m00dawg
28-Jul-2018, 07:58
I read through this (http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?67795-Getting-Clean-Negs/page3&highlight=black+specs+print) post which had a number of suggestions for eliminating dust/specs during processing that I want to try, but I'm wondering if my issue is different.
I took some 4x5 photos at the beach (for fellow Texans, it was the state park in Port Aransas) and knew going in sand was, of course, going to be an issue. I did get a few shots I'm happy with given the season and the African dust in the air (tended to ruin sunrises). Some abstract things in the dunes.
I've scanned these and at the time didn't notice really many dust spots - no more than usual. Well I went into the darkroom to finally wet print these and when I used the grain focuser, I noticed a lot of black specs. These don't show up in the 8x10 wet prints I made. When I hold the negatives up to the light and use a loupe, I can only see them when the light is directly behind the negative as well as some pits in the plastic even. I can't see them just looking at the negative normally.
This showed up in my BW and C-41 but wasn't as much in the E-6. I had those sent off but I'm not sure if that's a good test given how E-6 is processed. I haven't shot 4x5 since but I have shot some 35mm and noticed those negatives are basically void of the black specs and pits. Likewise 4x5 negatives I've shot before this trip look pretty good as well. That makes me think it's not my processing necessarily (though the idea in the above link are things I'm going to try for sure) but was the environment I shot the photos in.
I'm about to go on a trip in a week where I plan on taking 4x5 so my plan is to perhaps make a few sample exposures for comparison. Hoping everything comes up but the one thing I'm wondering about is why I can't see these in the prints I make but could see them in the grain focuser? The prints themselves look sharp (and actually turned out quite well) so I would have expected to see them.
I took some 4x5 photos at the beach (for fellow Texans, it was the state park in Port Aransas) and knew going in sand was, of course, going to be an issue. I did get a few shots I'm happy with given the season and the African dust in the air (tended to ruin sunrises). Some abstract things in the dunes.
I've scanned these and at the time didn't notice really many dust spots - no more than usual. Well I went into the darkroom to finally wet print these and when I used the grain focuser, I noticed a lot of black specs. These don't show up in the 8x10 wet prints I made. When I hold the negatives up to the light and use a loupe, I can only see them when the light is directly behind the negative as well as some pits in the plastic even. I can't see them just looking at the negative normally.
This showed up in my BW and C-41 but wasn't as much in the E-6. I had those sent off but I'm not sure if that's a good test given how E-6 is processed. I haven't shot 4x5 since but I have shot some 35mm and noticed those negatives are basically void of the black specs and pits. Likewise 4x5 negatives I've shot before this trip look pretty good as well. That makes me think it's not my processing necessarily (though the idea in the above link are things I'm going to try for sure) but was the environment I shot the photos in.
I'm about to go on a trip in a week where I plan on taking 4x5 so my plan is to perhaps make a few sample exposures for comparison. Hoping everything comes up but the one thing I'm wondering about is why I can't see these in the prints I make but could see them in the grain focuser? The prints themselves look sharp (and actually turned out quite well) so I would have expected to see them.