How can I remove ink off of a photograph?

Question

I should have elaborated more... I just had some photos done and my husband wrote on the backs of them with a marker. Then stacked them on top of each other. The ink got all over the fromts of the other photos. I was wondering if there was a way to remove the pen marks without ruining the actual photo.

Answer 1

PEC-12 is awesome at removing stains. Rather than buying a bottle, you could probably call around to one-hour photo labs to see if they have any and can clean them off for you (I'd imaging that most places would do this at no charge, but ask!). Test a small area first before using it on the entire photo. It works very well on modern photographic paper, but may damage older emulsions. I used to work in a one-hour lab, and although we did not have this product for sale in the store, we did use in in the lab to clean negatives and prints.

Answer 2

I would preserve them on a computer....if you have the pictures on a disc or thumb drive. If you don't, but you have the negs, you can go to a 1 hr photo and ask them to put the photos on a disc. that way you'll have them on the disc, and you can copy them onto your computer. If you don't have the negs, you can scan the pics onto your computer and use photoshop to get rid of the ink (using the healing or clone tool)....but that's more work. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Answer 3

Rather than dip your original and irreplaceable photos into someone's secret elixir, I would do a high resolution scan (at least 600dpi) of the originals and use a photo editing application to remove the stains.

Answer 4

Yes, it will come off with a product called:
PEC -12. (Archival Photographic Emulsion Cleaner).
It is manufactured by PHOTOGRAPHIC SOLUTIONS
1-800-637-3212

It will take off ink or even permanent magic marker!
I'm a professional photographer, and it's saved my life
a few times!

Answer 5

keep it in water for a while