Preventing spotting and dry mount tissue questions

While I’m going to have to pursue spot removing soon, right now I want to get better at spot prevention in my prints.

I’ve improved this, but my last print had a very thin line that was a half circle with an approximate ¼ inch diameter. This involved a 4x magnification. So the blockage would have been caused by something 1/16 inch long and really, really thin. I suspect that it was from a fiber from my cotton glove. The other spots can probably be removed without too much trouble once I get a knack for it, but I don’t know if this blemish is doable even by someone with a lot of skill.

My current procedure is as follows: I remove the negative from its page, touch it to the faucet tap in order to release any static charge by grounding it, give several squeezes to a large bulb air jet on each side, and brush both sides with a fan type art brush.

Then I place it into a negative carrier, place it in the enlarger, and place the appropriate filter on top of it.

My future routine is going to involve examining it with a magnifying glass, either before or after loading it into the negative carrier, and also going over the same procedures with the filter.

If anyone can think of anything to add to that, I’d be very grateful.

The person who taught me claimed that he almost never had spotting problems, which leads me to believe that either 1) There must be a way to achieve this, or 2) he is prone to exaggeration. I hope it’s the former, because my aim is to get to the point where I’m printing at least 10 and hopefully a lot more prints in one sitting, and at $4.00a pop for paper, a fistful of unusable prints is not a cheerful sight.

(I can never seem to see these issues during ther printing session, and often not until a couple of days afterward)

The next step after spot prevention and spot removal will be dry mounting. B & H has a couple of different tissues at substantially different prices.

D & K Colormount 16 x 20 sells for $45.99 for 25, and Dry Lam Colortac are $63.50 per hundred. I’m assuming that both are acid free, but am willing to be corrected on that count. Can anyone weigh in on why they use one or the other?

Never have used any of these tissues for mounting, but wanted to add one more item where dust can be found and that is the paper it self. Pulling sheets out of the box may produce static or the paper itself my have dust from the manufacture in the cutting process, I have used a wide camel hair brush on the paper before putting it in the easel .

I really doubt "touch the faucet" is doing anything. For one thing, most residential plumbing are not copper, so it is not grounded. For another, film strip is an insulating material. You will release static on the spot you touch, but not the image surface where it counts. By handling and moving around to do this, you are probably inviting more dust on the surface. If you use blower bulb, please make sure it's clean on the inside. I've found, many of them actually blow dust onto the surface.

My procedure involves taking film out of the sleeve, use can of air from distance to blow off dust. Put it in the neg holder and do it again on both sides. Project and inspect. If additional dust is found, blow again, and reinspect. If more dust is found, I use PEC12 with Kimwipe. If THAT doesn't do it, there is nothing I can do. I'm not going to do anything else as it will likely cause more damage then clean it.

My goal is to do least amount of cleaning involving contact, and move from neg sleeve to the enlarger quickly. I've been successful most of the time. I do have a microscope but I don't use it for dusting. If I kept film out that long and move it around, it will likely get MORE dust. Typical household environment is incredibly dusty. If you want, try leaving a length of clear boxing tape, sticky side up, for few minutes, and inspect it under microscope. You'd be amazed how much stuff it collected.

As to dry mount tissue, I only use D&K Baofeng, Seal, (whatever the name...) only. I don't use that many and I know this is a time honored known good product. If you want to use other kind, my suggestion is to call the manufacturer and inquire. Then buy a small pack to test. While you cannot test acidity, you can test to make sure it will function as you'd expect.

If your circle is caused by a lint, you can spot it. The purpose of spoting is NOT to make the blemish disappear but to make it less obvious. Sometimes, strategic dot "fixes" pretty large elongated "dust." Try not to "paint" the problem.... If you can't see it from few feet away, it's good. If the spot doesn't scream out "I'M HERE!", it's good.....

Dust control in the darkroom is my number one weapon against spotting. I have filtered air intakes, clean regularly with mop and damp cloth, and try not to stir up dust for a long period of time before printing (this latter being more important than many realize; dust everywhere but on the negative is just fine with me!). Keeping the inside of the enlarger clean and dust-free is also important.

Spotting prevention starts when loading and processing film. Keeping dust off the film before loading and after processing is half the battle.

Forget your cotton gloves if they are leaving fibers on your negatives. Well-washed hands and handling the negative by the edges is better for dust.

