Stelcom

What causes printed photos to fade? Is it the paper or cartridge ink or both? Photos printed around Christmas time of last year have faded considerably. It's a typical HP inkjet, I always buy HP replacement cartridges.

PC eye

If they are printed on standard 11" x 8 1/2" paper exposure to even room light will see them fade due to exposure to light and the loss of the ink's pigmentation. The amount of actual ink that goes on standard sheets of paper isn't a large amount. For photo printing to see the best results you would need the photo quality paper rather then the standard. But that will soak up ink from the cartridge pretty fast.

computerhakk

A lot of things, basically almost everything can effect the quality of it. The most important key is storage. If it's not kept will, its really unavoidable. The humidity in the air, the way you store or handle it, light, pollutants, dry conditions such as attics, etc..

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DCIScouts

But, back to what PC Eye was referring to, the best way to preserve images is to have them printed on high-quality, photo-quality paper while using the genuine cartridges for your printer. Furthermore, after that point, try to keep them away from sunlight, temperature changes and severe humidity as much as possible, any one of these things can adversely affect the life of the photo. Theorectically, when using true photo paper and ink, you should get about 75 years of life in a frame, and 150 years in a photo album...

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In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
-Martin Luther King Jr.

The most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is that if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a little.
-Joe Martin

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Cheers CF

Stelcom

Thanks, last time I used Staples Photo paper. Next time I'll buy something better.

DCIScouts

Yeah, store brand paper usually doesn't work very well. Try to stick to the paper that is made by the company that produced your printed. They usually produce paper that is specifically made to work with their ink.

__________________
In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.
-Martin Luther King Jr.

The most overlooked advantage to owning a computer is that if they foul up there's no law against wacking them around a little.
-Joe Martin

FOLDING FOR THE GOOD OF MANKIND :F@H Team 44358
Posting and you - CF Edition
Cheers CF

PC eye

Staples generally carries HP cartridges from what I've seen along with Lexmark. When trying some(supposed) photo quality paper out of Walmart on one occasion you now where that went fast! HP for HP paper.