Colorful Boxes Make A Great Photo Storage Solution
November 17, 2009
Our digital cameras free us up to take more photos than we ever did on film. Our children grow so fast that we photograph them at every opportunity to preserve memories of them for ever. But the problem is, will those photos last forever? Digital photos are even more vulnerable than film used to be. A computer can crash losing all your files, and even if you have backed up all your pictures on to CD, those CDs can be corroded over time if not kept in optimum conditions. This is why it is so important to find a good long term photo storage solution, to protect all those precious memories that you’ve been collecting.
Backing up your photos on to archive quality CDs and DVDs is only the first step. Those CDs need to be protected from dust, humidity and great temperature fluctuations. Just sealing them in a plastic storage box isn’t the answer. Plastic can give off corrosive vapors that will gradually deteriorate the surface of the CD, affecting the pictures stored on them. CDs and DVDs need an acid free environment and then they can last for as much as 100 years with picture quality intact.
An ideal storage solution is to keep your CDs in a box storage system made from acid free paper, in corrosion proof sleeves.
Exposures have a great range of acid free boxes in perfect sizes for CDs and prints and you can choose from several color ranges, to match your home décor. In fact the boxes will look so good stacked on open shelves that you might be tempted to get more boxes to store other things in too. I can’t decide if I like the Brights collection or the Autumn Spice warm colors best, and then there is the Beautiful Baby Collection in pastels for all your baby photos.
The great thing about having safe storage boxes for your prints is that if, like me, you haven’t got around to making the definitive family album yet, you can keep collecting prints and know that they will be kept safely until the day you eventually do get around to putting them in your album. And if that day never comes you still have your photos neatly organized to look through and enjoy the memories just the same.
A selection of these boxes would make a great gift for an enthusiastic photographer too. Print off a few special pictures to go in the box as part of the gift and you will be giving them the gift of memories lasting a lifetime.
Mum and Photographer
Photo Safe Storage Boxes
November 11, 2009
Now that you have taken the time to print your pictures, where are you going to keep them? Photo safe storage boxes are the simple and perfect solution. Photo storage boxes not only can hold large quantities of pictures but do it in a quick, an organized manner.
Quality Does Matter
Since you invested time and money into printing out your pictures, you should take the time to buy quality storage boxes. These boxes do not have to be expensive but remember this is an investment. Photo storage cases that are designed to preserve your photos for years to come can fall into two main categories, archival storage boxes and acid free storage boxes. Archival storage boxes are built very durable with a very tight fitting lid. These boxes are designed to hold your photos for a long time by protecting them from light, pollution and other harmful items. Archival storage boxes are usually treated so that they neutralize any acid that the photo might come into contact with in the box. Acid free storage boxes are like the name states, the materials they are made from are free from acid. Acid free storage boxes might not have the same barriers that archival storage boxes but will protect your photos for years to come. For paper to be considered acid free, the acidity of the paper should be 7 or higher on the pH scale. Either of these boxes will not protect your photos as well if you store certain kinds of items with your photos. Paper and photo negatives are two items that should not be stored with your photos. Photos should not be stored in manila envelopes, shoe boxes, file photos or plastic baggies. Make sure the storage boxes are acid free, lignin and PVC free. All of these will ruin your photos, you will not see it over night, but they will cause your photos to deteriorate.
Size
Archival and acid free boxes come in different sizes. You need to consider what size pictures you are storing. You should be able to find boxes that will hold small 3×5 photos, medium size photos on up to much larger photos. You also need to consider if you will be storing any pictures that are mounted and or matted. These added features will increase your picture size, and you might need to purchase a larger box.
After you go out and purchase your storage boxes, chip away at those photos that you have stored in a temporary home or still in the computer. Design your filing system to fit your need, whether it is by months or occasions. This way you have made sure that you will have these memories to share with generations to come.
Archive Your Family Photos In Quality Albums For Long-Term Storage
November 3, 2009
Family photo albums are often the most treasured possessions in the household. They hold countless memories not just for those who took the photos but for the generations to come. Older children love looking at photos of when they were babies and one day their children will love looking at their parents as kids. Storing your photos in quality albums so that they will last long enough for your grandchildren to enjoy them is not always the first thing we are thinking of when we put together a family album, but this is just when we should be thinking about archive quality photo storage.
