How are you storing & organizing your Big Negatives

R Shaffer · Sep 28, 2010

I am finding that my quantity of 11x14 negatives is really getting out of hand. I have been placing my digi negs back into the packaging they came in with out any sort of organization system. My bad for sure as I now have a pretty big job.

I don't have room for big flat files and I was thinking about getting several archival storage boxes and then dreaming up some sort of organization system.

My question... How are you guys storing and organizing?

Ron-san · Sep 28, 2010

R Shaffer said:
My question... How are you guys storing and organizing?

I love this question. I gave up about a year ago and just throw the %$#@*&^ things out after about a week. I have enough problem figuring out how to store all the finished prints. If I saved the negatives as well I think I would simply sink beneath the waves. Back in the day, when I was trying to save the negatives, I found that my printing technique, chemistry, whatever, kept changing and the old negatives were not that useful anyway. These days I take great pains to save the edited full size digital file of the final image. The beauty of digital negatives is that I can go back to that file and make another negative any time I want.

A bit wasteful, perhaps, but desperation has driven me to it.

Cheers, Ron Reeder

sanking · Sep 28, 2010

R Shaffer said:
I am finding that my quantity of 11x14 negatives is really getting out of hand. I have been placing my digi negs back into the packaging they came in with out any sort of organization system. My bad for sure as I now have a pretty big job.

I don't have room for big flat files and I was thinking about getting several archival storage boxes and then dreaming up some sort of organization system.

My question... How are you guys storing and organizing?

I always write important process information on the clear plastic of the negative. This helps me re-print the negative if needed for an edition of images. I include process information such as the exposure time, dichromate sensitizer strength, exposure time with a given light source, QTR profile type or PDN color, media type, etc.

Then, I store the negatives by type in storage boxes. I don't worry about archival stuff since the negatives are in plastic and I am only interested in them lasting as long as my 66 year old body lasts. Aprs moi le dluge, as they say.

It takes very little effort to save process information for important prints so that one can easily make duplicates for editions in the event of sales. Being able to exactly duplicate prints has easily been worth in dollars the amount of effort expended to save the process details.

Saving the negatives without full process information is useless. You might as well discard the negatives and reprint if you have to start from scratch if you don't record detailed process information.

Sandy King

R Shaffer · Sep 28, 2010

Ron-san said:
I love this question. I gave up about a year ago and just throw the %$#@*&^ things out after about a week. I have enough problem figuring out how to store all the finished prints. If I saved the negatives as well I think I would simply sink beneath the waves. Back in the day, when I was trying to save the negatives, I found that my printing technique, chemistry, whatever, kept changing and the old negatives were not that useful anyway. These days I take great pains to save the edited full size digital file of the final image. The beauty of digital negatives is that I can go back to that file and make another negative any time I want.

A bit wasteful, perhaps, but desperation has driven me to it.

Cheers, Ron Reeder

Oh I can implement this system and it would be easy My piles of negatives on the shelves can go straight into the round file.

But seriously, I'm seriously cheap. I cringe every time I order more transparency material ( which seems to be getting more & more frequent ) and curse like a sailor when I ruin just one sheet.

I'm not sure I can go here, but I'm grinning at the thought.

Ron-san · Sep 28, 2010

sanking said:
Saving the negatives without full process information is useless. You might as well discard the negatives and reprint if you have to start from scratch if you don't record detailed process information.

Sandy King

Yup, that's my conclusion too. And I feel free,free,free!

Ron Reeder

R Shaffer · Sep 28, 2010

sanking said:
I always write important process information on the clear plastic of the negative. This helps me re-print the negative if needed for an edition of images. I include process information such as the exposure time, dichromate sensitizer strength, exposure time with a given light source, QTR profile type or PDN color, media type, etc.

Then, I store the negatives by type in storage boxes. I don't worry about archival stuff since the negatives are in plastic and I am only interested in them lasting as long as my 66 year old body lasts. Aprs moi le dluge, as they say.

It takes very little effort to save process information for important prints so that one can easily make duplicates for editions in the event of sales. Being able to exactly duplicate prints has easily been worth in dollars the amount of effort expended to save the process details.

Saving the negatives without full process information is useless. You might as well discard the negatives and reprint if you have to start from scratch if you don't record detailed process information.

