Why do Photo prints fade? December 12, 2007 09:34 by John Sollars
Why do Photo Prints fade so quickly?
Faded photos – we've all seen them. The colours begin to fade after a relatively brief time under an assault from the atmosphere. Three major contributors to fading of prints are Ozone in the air, Fluorescent light and water all of which are abundantly available in the atmosphere.
We typically think of Ozone existing in the upper atmosphere and are all aware of the hole in the Ozone layer, but the truth is that it is also present in the air we breathe and is generated extensively in offices where laser printers and copiers pump it out by the ton!. Opening the windows in your home to invite a cooling breeze elevates the indoor ozone density. Ozone is an oxidizing gas that attacks and degrades the ink in photo prints left exposed to air, causing fading. If prints are kept sealed in a photo album s that they are protected from direct light and air, fading can be forestalled for 100 years or more, but if a photo printed on either glossy or matte photo paper with a conventional inkjet printer is hung exposed to the elements, colours can lose their vibrancy before even a single year has passed. In fact in trials in our labs here we have seen the colours fading in days not weeks.
Fluorescent light also triggers gradual fading of photo prints, while moisture is a real enemy. Many a print has been ruined by spilled drinks or wet hands.
All of the major Printer manufacturers have taken this on board and offer inks with extended life. Some Epson inks now offer up to 200 years life in their Ultrachrome range.
There are two types of inks; Pigment ink and Dye Based ink.
Pigment ink: Pigment ink is composed of particles of colouring, which make the ink inherently resistant to attack from ozone and light. However, larger pigment particles can cause unevenness on the surface of the paper and therefore uneven light reflection, which in turn can lead to poor colour reproduction and reduced glossiness. Modern pigmented inks have overcome these problems and now provide vibrant long lasting colours and sharp laser like black text which is dry to the touch as soon as it is printed and smudge and waterproof.
Dye based ink: Traditionally dye based inks have given brighter more vibrant prints, the disadvantages were that they were liable to smudge, were definitely not waterproof were more likely to fade and needed decent quality paper to print on. Again over the past few years these disadvantages have been overcome and the output achieved by all of the major printer manufacturers in many cases is absolutley breathtaking.
The basic rule still applies though, if you want to preserve your memories then store your pictures in a photo album, safe from direct sunlight and protected from contact with the air around us
4 Responses to “Why do Photo prints fade?”
August 22, 2010 08:41
Are the HP Premium 364 inks dye based or pigment? If Ineeded a really high quality ink with best colour repro and non-fading qualities, do I have any choice int he matter with this HP Photsmart Premium C309 printer?
thanks
Jude Harris
August 23, 2010 13:20
Hi Jude,
The HP 364 cartridges are their Vivera ink range and they are all pigemented inks so should be long lasting and provide vibrant colours for you. The only other thing to add is make sure (if your printouts are important) tha you use matching high quality paper as that will have as much of an effect on your prints and the longevity of them as the ink
June 18, 2011 19:54
Vivera ink range is actually a dye based ink - the HP364 large black is pigment black for richer, sharper, blacker blacks - the remainder of the HP 364 cartridges are all dye based ink
regards shane
June 20, 2011 10:15
My aplogies, you are quite right Shane, the colours are dye based inks. I am certain that when we wrote our original article about Vivera inks they were all pigmented inks http://blog.stinkyinkshop.co.uk/2010/02/08/hp-ink-worth-the-price/ but having just checked on the HP website the blacks are pigmented and the colours dye based. Once again my apologies for supplying the wrong information