Printed photos fade due to light, humidity, and time. Understand how long your prints truly last. Protect your Australian family memories. Digitise your photos
Most printed photos won't last a lifetime. That's not a sales pitch. It's chemistry.
The dyes and papers used in colour printing from the 1960s through to the early 2000s were not designed for permanence. They were designed for affordability and speed. The result is that a significant portion of Australia's family photo collections are already fading, and most people don't realise it until the damage is visible.
Why photos fade
Light is the main culprit. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from windows, fluorescent lights, and even ambient indoor light breaks down the dye layers in colour prints over time. Colour fades unevenly: cyan typically disappears first, which is why old photos often develop a reddish or orange cast before they lose detail entirely.
Humidity accelerates the process. Moisture causes the paper substrate to warp, and in high-humidity environments like bathrooms or unventilated storage areas, it creates conditions for mould. Heat compounds the problem, which is why attics and garages are the worst places to store photos.
Handling adds up over time too. Oils from fingertips sit on the surface, attract dust, and cause surface abrasion across years of contact.
How long different types of prints last
Chromogenic (C-type) prints from 1970s and 1980s minilab processing typically last 25 to 50 years under typical home storage conditions. Many of these prints are already showing fading if they were stored near light or in variable-humidity environments.
Inkjet prints from home printers can last anywhere from 15 to 100 years depending on the ink and paper combination. Consumer inkjet prints from the late 1990s and early 2000s can fade dramatically in a decade under strong light.
Professional archival prints using pigment-based inks on acid-free paper last 100 to 200 years under controlled conditions. These are what art galleries and conservation organisations specify.
Instant prints from Polaroid, Fujifilm Instax and similar cameras are notoriously unstable. Many show significant fading and colour shift within 20 to 30 years, particularly if stored in direct contact with each other or sealed inside albums.
What digitising actually preserves
A digital copy doesn't preserve the physical photo. The original still fades. What digitising does is capture the image at its current state, before further degradation removes detail that can't be recovered.
A scan taken today of a 1985 family photo captures everything visible in that photo right now. In ten years, when the print has faded further, the digital copy holds the image as it looked in 2026.
That's the value of scanning sooner rather than later. The more fading that has already occurred, the less information remains to be captured.
Why photographing photos on your phone isn't enough
A lot of people have already done this. They've held their phone over an album page, taken a photo of the photo, and felt like the job was done. For a quick share or a reminder of a face, that's fine. For preservation, it isn't.
A phone photograph of a printed photo introduces compression, perspective distortion, uneven lighting, and motion blur that a phone camera can't fully correct. The resulting file may look acceptable on a small screen but won't hold up for reprinting, restoration, or long-term archiving. More importantly, it doesn't solve the degradation problem. The original print keeps fading regardless of what's on your phone.
Professional scanning captures the photo at its current quality level through calibrated equipment with controlled lighting, producing a file that accurately represents what's in the print. That's the copy worth keeping.
What to do with photos that are already fading
Digitise first, then store properly. A professionally scanned file at high resolution can often reveal detail that isn't obvious to the eye on a faded print. Once digitised, store the originals in acid-free boxes or archival sleeves, away from direct light, in a stable, low-humidity environment.
For photos already showing significant colour shift, professional photo restoration can partially correct colour casts and recover lost contrast. It works from what's in the scan, so the quality of the original scan matters. Of course, the prints are also special as they are, so the Capture Australia scanning technology can also output the RAW original colours, so just ask your partner shop for this option. Sometimes nostalgia can also remind us of the glory days in a different way.
Capture Australia scans albums using proprietary glare-removal technology, delivering high-resolution files to Google Photos that preserve what's still visible in your prints. Drop off your albums at an expert partner shop in Sydney, Canberra or Brisbane.
Find a partner shop near you → HERE