Framing photographs — archival quality for your memories
Photographs fade faster than paintings. Inkjet, colour paper, black-and-white paper — each behaves differently. Here is what makes photo framing archival.
Why photographs are more sensitive
Photographs contain organic pigments (inkjet) or a gelatin layer carrying dyes (analogue). Both react to light, humidity and acids faster than an oil painting or a print.
An unprotected colour photograph in sunlight loses 20–30 % of its saturation in five years. Black-and-white analogue holds out longer, but it fades too.
Inkjet vs. print — don't confuse them
Inkjet (a home printer, most online photo services) uses pigment or dye inks. Pigment lasts 50–100 years with reasonable care, dye 20–40.
A C-print (analogue print on photographic paper) lasts 30–80 years. Black-and-white fibre-based paper, correctly processed, lasts a century and more.
Each type has different requirements. Before framing it is worth knowing what you are holding.
Acid-free mat and archival board
For photographs an acidic mat is not merely an aesthetic flaw — it is a chemical disaster. The acids migrate into the paper and produce yellow patches along the edges of the photograph within 5–10 years.
I use acid-free mats exclusively (pH 8–9), archival board at the back and archival tapes for mounting. No office tape, no cheap card.
UV glazing — photographs fade faster
With a painting you can get away with UV70, or even without UV protection, as long as it is not facing a window. With a photograph I recommend UV70 as the minimum, and for colour work UV99.
After ten years the difference is visible to the naked eye: the photograph under UV99 looks new, the one under ordinary glass has faded and lost contrast.
For photographs that matter
Family portraits, pictures of children, mementoes of someone who has died — for those I recommend the full archival package: acid-free mat, archival board, UV glazing, archival tapes. It adds roughly 800–1,500 CZK over the standard build.
For Polaroids and one-off originals archival treatment is essential — Polaroids are extremely sensitive to light and humidity. I recommend framing them as soon as possible after they are taken.
Marek Homolka
Third-generation framer · RDH Rámy, Přísečná
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