Putting together albums is often something we never get around to. One day we’ll suddenly get the urge to do it and we’ll dig out all our prints, bundle them into whatever album we have available and tick that chore off the list. Cheap albums and album pages are often made of plastics that give off vapors that will eventually damage our precious prints, fading the colors and eroding the surface. When you are going to the trouble of creating a family album, printing off your best pictures of your kids and arranging them in pages, it makes sense to buy good quality albums and album pages that will protect your photos and keep them in good shape for many years.
Look out for albums and album pages that guarantee archive quality pages. They should be acid-free and lignin-free, as well as being sturdy enough not to warp. A great solution is to buy a dedicated ring binder album which offers a selection of different page styles to suit your preferences. There are pocket pages if you want a quick and easy storage solution for your prints or sheet protector pages where you can layout your photos and captions creatively exactly as you want them. The important thing when you are using a scrapbook approach to laying out your photo album is that you use photo-safe adhesives to stick your photos in place.
So before putting your baby album together or making an album of your family vacation, check the album you plan to use. If it is just an ordinary scrapbook or cheap photo album it will probably display your photos alright for a few years, but if you want to your album to be there for your grandchildren to enjoy invest in an archive quality one to keep your precious memories as fresh and bright as the day you took the photo.
Mum and Photographer
Keep Your Family Photo Memories Safe With Archive Photo Storage
October 22, 2009
With the advent of digital photography, most of us take more photos than we even did on film. No longer having to worry about the cost of processing and printing frees us up to snap away, to experiment more and to take loads of photos of our children, recording every special minute of their life. Downloading them onto the computer is easy enough but with the temperamental nature of computers we need to find a better long-term way of keeping our best photos safe. Everyone should find a way of backing up their photos that works for them and you should also look into archive photo storage to keep your best photos in good condition for at least the duration of your lifetime.
One reliable back-up method is burning your photos to CD or DVD as soon as you download them. CDs are supposed to be long-lasting, but it has now been discovered that they can actually degrade within 2 years and start losing content, if exposed to acidic elements in the air. The boxes that they come in don’t even guarantee their protection, as the plastic used in them can give off vapors that contribute to their deterioration. So if you want to keep precious family photos safe for many years what are your best options?
You can buy special pocket pages that protect CDs from corrosion and help them last for 40 or more years. These pages can be kept in an archival quality CD album or storage box which gives added protection and makes them easier to organize. For long term storage of your digital photos you should also choose archival quality CDs to burn them onto and label them with a special non-corrosive pen that won’t damage their surface.
It is up to you whether you store every single photo you take, or just choose your best for this special treatment. If you take loads of pictures but don’t want to keep them all, a good idea is to make a selection of your favorites about once a month and burn an archival CD to preserve them. This will ensure that you have a continuous record of your family history stored safely, without creating an unmanageable bulk of CD albums by storing every single picture. You should still back up all your photos to an external hard-drive or to your D-drive as you download them, to avoid losing them to computer failure before you have burned your CDs.
Make sure you protect your digital photos so that you and your children can enjoy them for years to come.
Mum and Photographer
Putting Your Pictures On To Canvas Ensures That Your Memories Will Last A Lifetime.
October 19, 2009
I am no stranger to putting pictures on to canvas, but when I saw the word Tyvek on the website I had to check it out. Long before my pictures were gracing my walls or anyone else’s I would awaken at four thirty in the morning to eat breakfast before I left for work. My whole family is in construction so most days I would drive at least an hour to work almost always in a house wrapped in Tyvek.
If ever I had any questions regarding the durability of my photo canvas creations they went out the window when I discovered that one of the main companies that manufactures the canvas on which my photos are printed also makes the material that is so durable that they wrap houses in it before they add the siding. In fact they also offer the Tyvek up for inkjet printing to make ultra durable outdoor signs and banners.
I find photography more satisfying than the drywall finishing that I did for nearly a decade, although I do take pride in the fact that I can fix most minor home hiccups myself. While my skills in drywall make my surroundings strong and beautiful, my skills in photography lend strength and beauty to my memories as well as my surroundings.
Having a precious moment in your life on display where it can brighten your day bolsters that memory until its strength is unshakable. In a world where Alzheimer’s is striking before retirement, archiving a photo in a box isn’t enough. Displays like canvases and photo collages are the foundation of archiving those memories in your mind. I would happily lose my keys everyday if I never forget the day my son was born.
