Water Damaged Photos: Recovery And Repair
A storm hit. A water pipe burst. The sprinkler system went off and your photographs fell victim to water damage.
Don’t panic. Read on to learn about how to repair water damaged pictures and photo recovery.
1. Carefully lift and remove the wet photographs from the water. Try to not touch the surface of the photo. If the water damaged pictures are stuck together, carefully peel them apart, but do not force separation.
Remove all the photographs inside any photo albums that got wet.
2.The damaged photo should be carefully rinsed in a bucket or bowl of cold water. Start with the photographs that do not have negatives of the prints. Then rinse the photos that have negatives, but the negatives also became wet from the incident. Do not rub the pictures. If the photos are still stuck together, try again carefully to peel them apart. Change out the water used to rinse the photos often.
Do not let the wet photos dry out between the process of retrieving them and rinsing them. If one is not able to attend to the photos right away, place them in a bucket or bowl and gently fill it with water, being careful not to pour the water directly on the photos. Continue to rinse the photos until the water that overflows is clear of any dirt or debris. Leave the photos in the clean water until they can be thoroughly rinsed individually.
Framed photos need to be removed from their frame immediately as the photo can later stick to the glass. To do this, rinse the glass and the photo under gently flowing, cold water. While holding both items, allow the flow of the water to gently separate the photo from the glass. The same technique can be use for photos in albums that are having a difficult time separating from the film in the album.
3.After rinsing, lay the wet pictures face up on any type of absorbent paper, like paper towels. However, do not use paper that has any prints on it. Change out the towels or blotting paper every hour until the photographs are completely dry.
Use a dehumidifier, if available, especially for rooms that are small or humid. Keep the room in which the photos are drying at a cool temperature to prevent mold damage. Use a fan, too, to help the air in the room circulate.
If one does not have the time or space to lay all the photographs out to dry, stack the rinsed pictures between sheets of waxed paper and seal them in a plastic bag that has a zip-top. Place the photos in a freezer. When one has the time and/or space available to dry the photographs, lay the frozen pictures out on blotting paper to dry, changing the paper out every hour (or as the paper becomes wet) until the pictures are completely dry.
4.If the photos are curled after they have dried, place the photo in a tray of water (do not submerge) or dampen the back of the photo. Then stack the photos between white blotting paper and apply a weight to the top of the stack. Leave the pictures in this position until they are completely dry. This trick can help the photos lay flat again.
One should also consider printing new copies of photographs whose negatives were not damaged by water. Older photographs will be the hardest to recover because they are more sensitive to water and may no longer have negatives. Older photographs should also not be frozen without first consulting a professional conservator.
Restoration specialists can assist with photo recovery when it comes to older photographs or heirloom photos as they have the latest in digital technology. They can scan images into their computer, fix most damages the photo suffered, and print the image on archival or photo paper. They can also make it possible for one to access the restored photos on a CD or online database so they can be printed in the future.
For those that have a large number of water damaged photographs, a photo restoration specialist may also be a good resource to help you save the most photos as possible in a short amount of time. Most have special dehumidifying techniques that make photo restoration faster and more successful.
There is hope for your photographs when disaster strikes. Water damaged photographs need to be attended to quickly, but do not need to be a cause for panic.
~Flora Richards-Gustafson, 2009
