If you’ve been printing or developing photos for several years, chances are some of your photos are already fading and losing their original quality. The fact of the matter is that the properties of most photo paper and the chemicals and dyes used to print on it do not react well to long periods of exposure to light and air. Even when properly framed and stored, the average time it takes for a photograph to begin to lose quality is about six to seven years, with noticeable general discoloration usually occurring within twenty years.

So what is anyone to do if they don’t want their favorite memories to have a lifespan of less than twenty years before they need to be replaced? Easy: print photos on canvas.

Canvas imaging is a new phenomenon in the world of photography, reaching its peak just a few years ago when technology advanced enough to make canvas printing as affordable as traditional photo printing. Printing images on canvas is cheaper than ever, faster than ever, and more widely used than ever. The best part? Pictures printed on canvas can last for over a hundred years before it starts to fade.

Look back at all the lasting remnants of culture around the world. What are the two best-preserved formats found by archaeologists over and over again? Stone and canvas. Obviously printing photos on stone isn’t really plausible (or probably something you want to do), but canvas? Canvas photos can be ordered simply by uploading a digital image to a professional canvas printer’s website, or by attaching it to an email to a qualified canvas print technician.

Now, you may think that printing photos on canvas (or canvas prints in general) shouldn’t last as long because of the way they are printed on canvas and not painted on like traditional artwork from hundreds of years ago. . While it seems like a logical conclusion, it is sorely wrong. Using today’s technology used with canvas prints and specialized inkjet printers, your photos are transferred to canvas prints in a similar way to traditional painting by injecting the canvas with special dyes and inks, making it that ensures high-quality images with rich, vibrant colors that will pop in most cases. they will likely remain vibrant and show no color loss until the day they die.

Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. is just one of many reputable organizations that have taken the time to examine modern canvases to try to figure out how long they can last before they start to fade. The result is a staggering 60-148 years with no perceptible fading in a humid, sunlit environment. For most people in the United States, you’ll be looking at the higher end of the spectrum, as many places don’t reach regular year-round humidity levels of 60%, the baseline used in Wilhelm’s tests.

How do you know if the canvases will last a long time where you live? Let’s look at some basic weather data. The ten wettest environments in the United States are all in Alaska, with an average humidity of 70-80%. One of the most extreme environments possible in the United States when it comes to hosting your canvas prints, Alaska also enjoys a variable amount of sunlight throughout the year, with some months having nearly constant sunlight. Even in these harshest environments, according to one of Wilhelm’s researchers, a high-quality canvas print can last about 70 years on average in Alaska, assuming the owner keeps it in an environment that is not fully exposed to the outside elements. . For the rest of the country, where the sun exposure is much less constant and the humidity level is much lower, this is fantastic news.

In most areas of the US, humidity levels rarely exceed 30 degrees. Taking the average temperature, amount of sunlight, and humidity in the United States, canvas prints last (on average) more than a century if kept in a stable environment. As you can see, printing your photos on canvas is not only affordable with prices starting under $25, it’s also worth it as your memories are sure to last a lifetime.