How to take care of your collection: Just Common Sense (Part I)

Light is also an important factor that can cause damage to your collection. As a general rule, stone, metal, glass and ceramics are not dramatically affected by light, but all organic materials, that is to say, originated from plant or animals, are susceptible to be damaged by it. Textiles become brittle, colours in woodblock prints, watercolors or miniatures fade because the particles of pigment almost without any binder are fully exposed to the light; similar effects can be observed in ethnographic objects and so on.
How far should a conservation-restoration process go? As the time passes by, materials darken, protective coatings yellow or become opaque, superficial grime accumulates over the artworks, etc. Furthermore, there are some factors
The most common application of Infrared Photography is to show preparatory under-drawings, composition variations and difficult to read inscriptions.