DIN A4 Prints for Long-term Archival of Photographs

Data: DIN A4 (297x210mm) or less, 600dpi max, RGB, CMYK or LAB, with the job ticket.. Provided the final format: approx 305x230mm

For your valuable photos and documents, we have an analogue archive solution as a printed photo, which is suitable for long-term archiving and dry and dark storage ability of more than 200 years, before a perceptible colour change occurs. The photos are separated with unbuffered cotton liner papers and optinal in acid-free and light-proof cardboard boxes to provide optimal long-term storage conditions.

 

Our longterm-archival photo prints are characterized by the following features:

• We print your photo in the highest resolution possible directly from your RGB, CMYK oder LAB colour space. You do not need to convert to special ICC profiles.
• We print on the printing system with the most accurate colour reproduction of the entire printer market
• We print with the latest and long-term stable Epson HDX colour pigments
• We print on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Pearl Cotton, offering enormous storage capacity
• Used ICC profiles, Print Date, Rendering Intent, printer, substrate, pigment inks, and more are noted on each print in a status line below the image file name
• The prints are separated with 18gr / sqm unbuffered cotton liner layers to prevent chafing and scratching
• The prints are on request in special foto archive boxes, which are optimal for long-term archival
• Printing papers, liner papers, archive boxes are certified and designed for long-term archival
• Detailed information on the materials used and their suitability for long-term archiving can be found at the bottom of this page

 

Printer: EPSON SureColor 9000V Spectro

• The SureColor SC-P9000V the printer with the most accurate colour reproduction of the entire printer market
• Epson TFP Precision Core printhead and pigmented inks with orange, green and violet as additional colours
• We print in the highest possible resolution of the printer
• We print directly from your RGB colour space to reproduce as much of your photographed gamut as possible
• Printers and metrology were on 23.12.2015 and put into operation in early 2016

 

Pigment ink: EPSON HDX colours

• We print with 11 different pigment inks

• With Violet ink, UltraChrome HDX inks produce a wide range of vibrant colours and deep, rich blacks and dense shadow areas
• The new Photo Black ink has, compared to previous inks to an up to 1.5-fold higher concentration of pigment that provides deeper blacks.
• UltraChrome HDX inks have been developed for durability. Especially in terms of yellow, the weakness of the previous HDR inks were eradicated. Mark McCormick-Goodhart, Director of Aardenburg Imaging and Archives writes: "Yes, the weak link in the HDR ink set [...] is the yellow by a considerable margin. The new HDX ink set fixes the weak yellow issue."
• Henry Wilhelm of Wilhelm Imaging Research attributes the new HDX inks: "Prints made on Epson fine art photo papers and canvas with the new UltraChrome HDX pigment inks are expected to have WIR Album and Dark Storage Permanence Ratings in excess of 200 years, with many of the papers expected to achieve a rating of greater than 400 years in dark storage; the prints exhibit high resistance to atmospheric ozone; have very good water-resistance properties; and the pigment images are extremely resistant to damage caused by storage or display in high-humidity environments. In addition, preliminary data from ongoing tests indicate that, depending on the specific paper, WIR Display Permanence Ratings for black and white prints made with both the UltraChrome HDX and HD inks using Epson’s “Advanced Black and White Print Mode” will likely exceed 400 years. The increased Dmax, wider colour gamut, and reduced metamerism provided by the new Epson UltraChrome HDX pigment inks serve to significantly enhance the visual brilliance of both colour and black and white images,” said Henry Wilhelm, founder and director of research at Wilhelm Imaging Research. "The increased overall permanence of the prints represents a significant contribution to photography."

 

Substrate: Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl

• We have long searched for a paper that is able to provide just such long-term qualities as our HDX inks. We have chosen a non-resin-coated paper. It is also important that our Hahnemühle paper contains no optical brighteners that are critical from various reasons for long-term stability.
• We have also chosen the paper because many of the the certification experts have gained a wealth of experience on this Hahnemühle paper.
• The paper is Epson Digigraphie certified
• The natural white paper with a grammage of 320 gr / m² made from 100% cotton, free of optical brighteners and is reminiscent of a warmtoniges barite paper. With the wide colour gamut and high colour density exceptional colour and black / white nuances are achieved.
• Wilhelm Imaging Research certifies for the paper with the "old" Epson HDR inks a colour stability in dark storage of more than 200 years.

