Safely storing large prints/photos

quietsailor

Hello all,

I'm not a photographer myself but I do need advice on storing large photographs so I decided to come to the experts.

I'm in a club here in UCC that uses large photographs (prints??) when we have a stand on sports day, approx 100cm by 60cm. They are stored by rolling them together and placing them in a tube, when I opened them up recently I discovered some damage.

1. They are very hard to display as the remain curled up even when opened out. - Should we store them flat?

2. The photo side of the 1st one is sticking to the back side of the 2nd and this is pulling the ink off the photo. If I put some sort of paper between the photos can I stop this? What should I use - tissue paper?

3. We used selotape initially and now white-tak to display them. Will white-tak (on the rear side) do any damage to the paper (make it weak and eventually tear).

Sorry for my first post in this forum being a thread looking for help, I know it must be annoying for the regular members but I don't know anyone who makes/stores large photos like these to ask for advice.

Thanks - Quietsailor

PCPhoto

firstly .... are the images(prints) in Gloss or Matt format ?

if they are Gloss (shiny) - there's your problem, get the images printed in Matt.

secondly - is it possible there is some form of humidity where the images are stored - causing the images to stick together.

if you are storing the images flat - crepe paper could be placed in between images to minimise contact, hard card could be used to ensure they do not tear/fold (one piece of card at top and bottom of bunch of images)

store in a proper storage container.

quietsailor

Thanks for the quick reply, I know its a bit rich coming into a forum and the first thing I post is a load of questions asking for help.

firstly .... are the images(prints) in Gloss or Matt format ?
if they are Gloss (shiny) - there's your problem, get the images printed in Matt.
I'm not a photographer so I'm no expert but they look very glossy so I'm going with gloss paper. Unfortunately they were printed off as a favour to the club so I don't want to be going back asking for more favours and I don't want that fella getting insulted either if he learns we didn't take care of them properly

secondly - is it possible there is some form of humidity where the images are stored - causing the images to stick together.
I'm assuming the last lad who handed them on to me a few weeks ago stored them in his house, he's gone to Australia so I can't ask. I'll be keeping them in my bedroom though

if you are storing the images flat - crepe paper could be placed in between images to minimise contact, hard card could be used to ensure they do not tear/fold (one piece of card at top and bottom of bunch of images)Your saying put crepe paper between them - that I follow but I can't figure out what to do with the cardboard, are you saying put a sheet of cardboard in between them as well? or when the prints are lying flat on the ground put cardboard at the top and bottom edges (maybe vertically) to stop them buckling?
Is crepe paper that tissue like paper that (for example) TESCO sell as wrapping paper?

store in a proper storage container.
They're stored rolled so I'd better flatten them out and store them on the flat? I'll make up a folder for them out of some stiff cardboard.

PCPhoto

the card was basically at the top and bottom of the bunch - to make sure the corners of the pics didn't get bent.

crepe paper is usually found in make-and-do sections of easons, you might find it in Tesco but I dont know...it was only a suggestion I'm sure you could use tissue paper and get the same effect.

as for storage container .... in an ideal world a proper archive storage container but failing that a strong box, preferably airtight....Personally I don't think images should be stored rolled up as it means that when they are taken out they need to be bent backwards to correct them for putting up - storage flat is the best way in my opinion.

stcstc

between prints the ideal thing is unbuffered tissue paper

crepe paper is a little abrasive and textured and can transfer to the prints

what i would suggest is getting a big tube 5 inch diameter or above, and then roll the prints to fit in it, with tissue between them

quietsailor

PCPhoto wrote: »

the card was basically at the top and bottom of the bunch - to make sure the corners of the pics didn't get bent.

crepe paper is usually found in make-and-do sections of easons, you might find it in Tesco but I dont know...it was only a suggestion I'm sure you could use tissue paper and get the same effect.

as for storage container .... in an ideal world a proper archive storage container but failing that a strong box, preferably airtight....Personally I don't think images should be stored rolled up as it means that when they are taken out they need to be bent backwards to correct them for putting up - storage flat is the best way in my opinion.

stcstc wrote: »

between prints the ideal thing is unbuffered tissue paper

crepe paper is a little abrasive and textured and can transfer to the prints

what i would suggest is getting a big tube 5 inch diameter or above, and then roll the prints to fit in it, with tissue between them

They are rolled up to less than 3 inches at the moment so they are tightly jammed together, I'll unroll them tonight and let them breathe.

I'll be in Cork city soon so I'll go into an arts and crafts shop to look for tissue paper.

I 'll see if I can get the club to spend some money and buy a proper storage container, I'm concientious enough to worry about having to throw away something that was given to us for free but I'll have to persuade the others the lad who printed them might get insulted if we throw them away and that we need to spend money to preserve them.

Thank you both for the replies, At least now I know how to treat them properly.