Print permanence refers to the longevity of printed material, especially

photographs A photograph (also known as a photo, image, or picture) is an image created by light falling on a photosensitive surface, usually photographic film or an electronic image sensor, such as a CCD or a CMOS chip. Most photographs are now created ...

, and preservation issues. Over time, the optical density,

color balance In photography and image processing, color balance is the global adjustment of the intensities of the colors (typically red, green, and blue primary colors). An important goal of this adjustment is to render specific colors – particularly neu ...

, lustre, and other qualities of a print will degrade. The rate at which

deterioration Deterioration may refer to: * Worsening of health * Physical wear See also * Decadence (disambiguation) * Degeneracy (disambiguation) * ''Deteriorata'', a parody of ''Desiderata'' * Decay * Decline Decline may refer to: *Decadence, involves a ...

occurs depends primarily on two main factors: the print itself, that is, the colorants used to form the image and the medium on which image resides, and the type of

environment Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, all living and non-living things occurring naturally * Biophysical environment, the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism or ...

the print is exposed to.

Inkjet prints

For

inkjet Inkjet printing is a type of computer printing that recreates a digital image by propelling droplets of ink onto paper and plastic substrates. Inkjet printers were the most commonly used type of printer in 2008, and range from small inexpensi ...

prints,

pigment A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compo ...

-based inks last generally longest when used with specific

paper Paper is a thin sheet material produced by mechanically or chemically processing cellulose fibres derived from wood, rags, grasses or other vegetable sources in water, draining the water through fine mesh leaving the fibre evenly distributed ...

types, whereas

dye A dye is a colored substance that chemically bonds to the substrate to which it is being applied. This distinguishes dyes from pigments which do not chemically bind to the material they color. Dye is generally applied in an aqueous solution an ...

-based inks can be optimal on more types of paper. Ink-jet paper types include swellable paper, porous paper, and cotton rag paper.

Chromogenic color prints (silver halide prints)

The longevity of images on chromogenic color photographic papers depends on the temperature and relative humidity of the storage environment, and on the total light exposure they receive. Older chromogenic papers undergo more rapid fading compared to modern materials. For example,

Fujifilm , trading as Fujifilm, or simply Fuji, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, operating in the realms of photography, optics, office and medical electronics, biotechnology, and chemicals. The offerings from th ...

's ''Crystal Archive'' papers have a quoted longevity of sixty years dark storage. The stability of coupler-incorporated chromogenic prints has steadily increased since their introduction by Kodak in 1942. Very significant advances in stability were made in case of Kodak prints in 1954, 1958, and in the early 1980s. These changes can often be used for the dating of color prints, and can be correlated with manufacturing changes documented in the technical literature.

Monochrome prints

In general, black-and-white prints using either silver or carbon-based media may last longer than some colour prints. Some black-and-white prints are produced using ink-jet printers, or colour photographic paper using the RA 4 process.

Gelatin silver prints

To achieve a long lifespan, gelatin silver prints must be thoroughly

fixed Fixed may refer to: * ''Fixed'' (EP), EP by Nine Inch Nails * ''Fixed'', an upcoming 2D adult animated film directed by Genndy Tartakovsky * Fixed (typeface), a collection of monospace bitmap fonts that is distributed with the X Window System * ...

and washed. Besides rendering the image insensitive to further light exposure, fixer converts undeveloped silver salts in the emulsion into products that can easily be washed away. Effective fixing and washing removes all unexposed silver salts and leaves only a small amount of residual fixer. Any significant quantity of fixer (thiosulphate) left in the print after washing will cause the image to deteriorate over time. Many other factors play a critical role in the long-term stability of gelatin silver prints. The temperature and relative humidity of the storage environment, and the air pollutants to which a silver image is exposed are three of the most important factors. Toning can increase the longevity of silver-based prints by replacing or coating the metallic silver with more inert metals such as

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

silver sulphide Silver sulfide is an inorganic compound with the formula . A dense black solid, it is the only sulfide of silver. It is useful as a photosensitizer in photography. It constitutes the tarnish that forms over time on silverware and other silver ob ...

selenium Selenium is a chemical element with the symbol Se and atomic number 34. It is a nonmetal (more rarely considered a metalloid) with properties that are intermediate between the elements above and below in the periodic table, sulfur and tellurium, ...

