process until your images are dry.
Do not attempt this process outside, since intense humidity can affect the drying time. It is also helpful to put the photos in a room with a fan (that is not directly pointed at your photos) so that you can get some air flow.
Seek the Help of a Professional
Unfortunately, photo restoration is not a DIY activity. When images have been water-damaged, they are very delicate. One wrong move could mean that you’ve ruined your image forever. And, since photo restoration requires so many professional tools, we recommend that you go immediately to a professional for all of your family keepsakes.
PhotoRepairPro is the only photo restoration company we trust with our photographs, and you know just how good they are because they are also the only company Costco trusted for over a decade (back when Costco Photo Centers were still a thing).
PhotoRepairPro not only does great work on images that have been damaged by water or mold, but they charge you one flat rate to do so. For $35, you can have your image repaired. You’ll also get an online proof (to check the quality of their work), a JPEG download, and 2 5x7 prints shipped to your house. It’s all included in the one flat rate.
Another reason why we recommend PhotoRepairPro is that their online order form is so easy to complete. All you have to do is select the photo you’re looking to have restored, choose a few options/list special instructions, then pay. You don’t ever have to be stressed about your water-damaged photos again!
