Images of mistakes - good or bad..

[David Lobato]

Where on the film holder would that light leak be? (a gap in the dark slide, side of the holder..?). I really want to avoid this issue.

I was just identifying three 8x10 film holders recently with corner and edge light leaks. One was obvious, a large chip on the corner of a dark slide opposite the tab end. The others were hard to determine, but they are at the hinged end of the holder. First, the flexible tape at the end is worn and loose with the film holder body. Second, there is a larger than normal gap between the plastic parts at each end corner. These gaps are on the outer face, at the corners. Age, or who knows why, cause the plastic parts to shrink very slightly. With the loose tape and a slight gap at the corners, light gets to the film corners. I set aside and marked the bad dark slide and the bad film holder, which I won't bother to try to repair. One more failure, A C-41 color 8x10 negative had a big light streak. It was a long crack in the plastic dark slide, hard to notice unless it was removed and flexed to open the crack. It paid off to methodically check the film holders and refer to my field notes.

[dpn]

I had some weird issues with a few sheets from a recent photoshoot. I salvaged (in my opinion anyway) one of the shots by attacking the negative with sandpaper.



Carrion by Iggy Bug, on Flickr

[Pali K]

DPN, I quite like it and agree that the sandpaper scratches help.

Pali

[Kerosene Hat]

Too much front rise, not enough edge checking gave me tunnel vision at the Stata Center at MIT a few weeks ago.

[locutus]

Terrible exposure here, what a waste :-(

[Emil Schildt]

developed 6 4x5" film - ONE turned out like this: underdeveloped in the top, but more interestingly; the scratch where her heart is, is a random thing...

But I love it!..

[locutus]

The weird bubbly pattern is kinda cool :-)

[Westerman]

Here is my first 8x10 photo and first 8x10 x-ray film developing. The film holder in the camera had light leaks, I didn't jostle the developer enough, and the developer/film combination covered the film in little white spots.

[donkittle]

I've also had both these problems, small leaks and a crack in the dark slide. My dark slide crack was very obvious, but the smaller leaks I only found by going through my notes after seeing the pattern. Owning 5 film holders for B&W film didn't help in that regard.

[kansasjhawk]

Double exposure I blame being really tired.