Plus, if it is out for all to see, it is easy to share the memories with friends and family. Pass on photos and stories like traditions and they will never be lost. What do you want your legacy to look like? My great-grandmother made the most amazing gravy, a recipe that endures unchanged to this day, but there is not one surviving photograph of her. In this day and age where there is even a camera in your phone, make sure your legacy is one of happy and enduring memories.
Every construction company that I’ve ever worked with has trusted Tyvek to keep out the wind and rain and ensure the safety of the house in progress. If it is sturdy enough to build your house with, it is durable enough to entrust your memories to. Start with one photo, a moment that you want to endure all the tests of time and go from there. Soon you will be surrounded with beautiful memories that grow stronger every day.
Christy Higby
Re-capture Your Summer With A Photo Printed On To Canvas
September 10, 2009
Summer is drawing to a close and the kids are back at school. Now is a great time to look through all the photos you’ve taken of your kids this summer and pick out the best ones to get them printed. You could put together a whole series to make a photo album of your vacation or just pick out one photo that really captures the joyous feeling of your family vacation and get it printed on to canvas so that the memory will last you forever.
Canvas prints are a fantastic way of preserving and displaying your very best photos and building up a gallery of gorgeous memories of your children. Good canvas prints are printed on archival quality canvas, which will last for over a hundred years and are coated with a special UV protective spray to stop them fading. They are the equivalent of the ancestral oil paintings hanging on the walls of stately homes, except that these days they are affordable for all of us and much more fun!
You don’t need to choose solemn portraits for your canvas prints. Any informal moment that captures your kids with happy laughing smiles has the makings of a wonderful picture for your family gallery. Vacations are great times to grab these moments when you are relaxed and have more time to spend with your kids and just play with them and with your camera.
Make a selection of all the pictures of your kids that you like from your summer and then view them large on your computer screen in a slideshow. Look through it several times, stand back and see how the pictures look from a distance. You should begin to get a feel of which photos will translate into prints that you’ll enjoying looking at on the wall for the years to come. Of course no-one is saying that you just have to choose one photo to print. A whole series of photos from one vacation can make a very effective display on your wall. You are only limited by the space that you have available on your walls and by your budget for printing.
Remember too that when you send your photos off to be printed on canvas you can ask for some re-touching to be done, so if there is a picture that you love which is spoiled by an unsightly background or a splash of chocolate ice-cream down the front of a pretty summer dress, then you can still have it printed with the help of a little digital magic.
So get sorting through your summer photos and re-capture your vacation with a beautiful canvas print of your kids having the time of their lives.
A Baby Picture Frame Is Never The Same
August 28, 2009
A baby picture frame can make a beautiful gift for any future mother or father. It is never an easy task to decide upon a suitable present for a newborn. However, giving a frame that can be used to house a picture of a baby can be an incredible choice.
This Type of Frame Has Many Uses
One of the best uses for a picture frame of this type is to hold an ultrasound baby photo. This is a breathtaking image to keep in a picture frame because it is the first look that you have had at your precious baby. Today’s ultrasound images are very vivid, and can even show a baby’s feet, mouth, toes, and various other body parts. Putting the ultrasound picture in a lovely frame will put your baby on display for all who happen to walk into your living room or anywhere else that the frame is kept.
Another great use for this kind of frame is to hold a picture of the first day that your baby was born. Since babies are all beautiful, it is wise to capture all of their innocence, peacefulness, and awe on the day that they arrived in our world. Taking a photo of your child on the first day of their existence can be a priceless picture. Once a mother returns to her job after maternity leave, she can proudly display her new child on her desk at her job. This way everyone who walks by can view the new addition to her family. There is no better way to announce to the entire staff at your place of employment that you are a mother now.
The third type of photo that you can place in the frame of your newborn can be when it arrives home for the very first time. Take a photo of your husband or wife placing the baby in its crib for the very first time in its life. The picture should capture the pure expression on the child’s face. Babies do not lie and that is part of what makes them so beautiful. You can look back at their first day at home with laughter many years later. Remember to get all of the family members in the photo so that it can be a shot the entire family will cherish.
This type of baby picture frame can be an amazing present that all parents will love because it has so many uses. Whether you place an ultrasound photo, first day at home picture or other type of picture in the frame, it is still your beautiful child.
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