Fading Photos - why?

Various A4 colour photos we have stuck onto the bedroom walls for 1 or two
years have noticeably faded.

Is this expected?

They were printed using Hewlett Packard printer, HP ink and photo quality
paper.

Any thoughts on why and how to prevent?

Thanks, J.

 

Nothing unusual.

Not much you can do. All inkjet images fade over time - some faster than
others. Color photo's printed using the traditional film/paper process fade
too, but generally take 20+ years before its really noticeable.

Keep your images in the dark, use a UV protection spray, check the longevity
of your inks, pray.

 

Cheap ink and you probably didn't use archival equipment. If your stuff
is good enough to hang on the wall, then have a professional shop like
http://www.whcc.com/ print/mount it for you. You're gonna pay $$, but
they should last a lifetime. There are many other quality shops, but
WHCC comes to mind first.

If you insist on doing it at home, check out the Printing forum over at
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1003 , but be
prepared to still spend some $$ for a quality printer and good ink. I
went thru the same questions and disappointment you are now. For me,
after researching the subject and having some pictures I wanted to
print http://www.pbase.com/slack/sunsets , I decided it is worth just
paying a professional shop.

Good luck.

 

You can't prevent it. You can however slow down the process by using a
Top-coat Spray available in aerosol cans.

 

Other posters provided some suggestions on how to preserve your old
photo or to get it professionally printed. However, since you printed
it then the file still exists (after all, if it was important enough
to hang then it was important enough to save the file since fire,
pets, and kids do happen). Why not just print another fresh copy?

 

As others have said, it is only to be expected. I find that if I
laminate them they last pretty well - I have some hanging on my wall
which are seven or eight years old.

 

Ok many thanks for the useful pointers...and last batch laminated to see if
any improvement.
Cheers. J
----------------

 

Remember, you must let them dry for seven days (7) before confining them to
any holder. Keep out of direct light, the biggest destroyer of photos. This
will help. They should last your lifetime at least. HP has a high quality
ink for their *photo printers*.

http://h71036.www7.hp.com/hho/cache/331414-0-0-225-121.html

http://tinyurl.com/ebwp9

 

Photos printed with most inkjet printers will fade with time when exposed to
air and light. This is because the ink they use is water based, and the dies
used are not very permanent.

I believe they have a special paper now that will make the print permanent.
The paper contains a chemical that reacts with the ink.

The best and most economic thing to do, is to take your memory card or CD
disk to a professional photo printing place, and let them do the printing
for you. Their equipment is far superior to what you can afford at home, and
their prints will be photo quality. When you consider your costs for the
paper, ink, and printer usage, having the prints done outside will work out
a lot cheaper.

You an also edit the pictures how you want using any photo editing software,
save the pictures to a removable media, and then bring them to the photo
printing service.

There are also many very good printing services that you can use on the net.
They will print the pictures and mail them back to you. You can pay them
using a credit card. Some of the companies offering these services are major
companies, and they do excellent work.


--

JANA
_____


Various A4 colour photos we have stuck onto the bedroom walls for 1 or two
years have noticeably faded.

Is this expected?

They were printed using Hewlett Packard printer, HP ink and photo quality
paper.

Any thoughts on why and how to prevent?

Thanks, J.