Sandy King

Thanks Sandy

I have been keeping detailed notes on my images, however I keep them in a note book. Sometimes I write it on the back of the image as well. Not quite as detailed as you, but at least I have exposure times and processing notes. This has been more for my learning and reference than out of the need for duplicating prints.

The only info I put on the negative right now is the name of the QTR curve used to create it. So at least I know what process it is good for.

What sort of boxes do you use? I would agree that archival is not needed, but I like the sizes available.

pschwart · Sep 29, 2010

My negatives are put in poly bags for printing, then I put the bagged neg in a larger poly bag along with a complete exposure record The exposure record is an Excel spreadsheet that includes sensitizer, exposure, glop recipe, correction curve name, final support, and comments with a separate row for each time I print the neg. I keep these sets in 50- or 100-sheet paper boxes. All the platinum prints that Patrick Alt showed at the last Platypus gathering had the drop count and exposure right on the back. There are benefits to this, especially as I often print a negative using different pigments, exposures, and supports, but I don't do this yet for my finished prints ...

imazursky · Sep 29, 2010

Sorry for the ot question, Just curious what kind of pen you are using to write on color and B&W negs?
I have tried sharpies and they don’t seem to stay. Thanks.

R Shaffer · Sep 29, 2010

pschwart said:
My negatives are put in poly bags for printing, then I put the bagged neg in a larger poly bag along with a complete exposure record The exposure record is an Excel spreadsheet that includes sensitizer, exposure, glop recipe, correction curve name, final support, and comments with a separate row for each time I print the neg. I keep these sets in 50- or 100-sheet paper boxes. All the platinum prints that Patrick Alt showed at the last Platypus gathering had the drop count and exposure right on the back. There are benefits to this, especially as I often print a negative using different pigments, exposures, and supports, but I don't do this yet for my finished prints ...

What are poly bags?

I like the idea of including the notes with the negative. I am using ( several ) pocket spiral notebooks and finding the info I am looking for can be tough. But it would be easy enough to tear out the page and include it with the neg.

R Shaffer · Sep 29, 2010

IanMazursky said:
Sorry for the ot question, Just curious what kind of pen you are using to write on color and B&W negs?
I have tried sharpies and they dont seem to stay. Thanks.

In my case, I'm writing on the OHP transparency material and a sharpie works great. For my 8x10 film negs, I write on the storage sleeve.

sanking · Sep 29, 2010

R Shaffer said:
In my case, I'm writing on the OHP transparency material and a sharpie works great. For my 8x10 film negs, I write on the storage sleeve.

Sharpies work fine for me also. The writing sticks well to both the base and emulsion side of Pictorico and Inkpress OHP.

I am storing my negatives in boxes that I bought from Hollister and Light Impressions. I also have some stored in boxes that originally contained silver gelatin film. I basically group them by size and by type (printer and/or whether QTR or PDN negatives).

Again, if you don't need to make prints for editions the best thing is probably to just reprint. However, I am printing several editions of some my images that sell well and having the process information printed on the negative saves beaucoup de temps.

Sandy King

pschwart · Sep 29, 2010

R Shaffer said:
What are poly bags?

I like the idea of including the notes with the negative. I am using ( several ) pocket spiral notebooks and finding the info I am looking for can be tough. But it would be easy enough to tear out the page and include it with the neg.

clear polypropylene bags, available in many sizes. I put my carbon negs in 2 mil bags. I use larger sizes for my matted prints.

R Shaffer · Sep 29, 2010

sanking said:
I am storing my negatives in boxes that I bought from Hollister and Light Impressions.
Sandy King

I took a look at Light Impressions and they have some perfect size boxes for my prints and the price is better than Freestyle.

Thanks

R Shaffer · Sep 29, 2010

pschwart said:
clear polypropylene bags, available in many sizes. I put my carbon negs in 2 mil bags. I use larger sizes for my matted prints.

I googled polypropylene bags and they look very nice. Have you found a good source for them?

pschwart · Sep 29, 2010

R Shaffer said:
I googled polypropylene bags and they look very nice. Have you found a good source for them?

I get a lot of stuff from Jerry's:
http://www.jerrysartarama.com/disco...l-Storage/Krystal-Seal-Art-and-Photo-Bags.htm

I also have a local shop that carries all the sizes I use.

How are you storing & organizing your Big Negatives

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