There are many things we call irreplaceable, but of them all, perhaps old photographs are the most important. Old photos are your only visual link to people and places that belong to the past. You cannot take these pictures again. Because treasured old photos are looked at so often, they are subject to a lot of wear and tear and need a great deal of cleaning and maintenance to keep them going for years to come. This is something you will have to do yourself and cannot expect cleaning services to do for you. Cleaning old photos takes just a little time and patience, nothing expensive or complicated is needed.
Before beginning, have a high quality scan done of the old photos. This will not only be a back up is something should go wrong in the cleaning process, the digitally stored images will always be available for on screen viewing when you don't want to disturb the originals:
- Lay a soft clean towel on the work surface you plan to use.
- Put on a pair of soft white (so you can see if they get dirty) lint free cotton gloves.
- Hold the photos only by the edges.
- Use a very soft brush to gently brush dirt away from the photo surface. Start in the middle and brush outwards. If you have a can of compressed air - like that used to blow dirt away from computer keyboards - use that after the brushing.
- If there is any adhesive or other residue on the surface of the photos, continue brushing gently to remove as much of it as you can without damaging the photo.
- Now we come to the only specialized material you will need. Ask a photographic supply shop to recommend a good photo cleaning spray or solution. Read the instructions carefully and use it to clean any stains and ingrained dirt from the photo. Make sure that you use only the specified material to wipe the pictures.
- If there is any slight residual dampness, allow the photos to air dry and once that is done, store them in a way that ensures that while the can be seen, they are protected.
- If you find that there are marks or stained on the old photos that you are unable to remove, do not try and experiment yourself-You could end up destroying the photos. Ask a professional photographer for help.
- You could also try scanning the photos and using photo editing software to clean up the marks and then printing out new copies.