Pictures and negatives are a few of our most cherished belongings. They chronicle our lives and our journeys. They preserve the faces of our loved ones who have died .They hold every year of our children lives .It is terribly distressing to see that our photographs and negatives have been through fire damage. We are anxious to know if there is any chance that these dear treasures could be restored. If this misfortune has befallen you the basic thing you need to do is call upon a photographic restoration specialist, if at all possible one who has experience with fire damage restoration. Make an appointment to take the pics and negatives to the fire damage restoration expert as fast as you can. The more the pics stay in this condition the more fire damage they will suffer.

Photo negatives are damaged by the warmth of a fire. When the temperature rises the emulsion on a negative that holds the pic gets pasty. It will adhere to any thing it makes contact with. The emulsion may split, warp, or shrink after undergoing fire damage. Color can modify their color or lose color. Black/White negatives are not as liable to fade. Deal with the negatives with caution when moving them after the fire damage as they will mark easily. Dirt and debris will stick to a heated negative many times becoming forever ingrained in the negative.

Photos are also damaged by the warmth from fire. If the temperature of the fire is hot enough the base of the image will smolder. The chemical layer on the photo will turn out to be sticky and adhere to any additional thing it touches Images stacked all together will get stuck together. If the images are in a photograph album do not try to take them out. Fire damaged photos can be marked easily when touched. When the coating is heated and sticky soot can become stuck in the image and the acidity of the soot can damage and modify the colorant in a photo. The more the soot is touching the pic the more greatly it will damage the pic. If water touches the photo the coating will get jelly- like and stick to additional prints or anything else. Don't try to get the photos from one another because the chemical layer will come off then doing away with a piece of the image from the photo.

If the pics are wet,from water damage leave them in plastic bags and put them in the freezer until you have a chance to get them to the photographic restoration professional. If they are dried out move them from the fire damaged spot and keep them out of harm's way until they can be taken to be restored. The fire damage restoration expert may be able to clean and restore several of the negatives and photographs. After the professional has restored the prints as much as can be there may be various images that are just partially restored. There may be parts of the images that are absent from the pic. Computer software can repair the absent pieces of the images. The photo can be scanned, the absent part recreated, and a new photo made that has the total image. This is great news for those that cherishes their photographs.