Water damaged photos can often be saved, but time matters. Wet photographs start to stick together and grow mould within a day or two, and once that happens some damage can’t be undone. Whether it’s a burst pipe, a leaking hot water system, a Perth winter storm or a flood, these first steps give your photos the best chance.
First, stay safe
Floodwater and stormwater can carry sewage, chemicals and mould. Wear gloves, closed shoes and a mask (an N95 if there’s any sign of mould), and only go back in when it’s safe to.
Work out what needs attention first
- Photos you have no other copy of. If the negatives survived, new prints can be made later. If they didn’t, the print is the only copy, so start there.
- Glass and cased photos. Glass plate negatives, lantern slides and cased photos such as daguerreotypes and ambrotypes need to be dried straight away and must never be frozen.
- Modern prints and inkjet prints. These soften quickly when wet, so don’t leave them sitting in water.
Step 1: Handle them gently
The surface of water damaged photos is soft and easily marked. Hold it by the edges and don’t touch the image. To move a wet photo, slide it onto a piece of board or stiff card, image side up.
Step 2: Rinse off mud and dirt
If the water was dirty, rinse water damaged photos one at a time, gently, gently in a tray of clean, cold water. Distilled water is best. Don’t rub or wipe the image surface, and don’t soak photos in warm water.
Step 3: Air dry, face up
- Lay the photos face up in a single layer on paper towel or blotting paper. A clean fly screen propped between two chairs also works well, because air reaches both sides.
- Make sure nothing touches the image surface, and don’t let photos touch each other, or they’ll stick together as they dry.
- Change the paper towel as it gets damp.
- Dry them indoors, out of direct sun, with a fan on low pointed into the room rather than at the photos.
- Don’t use a hair dryer, heater or oven. Heat warps photos and encourages mould.
- Negatives should come out of their plastic sleeves. Hang them by one corner on the edge, away from the image, with a plastic peg.
Don’t worry if photos curl as they dry. That can usually be dealt with later.
Step 4: Can’t dry them within 48 hours? Freeze them
If water damaged photos can’t be dried in time, freezing stops mould and stops photos sticking together, and buys you time.
- Put a sheet of baking paper or wax paper between each photo, then seal small batches in zip-lock bags and freeze them.
- Later, thaw them one batch at a time and air dry them as in step 3.
- Paper and plastic based photos can be frozen. Never freeze photos on glass, tintypes, or cased photos such as daguerreotypes.
Photos stuck together
Don’t pull them apart. Forcing them can tear the image away. If they’re still wet, try separating them gently in clean water. If they won’t come apart easily, freeze them together and get professional advice.
Photos stuck to glass or in albums
- In a frame: if a photo has stuck to the glass, don’t try to peel it off. Leave it in the frame and contact us. Our first step is to keep the image safe: we can often digitise it through the glass before anything else is tried, so a copy exists whatever happens next.
- In an album: take out the photos that come away easily and dry them as above. If a photo is stuck to a sticky or magnetic album page, leave it on the page and dry or freeze the page as one piece. Once it’s dry, our photo album scanning service can digitise the whole album, stuck pages included.
What not to do
- Don’t use heat to speed up drying.
- Don’t rub, wipe or blot the image side.
- Don’t stack wet photos or press them under books while they’re wet.
- Don’t seal damp photos in airtight boxes, or mould will grow.
- Don’t throw a photo away because it looks ruined. A badly damaged print can often still be digitised and restored.
Once they’re dry: can water damaged photos be restored?
Often, yes. Once a photo is dry and stable, we digitise it at high resolution and repair the digital copy by hand: stains, tide lines, lifted emulsion and missing areas. Your original stays as it is, and you receive a restored digital file and a fine art print, ready to frame.
Restoration starts at $289 inc GST for a two-hour session, which includes digitising and a 6×8 print. Assessing the damage is free, so you’ll know what’s possible before you commit. Perth customers can contact us to arrange a hand-over, and you can post photos to us from anywhere in Australia once they’re dry.
If you have a valuable or unusual item, such as a glass negative or a cased photograph that got wet inside its case, a conservator may be the right first call. The Australian Institute for Conservation of Cultural Material (AICCM) lists conservators in private practice. If your photos were damaged by fire, smoke or heat as well as water, see our guide to fire damaged photos.
Once your photos are dry, our guides to cleaning old photos before scanning and storing old photos safely cover what comes next.
Common questions
Often, yes. Once the photo is dry and stable, it can be digitised at high resolution and the digital copy repaired by hand, including stains, tide lines and missing areas. The original is kept as it is.
Yes, most paper and plastic based photos can be frozen if you can’t air dry them within 48 hours. Put baking paper between each photo and seal small batches in zip-lock bags. Never freeze photos on glass, tintypes or cased photos such as daguerreotypes.
Request a free damage assessment
General information only. Before you try anything on an original, request a free damage assessment.