 

Liner: cotton tissue paper with no alkaline buffer

• Between each photo sheets a tissue paper with no alkaline buffer from 100% cotton with a weight of 17-18 gr / sqm is inserted in order to minimize mechanical friction
• The tissue paper is smooth on one side with a pH of 7.0 - acid-free and without optical brighteners.
• The paper has passed the Photographic Activity Test (PAT) ISO 18916th

 

The archive box

• The photo prints are available at an additional cost in a Hahnemühle photo archive box. The archive box is writable and can be stored percfectly. Each archive box can contain approximately 50 pictures with liner papers.
• The storage boxes are guaranteed acid-free and perfectly suitable for storage of photo printouts.
• The storage boxes are resistant to aging in accordance with DIN 6738, ISO 9706 and ISO 16245

 

Why we chose these materials

When we started to deal with the long-term preservation of photographs, we researched on various websites and studied different expert advice.
The best known source is certainly Wilhelm Imaging Research, which provide an impressive range of information about long-term durability of specific printer / ink / paper combinations. Wilhelm Imaging Research has been our major source. The proximity to the printer and paper industries, paying the Wilhelms studies, however, led us for further sources. We found, for example, many sources, who reported that in some cases papers certified by Wilhelm Imaging as extremely long lasting developed cracks already after a few years. The consideration of air influences such as ozone on prints also seemed to have been considered very late by Wilhelm Imaging. For these reasons, we searched further expertese.
An excellent advisor was Mark McCormick-Goodhart, chief and founder of Aardenburg Imaging and Archives - a company that "engages photographic and printmaking communities worldwide in the curation of artistic and scientific materials, data, and media essential to the creation and preservation of images. Augmented by a unique collaboration in a free membership, donation-based funding and materials submission model, Aardenburg’s four areas of expertise – Photography, Printmaking, Research, and Archives – seek to provide members with the opportunity to engage in the full spectrum of the artistic, historic, and scientific relationship of photography to printmaking, with special emphasis on the hard copy print in relationship to all areas of expertise." - the perfect match for our preservation mission.
Mark MacCormick-Goodhart contributed many insights and ideas in our project. His analytical approach of Megaluxhours as a measuring point for the long-term stability and its idea of ‹i-Metric for the evaluation of the quality degradation caused by change in colour when viewing the prints are remarkable. Based on its findings and results of Aardenburg Light Fade Test Results Database and due to its assessment of our project in terms of substrates, printers and ink we opted for the Hahnemühle Photo Rag Pearl.
As for the storage for archiving, we have asked recommendations of Dr. Philipp Stolper, head of the Department of Materials & Environment at the Fogra Forschungsgesellschaft e.V. I was in contact with him because of the suitability of Hahnemühle / Tecco / Sihl papers that partially are certified by Fogra according to ISO 9706 ( "Requirements for permanence Information and documentation - - Paper for documents"). But he wrote to us in relation to this standard: "This certification tests kappa number (indicator of lignin content), alkaline reserve (the amount of substances which can neutralize aging acids), pH in aqueous solution (it determines if the paper is generally sour?) and the tear resistance according to Elmendorf (mechanical stability). This standard is aimed at ensuring that the paper does not release acids or oxididants and therefore causes additional damage to the ink. This standard is not on the effects of paper and ink, and cannot seen the change of ink. "
Our first idea was to insert the prints in Polyetylensleeves, as recommended by Epson for archiving. But Dr. Stolper had a clear recommendation: "As for the polyethylene sleeeve I do not know if this will be counterproductive as accumulated moisture and microbiology might strike." This was understandable, also McCormick-Goodhart suggested: "a high quality PE wrapper won’t necessarily harm anything, but probably is unnecessary unless you expect high levels of physical print handling on a routine basis." We therefore removed the polyethylene sleeves.
 

Why is the long-term preservation and archival of photographs important?

Today almost all photographs are recorded digitally. Digital images are inexpensive, high-resolution, colour accurate and excellent to retouch. But can we be certain that these images will still be there in many years? That they are still recognizable? That the colours look just as they have done at the time of the image being taken?
Two typical problems can easily be seen:
 

1. Problem: risk of total loss of storage media

• Hard drives can break or produce fatal read errors
• CDs and DVDs can corrode and suffer scratches
• Flash memory and SSDs have a certain number of read/write circles, a failure of the electronic parts results in total loss.
• Because of their small size, these media can easily be forgotten or discarded inadvertently.
• Unintentional dropping, water, etc. can lead to failure of the media.
• Even cloud storage provides no really safe solution: What if the provider goes insolvent? Who guarantees for the data? Will Amazon and Google still be around in 50 years?
• Will you be able to permanently migrate your data to new media and file formats and to store these files several times for safety reasons? 
• Colour microfilm would be a solution, but nowadays it is only hardly used; also return printing is expensive and requires specialized readers and printers.

2. Problem: readability of data formats and colour spaces

• Can data formats such as JPG, TIF and PSD still be read in decades?
• Can colour spaces like ECIRGB V2 or AdobeRGB be interpreted in the future, can the original colours still be recognized?
• Will I be able to permanently migrate files into new data formats?

To a analogue long-term archival there are hardly any alternatives. "A physical print is the only viable way at this point in time to ensure that future audiences will see the aesthetics of the image the way the photographer wanted them portrayed. The print is where the photographer is able to instill and ensure his or her own aesthetic values in their image craft. At this time, enduring, nothing less than a print, a tactile, physical object, very often hand signed by the artist, achieves this goal." Mark McCormick-Goodhart