I don't know about grounding the negative; I'll try touching them to something grounded in the future and see. What does work for me is my old Zerostat, a device designed to remove static from LP records. They come up used for sale from time to time. I use this for stubborn dust when it can't be removed with the blower.

I try to keep my negatives in clean storage for as long as possible. When printing, I take a neg out of its sleeve just prior to printing and place it in the negative holder. At this point, I don a pair of 4x reading glasses (better than a magnifying glass, since it keeps your hands free), and holding the negative in the holder at the glare angle to the light, I look for dust, first on the emulsion side, then on the other. I blow the dust off with a bulb blower. Stubborn specks get the Zerostat treatment and another blowing. If they remain, they are removed by a clean camel-hair brush or, in extreme cases, with a microfiber cloth that I keep for just that purpose. Don't brush unless absolutely necessary; your brush will often introduce more static and dust than it removes...

The neg then goes into the enlarger. With the enlarger light on, and my reading glasses on, I inspect the negative sitting in the enlarger. If there is any visible dust on the negative, I'll re-clean. Often, it takes two or three times doing this to get the negative clean enough. As I am working toward a fine print, I'll keep an eye out for dust on the test prints and re-clean the negative if needed so that the final prints are as spot-free as possible. Slow down and examine your prints carefully for spots while printing. Not noticing them till days later means that you are simply not paying as much attention as you need to during printing. Time spent cleaning the negative saves much more spotting time.

When placing paper under the enlarger, I tap it vertically on the easel once or twice to dislodge dust. I try to work with washed hands and lower arms, with sleeves rolled up so as to keep lint from my clothing from falling on the paper. I try hard not to lean over the paper to keep hair, etc. from falling on the paper before exposure (if something like this does happen, however, it is always easier to just make another print than to try to spot).

In spite of the above, I find that I need to do a bit of spotting on about 50% of my prints. Spotting small specks is not difficult; take the time to learn the technique with scrap prints (no stress about ruining a good print that way and you'll learn quickly). I've got good enough that I can spot out longitudinal scratches, areas of flare on the negative, etc. with enough time and patience. Embrace spotting and you'll find it one more very useful tool in the making of a fine photograph.

If you are placing your filter directly on the negative, or carrier glass, you need to be really careful that it is also dust free. A filter drawer farther from the negative is a better solution, as is using a dichro head or the like for filtration.

As for dry-mounting: I use Seal/Bienfang/D&K buffered "Archival Mount" (or whatever it's called now). It is a low-temperature, tissue that can be released with heat, allowing removal of the print from the board at a later time if needed. I have removed and remounted a print or two when the board was damaged or when I've made a positioning mistake when mounting. I find that option attractive.

Hope this helps,

Doremus

Jim -- I've found spotting to be tedious, but not difficult. Probably 99% of my photos printed for display required some spotting. Long ago I'd turn a bunch of 8x10 prints in to a photo editor, and spot those she selected then and there with a ball point pen: crude, but good enough for press work. There are good tutorials on this site and elsewhere for doing it right.

PecPads: sandwich the neg between two of these and pull it through a few times. It's the best thing ever for cleaning a neg before printing.

Jim Benson said:

D & K Colormount 16 x 20 sells for $45.99 for 25, and Dry Lam Colortac are $63.50 per hundred. I’m assuming that both are acid free, but am willing to be corrected on that count. Can anyone weigh in on why they use one or the other?

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I find D&K Colormount tissue extremely easy to work with for both RC and fiber prints. I have never experienced bubbles or insufficient adhesion and would recommend this tissue without hesitation.

I do the same as Parker but I use a microfiber. Works great. I also use it to get rid of water spots on the shiny side of the film by placing the film on something clean, holding it firmly by the edge, breathing on it then wiping it off with one swoop. Works great. Stubborn spots get alcohol, 91%. Sometimes I blow the neg off with canned air before I put it in the neg carrier.

You can inspect your negs for dust when you put them in the enlarger. If the enlarger lamp is on, the light coming out of the opening will rake across your negs and you can see any dust specs. I really only try to get rid of the large ones. Sometimes I will go back and clean a neg before I make final prints. Proof prints, who cares. Small spots are easy to dispatch. Nearly every print will require some retouching. If you want to be efficient at it, get a large brush, not a puny one.

