That’s the reason I take a few moments each month to label the photos I’ve printed or had developed. The dates, places and names are preserved for years to come.
There are a few guidelines for how to best label your photos:
- Use a soft graphite pencil or a fine-line permanent marker. My favorite marker to use is a Sharpie ultra fine line permanent marker. If you’d rather use pencil, choose one like the General’s Sketch and Wash pencil which writes easily on slick surfaces, like photography paper.
- Use ink that is fast drying, so the ink does not transfer to your fingers or other photos placed on top.
- Write important information around the outside edge of the photo.
- Before you begin writing, prepare a clean, hard surface to place your photos on. Place the photo you’re working on facedown, and label each separately. Do not label on a stack of photos because it will cause too soft of a surface to write on and may result in an impression of your writing showing through on the photo.
- Never use a ballpoint pen to label your photos. The pressure from pushing down on the ballpoint tip will leave an impression on your photo and the ink may leak through.
