Negative spotting?

[Rayt]

I scratched a 5x7 negative during the washing process. There was a grain of something abrasive on the emulsion side and I agitated the tray without success and then tried to hose it off. I then stupidly put my finger on it. Live and learn. It’s a pretty cool shot so I want to fix it. I won’t be scanning it so can’t do a digital fix. Since the scratch is on the sky it will show up as a black line on the print. I plan to contact print. What is the best way to fill out the scratch on the negative? Thanks! I did a search and found a post suggesting to use a sharpie. I am sure there are specific tools for this?

[Joe O'Hara]

If the scratch is superficial, you can try carefully going over it with a well-sharpened #5B pencil (very soft lead, available from Blick Art supplies). Realistically you'll probably still be left with some schmutz on the print so you'll have to bleach it out with potassium permanganate. Details are available in "Post Exposure" by all-around photography and technology man about town "Ctein". I found a link at http://ctein.com/news.htm. I downloaded a copy a few years back and the technique actually works, I was doing it today to take out some "edge junk" in one of my prints. It bleaches out all the silver, so you can then spot it in normally. Chemicals needed are KMgO4, acetic acid, and sodium bisulfite.

If you cannot find a copy of the book PM me or search in this forum for it.

[LabRat]

Generally, you would spot the spot with something completely opaque (so when you print the clear spot that turns black) will turn white, and you can spot that print later...

Steve K

[John Layton]

yeah...but good luck finding something that is truly opaque!

Having said this...I do realize some degree of success with Kodak Liquid Opaque, print spotting fluids, and crocein scarlet - with the caveat that these all work generally well for areas which will print with some degree of density. Also...be very careful in using crocein scarlet if the negative will be held in a glass carrier to print...as the very slight degree of elevation (of the spotted area) over the negative base-plane can create newton's rings - which can be a royal pain!

For large areas of lighter sky values, I've been relying on spotting the print, after the first fixing bath (followed by a brief rinse) with ferricyanide, then moving to second fix. But I do have a question about this. Straight ferricyanide is pretty strong stuff, and although I assume that a good second fixing bath after its application will effectively mitigate any problems down the road, I do tend to worry. So if anyone thinks or knows differently, and has an effective work-around (like something I can add to the ferricyanide - a bit of bromide perhaps?)...I'm all ears!

Finally...as a measure of last resort for scratches, I sometimes will take a sharp razor and very carefully cleave the area exactly in the middle of the scratch - which if done well can cause the scratch to magically disappear. But I would be very careful with this in any case...and especially when printing these negatives with anything other than a well diffused light source.

[Drew Wiley]

Crocein scarlet is best used quite dilute on the back side of the neg or on a registered sheet of frosted mylar. It can be gradually built up to act like automatic area dodging. But it isn't a good choice for blocking out tiny spots. For that I prefer to have on hand various fine-point permament ink black markers like Pigma and fine-point Sharpies, again applied to non-emulsion side of the film. But even this kind of ink can be removed with PEC film cleaner etc. I would really avoid potassium permaganate for anything. It tends to produce bleach halos, and can otherwise be nasty to work with. What Ctein did was to bleach away inevitable dye-bleeds around the perimeters of color dye transfer prints. Inside an image it tends to have some undesirable consequences over time; it's a harsh chemical - kinda the nuclear option. But here film itself is in question. Fine scratches in the emulsion are really the worst thing to try to correct. Spots are easier. I don't even bother printing seriously scratched negs. But that rarely happened anyway.

[Paul Ron]

Crocein scarlet is best used quite dilute on the back side of the neg or on a registered sheet of frosted mylar. It can be gradually built up to act like automatic area dodging. But it isn't a good choice for blocking out tiny spots. ly happened anyway.

+1

is that the red stuff you paint on? i couldnt remember what it was called.

since spotone is gone, what took its place?

[Drew Wiley]

Spot Tone is still here. They were bought out by Marshall's and are now sold under that label, along with Marshall's previous products. Spot Tone is really for prints, since it needs to soak in. For neg opaque, you want something related to waterproof India ink, shellac-based and very quick drying. Pigma micron pens comes in various tiny sizes and fit the requirement. For bigger spots, ordinary fine point Sharpie pens work well.

[PRJ]

Like Drew, I've been using Sakura Pigma pens for years. They come in extremely fine points.

[John Berry]

If the scratch is superficial, use nose oil

[Rayt]

The scratch is pretty serious with the emulsion tore off so the print will have a 3mm black line against a light sky. I suppose I should darken the neg with a pen and then spot the print. Thanks everyone for the advice!