If you have to retouch a line, move back and forth along it with a dot here and there until it disappears. Don't try to "paint" it in. That goes for any large defect that needs to be filled in. Use rando dots to simulate the grain. And for heaven's sake, please be better at it than Adams. He couldn't retouch to same himself. Some of his prints are just horrible.

I agree with many of the points Doremus mentioned. Clean negs start with making sure they dry in a dust-free environment. Any dust that gets on them while they are wet will be impossible to remove unless you re-wash them. It might be possible by wiping with film cleaner and Pec-pads, but you run the risk of scratching them.

Once dry and stored in sleeves, I never touch the negs directly except to place them in the negative carrier for printing. I also don't use cotton gloves. I wash my hands frequently and make sure they are dry before touching any negs or paper.

I first brush all sides of the neg carrier with an anti-static brush, insert the negative and give both sides a few puffs with a blower bulb. I never use canned air - high air pressure is not needed and you run the risk of damaging the neg or getting residue on it. I also turn on the enlarger lamp and inspect both sides under the light for any dust specks. A few puffs with the blower usually removes them, and if not, a small anti-static brush usually does the trick. It seems like dust is more likely on the non-emulsion (top) side of the neg.

I keep a dust cover on the enlarger if I'm not going to be printing for more than a few days. I wipe down the external surfaces every few months. Before each printing session, I use a small damp cleam sponge to wipe the areas that touch the negative carrier as I slide it in and out of the enlarger. If this area is dirty, it can kick up all kinds of dust as the carrier is inserted.

I've been pretty lucky with avoiding dust spots on prints, especially as I'm printing more 35mm and 120 than 4x5 these days. Probably about 10-20% of my final prints need any type of spotting.

Something else to think about, clean clothes and clean hair. Think in terms of a cleanroom, if you can find the bunny outfit they wear and keep them clean, it will help a lot. Wear a white hair net if you want to get anal. Just some habits I picked up over the years working in cleanrooms. Also follow the advice of others in this thread.

Principal Unix System Engineer, Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems(retired)

I believe the faucet has to be grounded just by it's nature. It's underground and is grounded the same as any electrical ground. Well, I guess if the plumbing is all PVC maybe not.

If the negative's in contact with the filter, could it be Newton's rings?

John Koehrer said:

I believe the faucet has to be grounded just by it's nature. It's underground and is grounded the same as any electrical ground. Well, I guess if the plumbing is all PVC maybe not.

If the negative's in contact with the filter, could it be Newton's rings?

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Really depends on the age of your home - my 1930's build was galvanized steel. Thing is, repairs using unions may break the ground. I've replumbed the entire supply system (from the street, sucked!!!) with pex, flexible plastic tubing. These days you can't really rely on your plumbing being grounded. You could take a cheap outlet tester to a three prong outlet - if it doesn't show a ground error, I suppose one could wire a male electrical plug so only the ground pin is connected to a wire exiting the plug, and you'd have a guaranteed grounded wire that way.

I'd think humidity is a superior way to deal with static though - even just running an electric kettle for a bit. Others here say hanging a couple wet towels in the darkroom will suffice.

Finessing dust removal:

Do your normal dust removal process (for me, compressed air and a static brush). Check an early test print for tenacious dust spots.

With the neg in the holder, use a loupe and a strong light source, and rock the holder/loupe while you look for the specific bits that are haunting you. Refer to the print - they can be hard to spot, especially on the emulsion side. Use a good quality artist brush (like a #0) and gently get the speck loose, then blow it off.

I don't fret about a few strays that will be easy to spot - but things like fibers/hairs that cross lines of detail are spotting nightmares, and fibers can really lock themselves onto emulsion.

I use an Edmund loupe that has an opening for a bruch in the clear plastic "skirt". I can have the loupe & holder in one hand and the brush in another. I'm able to get negs very clean like this.

I use an intense spot-light in a long shade (so I don't see the bulb and blind myself) mounted over the darkroom sink to look for dust on negatives. Intense but glancing illumination will highlight every speck of dust no matter how tiny. Then it's in with the Static Master brushes, blowers, Pec Wipes, whatever it takes to get every speck of dust off. I'll even rub a negative hard to remove adherent dust specks. Rub marks on a negative don't show on the postive with diffusion or semi-diffusion enlargers. That's what I use.

The same treatment applies to negative carrier glass, glass in contact frames, anything that goes into a picture forming light beam. And the inspection light is mounted over a wet sink so settling dust particles don't bounce and infect the next negative.