Platinum, palladium and other inert metals

Images composed of more inert metals, like

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

palladium Palladium is a chemical element with the symbol Pd and atomic number 46. It is a rare and lustrous silvery-white metal discovered in 1803 by the English chemist William Hyde Wollaston. He named it after the asteroid Pallas, which was itself na ...

and gold are less prone to decay than those in silver.

Amateur Photographer ''Amateur Photographer'' is a British photography magazine, published weekly by Kelsey Media. The magazine provides articles on equipment reviews, photographic technique, and profiles of professional photographers. About the magazine ''Ama ...

's ''Dictionary of Photography'' said "Owing to the chemically inert nature of platinum, a print so made is far more permanent than any print having a silver image can be". Indeed, the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

's Conservation Journal states that "...the majority of the deterioration seen in such prints is usually associated with the supports, which are often yellowed and brittle, rather than the actual image."

Environmental factors

Environmental factors that hasten the deterioration of a print include exposure to

heat In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary. A thermodynamic system does not ''contain'' heat. Nevertheless, the term is al ...

ozone Ozone (), or trioxygen, is an inorganic molecule with the chemical formula . It is a pale blue gas with a distinctively pungent smell. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope , breaking down in the lo ...

and other pollutants,

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as a ...

humidity Humidity is the concentration of water vapor present in the air. Water vapor, the gaseous state of water, is generally invisible to the human eye. Humidity indicates the likelihood for precipitation, dew, or fog to be present. Humidity depe ...

, and high levels of

light Light or visible light is electromagnetic radiation that can be perceived by the human eye. Visible light is usually defined as having wavelengths in the range of 400–700 nanometres (nm), corresponding to frequencies of 750–420 tera ...

. Though light-induced fade often gets the most publicity, greater than 90 per cent of consumer prints are stored in the dark where the effects of heat, humidity, and/or pollutants can dominate.

Research and standards

Much research into image permanence has been carried out by

Wilhelm Imaging Research Wilhelm Imaging Research is an American company with expertise in the permanence of photographic and digital printing Digital printing is a method of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to pro ...

, Inc.http://www.wilhelm-research.com/index.html, Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. website , Accessed 5 September 2008 Another resource i
Aardenburg Imaging & Archives.
Some film companies and printer manufacturers are researching ways to increase the lifetime of their prints. The

International Organization for Standardization The International Organization for Standardization (ISO ) is an international standard development organization composed of representatives from the national standards organizations of member countries. Membership requirements are given in Ar ...

has developed standards for keeping photographs, defined in ISO 18920. Those standards have yet to be extended to digital print output, though the organization has signaled its intent to provide such standards.

References

External links

* Arthur H. Bleich (2004
"Going, going, gone! How to Create Prints that Last"
''

Digital Camera A digital camera is a camera that captures photographs in digital memory. Most cameras produced today are digital, largely replacing those that capture images on photographic film. Digital cameras are now widely incorporated into mobile device ...

''. * Bugner, Douglas; LaBarca, Joseph; Kopperl, David; Phillips, Jonathan; Skye, David; Baker, Irene; Cunningham, Caryn; Miller, Paige; and Kaltenbach, Thomas (February 2004).
HomeEnvironmentSurvey_en.pdf Survey of Environmental Conditions Relative to Display of Photographs in Consumer Home
. ''IS&T's Thirteenth International Symposium on Photofinishing Technologies''. 13, 31-36. .

White paper on image permanence issues (Kodak)

International photo industry website on image preservation
*

{{photography subject Science of photography