Retouching

[MurrayMinchin]

In addition to making sure my negatives are clean, I give the paper a quick swipe with a large anti-static brush. Those black plastic bags paper comes in are a breeding ground for itty-bitty bits of crap that dislodge from the papers edges. They prefer to haunt a prints sky or areas of smooth tonality.

Murray

 

[Charles Webb]

An excellent question,which today I have no answer to. The great yellow God in Rochester also supplied the thinner in about a two ounce or so bottle. It looks very much like mineral spirits. I have not tried mineral spirits
but would not hesiate to do so. The fluid is a varnish, and I believe that most any thinner designed for artist's varnish might work. It would certainly be easy to try out
and frankly I believe it just might work. The later films from Kodak with Estar bases was/is wonderful to retouch on. Eliminating the fluid except on the emulsion side.

Sorry I can't give a precise answer to your question, but I would bet one of the chemists in the group knows exactly what is needed.


Charlie............................

PS, Some one mentioned a quick drying thinner would be necessary. For best results I think not. The varnish at times can dry before you are finished applying it. This is a mess to clean up with the thinner and most likely you will have to begin over. Many layers of retouching with pencil can be applied with an air brush when the tooth of the fluid will not accept any more lead. By spraying very lightly over the retouching again and allowing it to dry comepletely densities can be boosted as much as you like.

A Technique I used for many years with 4x5 was to tape matte Christolene or even acetate over the base side of the negative, the matte surface will take lead very well as well as working with paper stumps. It's much eaiser to build up lead in a larger area. Plain old typing paper will surprise you when laid over a negative and applying lead to it. This is mostly for enlarging, but I have also used it with great results when contacting 8x10.

 

[jstraw]

A Technique I used for many years with 4x5 was to tape matte Christolene or even acetate over the base side of the negative, the matte surface will take lead very well as well as working with paper stumps. It's much eaiser to build up lead in a larger area. Plain old typing paper will surprise you when laid over a negative and applying lead to it. This is mostly for enlarging, but I have also used it with great results when contacting 8x10.

Thanks again Charlie. This would have never occured to me and if it works, is preferable to me to altering a negative in any way. The thought that comes to mind is some weights of artists velum, such as that for tracing might be very well suited for this purpose.