Help - 8x10 Negative Retouching

Behan · Nov 1, 2004

Hi Folks,

Yesterday morning was amazing here on the west coast of Ireland. It was very still and a gentle fog rested on the fields and harbours. It was one of those days that you get more shots in a single hour than the previous 6 months. Anyways - in my haste to see the fruits of my labour I developed 4 8x10 sheets of EFKE 100 together in trays - what a dumb thing to do!! Otherwise beautiful images marred by a couple of clear patches/scratches on the neg. (EFKE has a very soft emulsion)

I would really like to salvage these so if anyone can help I would really appreciate it. I have never retouched negs - could anyone out there recommend appropriate dyes/fluids. I have checked the archives for similar messages but many omit specific materials required.

Wow - what a way to learn a lesson - the rest of the film will be developed 1 sheet at a time.

Anyways - thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

Niall.

PS: these are a little beyond noseoil.

roy · Nov 1, 2004

Behan said:
Wow - what a way to learn a lesson - the rest of the film will be developed 1 sheet at a time.

Niall, I cannot help with retouching but on the question of individual development, several members use developing tubes and if you have more than one, you still have the ability to develop more than one negative at a time, albeit still individually.

Donald Miller · Nov 1, 2004

Behan said:
Hi Folks,

Yesterday morning was amazing here on the west coast of Ireland. It was very still and a gentle fog rested on the fields and harbours. It was one of those days that you get more shots in a single hour than the previous 6 months. Anyways - in my haste to see the fruits of my labour I developed 4 8x10 sheets of EFKE 100 together in trays - what a dumb thing to do!! Otherwise beautiful images marred by a couple of clear patches/scratches on the neg. (EFKE has a very soft emulsion)

I would really like to salvage these so if anyone can help I would really appreciate it. I have never retouched negs - could anyone out there recommend appropriate dyes/fluids. I have checked the archives for similar messages but many omit specific materials required.

Wow - what a way to learn a lesson - the rest of the film will be developed 1 sheet at a time.

Anyways - thanks in advance for any help/suggestions.

Niall.

PS: these are a little beyond noseoil.

The materials that I use in retouching negatives are the Veronic Cass retouching dyes and also I have some remaining stock of Retouch Methods negative retouching dyes. The dyes from Veronica Cass dyes are easier for me to use. I have also used a Sharpie pen (very fine point) for some pinholes and scratches. Typically in retouching negative damage one ends up bringing the damaged area back to a white area on the print and then the white area on the print needs to be retouched by conventional retouching methods with print dyes.

I use an Adams retouching machine. This machine does have the provision for back lighting the negative and a magnifier to more clearly see the damaged area that one is working on.

As has been mentioned, I use tube developing on my negatives. That method has totally eliminated the damage problems that I had previously experienced. I built these myself and have previously discussed the materials and procedure used on this site. A search should find that for you if you are interested.

rbarker · Nov 1, 2004

Before going the dye route, you might try using a very soft-lead artist's pencil on the emulsion side of the negative. Build up the pencil marks to match the surrounding density as best you can, or slightly darker. Obviously, a light table and good magnifier help.

Most of the retouching done in the days of "Hollywood Glamour" was done with pencils, I believe, so they could mass produce 8x10 contact prints without further retouching.

blansky · Nov 1, 2004

rbarker wrote

Before going the dye route, you might try using a very soft-lead artist's pencil on the emulsion side of the negative. Build up the pencil marks to match the surrounding density as best you can, or slightly darker. Obviously, a light table and good magnifier help.

Most of the retouching done in the days of "Hollywood Glamour" was done with pencils, I believe, so they could mass produce 8x10 contact prints without further retouching.

In my opinion, that for a novice this is not a great idea. For one thing with dyes you are on the base side of the negative not the emulsion side so you are not damaging the emulsion. The use of pencils way back, were on a different kind of negative and the people doing it were very well trained.

I would do what Donald Miller suggests.

Michael McBlane

Behan · Nov 2, 2004

Folks,

Thanks a million for all of your suggestions - I have contacted Veronica Cass to buy some of the dyes that Donald mentioned. I've even managed to acquire an Adams retouching machine for $15.00 on ebay!

If I manage to repair the negs any time soon I'll post images of the results.

Cheers,

Niall

raucousimages · Nov 2, 2004

for 8x10 I have gone to single sheet tray development. It is slow but these are the best negs I have ever done. No scratches or surge marked edges.

Help - 8x10 Negative Retouching

Behan

roy

Donald Miller

rbarker

blansky

Behan

raucousimages

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