scratches on negative

[Percy]

Hi.
Now that I've finally gotten this great contact print, I am faced with dealing with the issue of....scratches on the negative.
I bought some Spot tone today...tried it..made things worse. How do you deal with scratches that make black marks on
the contact print?

Thanks.

[Craig Wactor]

Those are scratches on the emulsion. Not a lot you can do, except to be more careful next time. When tray processing more than one sheet at a time, the corners of the film can scratch the other sheets. Scratches on the base are easier to hide. They leave white lines, and can be filled in by rubbing nose grease on the film base.

you can try spot toning the negative, but I would just fix it in photoshop.

[David A. Goldfarb]

If they aren't too large, one option is to opaque them on the neg and spot on the print.

[ronald moravec]

I would not try developing in a tray using the shuffle method. A single sheet in a 11x14 tray emulsion up is ok.

[robert_4927]

Adams retouch machine. With a little practice you can work miracles. Craig I have 16x20 negatives. What do you have at home to scan it with?

[robert_4927]

Percy , I've been retouching negatives for some time and I never use spot tone on a negative. On a print yes. On a negative i use water color pigments or soft lead. On the negative you will need to use kodak retouching fluid. This is a clear substance that gives tooth to the base side of the negative to allow the lead to adhere. if you make a mistake on the base side you can always wipe it off and start over. I will recommend a book to you that will explain just about everything. It is "retouching from start to finish" by Veronica Cass Weiss. you can find it at Amazon for about 5.00 used. I work in Platinum so fixing it in photoshop and then printing it is not an option unless I can make a new "giclee" negative in order to make a contact print.