The RETRO Look

 For years, everyones big complaint about their "old photo's" was that over time they start to fade and don't look nearly as vibrant as they used to. Now, however, it seems like the old and faded look is being missed. More and more, I'm seeing styles that emulate the old retro look of a faded picture.

With older photos, ozone in the air attacks and degrades the ink over time. I've heard it recommended that you should keep old photos in an album to help reduce fading. My experience is that they still fade, just at a slower rate. Exposure to light and water will also have drastic effects on those old pictures. Keep in mind also, those old prints were produced with chemicals, so the breakdown of the ink is almost inevitable. How quickly the ink breaks down all depends on what the picture is exposed to and the overall quality of the print itself.

These days, printing on an ink jet printer with pigment based inks is probably the best way to go. If the print isn't constantly in bright sunlight and not exposed to harsh elements you should be good for a hundred years or more. 

I've been experimenting with the retro look in black and white for some time and recently have been trying it with color photos. The one above was done entirely in Photoshop.  Below you can see the original.