Well, since the clear areas of the film don't have much in the way of 'silver particles' (low or no density after all), it isn't an issue of particles drifting into the light areas. Of course, specks of material on the film (whether in light or dark areas) will show up as white on the positive/print.
The fixer is good, I suspected its age but did a clip test and clearing times are short. My washing regimen is ten changes of fresh water, x ten tank inversions. Leave the negatives to soak for half an hour in clean water, then 3 x 10 also in clean water. The wash was based on photographic tests for Antarctic research, where all water was snow melt and fuel had to be carried. The soak is an extra precaution from reading an old article on sheet film development. A chemist discovered chemical agents migrated away from the film surface by soaking. The 3 x 10 finish is plain superstition. I add a microscopic amount of soft detergent in the final rinse.
That isn't as crazy as it sounds. Is glass reflection/refraction scattering light, which is being interpreted by the software as a solid artefact? It's possible my observations are based on scanned prints, not silver. Can't get into the darkroom until evening, it'll be interesting to see if it occurs through an enlarger.
Then we'll have to stick to second guessing. Specs can have several possible causes and without more concrete pointers, it's really a turkey shoot in terms of figuring out what's going on.
Only members can post images. I don't have an on line archive to link.
You can post images in threads - just use the "Upload image or File" tab at the bottom of the Reply box.
Thanks for the help, Andrew. This is a small portion of a scanned negative. The specks occur where dark and light areas meet, there's a complete absence elsewhere in the image. I don't think it's a digital artefact, the black dots aren't geometrically pixelated and seem quite random. Nor are they associated with any particular object, surface or texture. It looks most like a grain aggregation of some kind.
I've just had a very embarrassing thought. The series this image was taken from was shot in the evening, in farmland. An increasing yet unavoidable feeling says the specks may be gnats, midges, in other words flies. If I'm right my past Photoshop interventions have been more than a little misguided. Face plant waiting for a better solution.
It's surprising how once you've convinced yourself of a cause, you'll only look for solutions that fit the theory. Living in a rural area I have noticed this phenomenon before, and always thought it was chemical not optical. Midges stay close to objects, especially people and animals. Vintage 35mm lenses are sharp enough to show the object, though not the detail. An acutance developer like Rodinal sharpens, but small objects get lost in the pronounced grain.So basically, bugs in your process.
It mayfly in the face of the evidence, my midge stake was clear.
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