Printing older negatives well. Tips?

analoguey · Nov 6, 2014

summicron1 said:
retouching and cleaning is certainly an option but how many negatives are we discussing and what are the expectations of the owner?
One thing to remember is that these negatives reflect their story -- all those floods and moves and so on. Does he want presentation images, or just visible memories?

12.
Basically what I have mentioned to him is that we can see the contacts of those images and one blow-up and decide which way to go, post that!

summicron1 said:
Is he willing to pay for the amount of time that would take, if this is a cash deal? If not a cash deal, how much strain can your friendship stand while you do this for free?

All things to consider.

Thank you for those excellent questions - some that I had thought but not articulated.

summicron1 said:
Depending on the numbers of negs and amount of time you are willing to spend, I'd say brush them off, wash off the worst of the goo if applicable, make the best prints you can, and let any final defects be proof of their genuine status as survivors of the 50 years on this planet.

I'll do that. I have been trying to upload snaps of a couple of the 8x10s but Flickr's been petulant.

David Allen said:
If there is enough space between your lower condenser and the top of the negative carrier you can introduce your own diffusion.

Simply get a bit of opaque heat resistant perspex and cut it to fit and then tape in place with electrical tape.

Not pretty but it works and could remove a lot of your problems.

Bests,

David.
www.dsallen.de

I could put some glass *on* the negative. Not so sure if it's best idea. I'll try that.
Hopefully, I can put up couple of shots of the prints to illustrate what I'm referring to, better.

pdeeh · Nov 6, 2014

analoguey · Nov 6, 2014

Yea. Exactly why I skipped that discussion!

RalphLambrecht said:
I'd stay away from nose grease but retouching prints is easy and satisfying.

Thanks! Looking through that, now!

analoguey · Nov 6, 2014

Sample Prints

Okay, finally to snaps of the prints upload (not scans - so image isnt fully flat, there is some distortion)

This is the full print(8x10):

The bits where I found the issues were with "spots" on the arm & face of the groom. There is some make-up/decoration pattern, but there are these spots that are there.
That is something I would like to get rid of.
(The pic is actually a poor representation of the print, looks less dusty/noisy in the pic - I was/am looking for a very neat print...)

Ghostman · Nov 7, 2014

Looking at that picture I would also consider printing on another medium such as liquid emulsion on hand-made paper. This can make for an interesting effect where the texture of the print negates any spots

analoguey · Nov 7, 2014

Thanks, Ghostman - is liquid emulsion the same as hand-coated paper?

I will be trying the suggestions here over the weekend I think.

Ghostman · Nov 8, 2014

you can buy photographic emulsion, for example the Rollei/AGFA Maco liquid emulsion. It's variable contrast too. You can coat all manner of surfaces from paper to glass. Buy a nice piece of paper, watercolour papers for example, acid free if you can get it. In the darkroom, melt a little of the emulsion at a time in a Bain Marie (double water bath) and paint the emulsion onto the paper. Let it dry and then use it as you would.

The beautiful thing about hand-coating papers this way is that you choose the paper so you can choose the texture. The paint strokes are seldom perfect, but that's part of the charm.

So, if you have a damaged negative, why not make the printing of it a serendipitous thing altogether

Have fun printing.

analoguey · Dec 5, 2014

So,

This is what I did.

1. I tried cleaning the negatives in very very mild detergent solution - not much changed - and most of the fingerprints(yes!) and other marks on it - on the emulsion side remained. (I am not about to tamper with 40 year old negatives on the emulsion side)

2. I made contact prints of all of them and there was none of the "damage" was visible. In fact they printed beautifully.

I also made a couple of enlargements to 8x10 (which I posted earlier in the thread).
My friend wants me to make more copies (in 8x10) sizes.

I am thinking that making a 8x10 positive-internegative and finally contact printing it would be the best way to go now?

I will enlarge to an x-ray 8x10 Neg (as a positive),
Then make a Contact Negative of that. Correct that negative before I make a final print.
Does that sound like a good approach?

I'll be printing on G2/3 paper which I am somewhat familiar with.

OR should I order Ilford Art 300/ Foma 123 and go ahead with printing on it - I am hesistant to try with a newer paper directly (especially since I haven't used VC paper)

Reproducing my original post below (for context)

analoguey said:
So, I recently got talking to a friend about printing in the darkroom, and he said he had a bunch of old negatives around that he wanted printed.

These are negatives that have survived floods, a million moves and thousands of kilometers and summers with mean temperatures >40C.

I took a look, they're all on orwo 120(6x6) negatives from early 70s. I got a decent print off one negative, but there's some dust and scratches on it - too small to spot or correct on the negative/print, looks like.( other -ves also in like condition )
I'll be enlarging to 8x10 size(probably with cropping).

So I'm wondering what I could do for an 8x10 enlargement of a negative with some scratching and spots.

Thanks!

(I'll try and post a shot of the prints I got a little later-phone pics look hideous)

Sent from Tap-a-talk

Michael L. · Dec 5, 2014

As a method for suppressing scratches, Gerhard Teicher's old but excellent "Handbuch der Fototechnik" (several editions) recommends embedding the damaged negative in glycerine (glycerol) between a pair of glass plates and placing this sandwich in the negative carrier or the carrier slot.
Care should be taken to avoid air bubbles, the book states, and the negative will need washing before being returned to storage. With valuable negatives, this extra expenditure of time might well be justified.
I haven't yet tried the method myself, but the illustrations in the book look very convincing.
All the best,
Michael

analoguey · Dec 6, 2014

That's interesting. The glycerine fills up the scratches -is that the idea?

Michael L. · Dec 6, 2014

I think the effect of the glycerine will rather be a "softening" of the sharp transitions between damaged and undamaged areas of the protective coating/emulsion. On p. 357 in the 5th edition (1972) of the book, the text says (in my translation from the German):

"When the negative, thus prepared, is placed in the carrier, it will be found that the scratches become almost imperceptible because of the favorable refractive index of the embedding medium."

Good luck! If you try it, please let me know how it turns out.
Regards, Michael

Printing older negatives well. Tips?

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