I just found years of photo's, still in their packs from the drugstore where they were developed. These are in color, by the way. Remember, when negatives were included. Their are probably 7 yrs. of photo's that some I never took time to look at well and put in an album. I take so many pictures and especially since the grandchildren were born and that was 24 yrs. ago. I'm just not good about putting them in albums, etc.
My question is, so many of them are stuck together. I might be able to salvage some of them, but didn't know if their was something I can do to get them to separate easier without loosing them? I can't tell if the negatives got messed up also as I haven't bought my negative/scanner yet. Can negatives get damp and still be okay? This makes me sick as I can't get these years back.
Any suggestions are welcome. I really need some help from my fellow photographers. These are of older vacations of foreign countries that I probably won't get back to also.
Thanks everyone.
Granny7
I posted this in General and Tips and Tricks, not realizing that it was going to show up on the Home page. I tried to delete one of them so as not to confuse others, but wish I had left it alone. Deleting on 365 can be complicated. I just hope I get an answer.
Reading several sites, it seems that the general concensus seems to favour baptism. The period varies from 5 minutes to a day or two!! A few have expressed caution with prints that are over 30 years old as the paper quality changed after that to become more robust.
I have no personal experiences, just hope this helps.
Linda, I can't answer about the prints but I have done recovery on slides. I had quite a bit of luck with slides that were stored in plastic sleeves, a fair amount of luck with slides that we in a basement that flooded and very little luck with film that was in Hurricane Andrew (salt water damage). I will post an update later this evening with more info on what I did and maybe post some examples. Time to go plant flowers. Laura
I don't know if this will work on photos that are stuck together, but it might. When I recover photos from the Peel 'n Stick album "monsters" of yesteryear, I use waxed dental floss for those photos where the glue of the album is fused to the back of the photo. The floss manages to fit between the photo and page and you can gently pull it through to loosen the suction. I don't know if this technique would keep the picture in tact or not. I would hope so. Try it on a shot you don't mind loosing just in case.
Linda, I used Pec-12 cleaning solution on both the slides and film. The manufacturer says you should do a sample first to make sure it does not damage your film. The oldest slide I was working with was from 1956 I believe and I had no problems at all. They say it will also clean prints but I have not tried that. I used Pec Pads to apply the solution.
I started off with a Plustek Opticfilm 7300 scanner but it did not do a good enough job for me. The slides I had that we in the flood sat for approx. 15 years before I started cleaning them. They were not actually under water so we did not realize they had been damaged until I started putting them together for all of the family members. I then bit the bullet and ordered a Nikon Coolscan 5000. Nikon no longer makes scanners so don't know if you can get one used. I also bought Vuescan from Ed Hamrick and was definitely worth the money. If your film is not damaged (i.e. scratched ) you may do fine with a less expensive scanner and not need Vue Scan.
@ellida Hi Graham, sorry about the long delay in thanking you for your response. I did read both sites and once I get the other 100's of pictures organized I will tackle the bag of pictures that got exposed to I don't know what? I found them in a corner with some other pictures, still in the folder, along with the negatives with water stains and mildew. I don't see anything that could have dripped on them. Some are so stuck together, you can't hardly get them out of the original film package they came in. Their are probably 150 pictures at least and some that I have never seen. They are at least 10 yrs. old and don't know how long they have been that way. I can't believe you actually put them in water to separate. They are so stuck together that you can't even bend them. Thanks again for your help, I'll let you know how it turns out.
@olivetreeann@olivetreeann That will definitely work on some that aren't as bad as others. Thanks for the tip, it's very helpful. I'll keep you posted.
Thanks, Linda
@lstasel Thanks for the suggestions, it was very helpful. I definitely need to get a new scanner, but am trying to organize about 500 pictures, at least right now before I tackle this tricky project. I'll keep everyone posted.
Linda
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Reading several sites, it seems that the general concensus seems to favour baptism. The period varies from 5 minutes to a day or two!! A few have expressed caution with prints that are over 30 years old as the paper quality changed after that to become more robust.
I have no personal experiences, just hope this helps.
http://www.realsimple.com/magazine-more/inside-magazine/ask-real-simple/pictures-stuck-together-00000000038164/index.html
I also read that hanging them up to dry after soaking is best, not wiping them dry.
I started off with a Plustek Opticfilm 7300 scanner but it did not do a good enough job for me. The slides I had that we in the flood sat for approx. 15 years before I started cleaning them. They were not actually under water so we did not realize they had been damaged until I started putting them together for all of the family members. I then bit the bullet and ordered a Nikon Coolscan 5000. Nikon no longer makes scanners so don't know if you can get one used. I also bought Vuescan from Ed Hamrick and was definitely worth the money. If your film is not damaged (i.e. scratched ) you may do fine with a less expensive scanner and not need Vue Scan.
This Slide was taken in 1970
This slide was taken in 1978
Hope this helps some.
Thanks, Linda
Linda