Photo Negative Storage 101
Ah, photo negatives. The stored, and then quickly forgotten about, parts of the photo development process. Little strips of hard, plastic film, coated in chemicals, that serve as backups in case something happens to your original photos. If you look closely enough you can see vague shapes in the panels of a negative that look kind of like photos, but not much details is visible. How do you properly care for them until you can bring them to us to digitize?
First, what not to do: don’t just throw them in a box in the paper or plastic sleeves that they were placed in after being developed. Those temporary holders will damage them over time. After that, storing photo negatives looks a lot like storing photos in that you want to control exposure to the elements. In particular:
Light is bad - light and sunlight can cause photos to fade over time. It does the same thing to negatives, just faster, and with more potential for lasting damage. We can restore vibrant colors to developed photos, but we can’t always fix shapes and features that get completely blown out of negatives by exposure to light.
Drier is better - mold is an issue for photo negatives as well. Keep them stored somewhere dry.
Keep cool - film negatives preserve the best when kept in cool locations. Heat can warp the plastic and turn the negatives brown. If you are in a warm, tropical climate, you might even consider putting them in a refrigerator!
Store them separately - Don’t put them in with photos and photo albums. The weight can cause the plastic to curl over time. Store them only with other negatives.
To properly store them, just get a pair of cotton or powder-free gloves, some archival sleeves, and put the negatives in the sleeves. It’s STRONGLY recommended that you label the sleeves, so you remember what’s on the negatives. Put the sleeves in a box or binder that’s designed to store negatives, and you’re all set! We don’t know how long negatives can last for, because plastic film is only about 140 years old. It’s estimated that properly archived negatives can last for up to 1,000 years. So, keep them cool, dark, dry, and clean, and your negatives will outlast your photos, allowing you the flexibility to have them digitized by us at your convenience.