Hi everyone,
while going through my print "archive" again, I noticed quite a few of my prints have started to develop circular white spots, only a few millimeters in diameter. It's not the first time I've noticed that but now it's starting to affect more and more prints. I am 100% sure it's not dust, neither on the negatives printed from or the paper itself.
The interesting thing is that I can barely make out any real pattern here:
The affected prints have been made a few weeks to months ago, older prints are not (yet?!) affected. All affected prints were of the RC variety, old and new paper alike, made by Ilford, Foma, Labaphot and Agfa. The fixer used was Rollei RXN Neutral at a dilution of 1+4 – as is the case for all my prints and film. I fix RC prints for two minutes, increasing the time as the fixer exhausts. I must admit that my fixer is sometimes a bit "old" and possibly exhausted, I have started to have a better eye on that and also practice two bath fixing now. I wash my RC prints by giving them a two minute rinse under vigorous flowing water, leave them in a fresh water tray for approx. 5-10 minutes with water swaps, take them out and rinse them again for a minute. The washing procedure is of course different for fiber base papers. Some of the prints were toned in selenium, some not. As the toner did not immediately create spots, I feel it's rather unlikely that underfixing or underwashing is causing the specks. My final step, before hanging the prints to dry, is to give them a wash in Adostab, a stabilizer with washing aid. I store my unframed prints in old cardboard boxes in a room of normal humidity and temperature, away from sunlight. My framed prints of roughly similar age – despite using the same paper and process! – are unaffected.
I tried to get rid of the spots on the affected prints – to no avail. Re-fixing, washing, thio clear bath, none of it made any difference.
With all of the above in mind, I think it's either my storage being subpar, me washing too much or the wash aid/stabilizer being unfit. Yet, none of this would explain why it's only newer prints that are affected.
I'm all open for clues and/or hints. This is so terribly frustrating to witness, especially with more involved prints; two bath lith, special toning, fine dodging/burning, etc., all for nothing in the end.
Also: is it possible for those white spots to "infect" currently unaffected prints too?
I'll try and get a scan of some affected prints over the coming days.
Thanks everyone
while going through my print "archive" again, I noticed quite a few of my prints have started to develop circular white spots, only a few millimeters in diameter. It's not the first time I've noticed that but now it's starting to affect more and more prints. I am 100% sure it's not dust, neither on the negatives printed from or the paper itself.
The interesting thing is that I can barely make out any real pattern here:
The affected prints have been made a few weeks to months ago, older prints are not (yet?!) affected. All affected prints were of the RC variety, old and new paper alike, made by Ilford, Foma, Labaphot and Agfa. The fixer used was Rollei RXN Neutral at a dilution of 1+4 – as is the case for all my prints and film. I fix RC prints for two minutes, increasing the time as the fixer exhausts. I must admit that my fixer is sometimes a bit "old" and possibly exhausted, I have started to have a better eye on that and also practice two bath fixing now. I wash my RC prints by giving them a two minute rinse under vigorous flowing water, leave them in a fresh water tray for approx. 5-10 minutes with water swaps, take them out and rinse them again for a minute. The washing procedure is of course different for fiber base papers. Some of the prints were toned in selenium, some not. As the toner did not immediately create spots, I feel it's rather unlikely that underfixing or underwashing is causing the specks. My final step, before hanging the prints to dry, is to give them a wash in Adostab, a stabilizer with washing aid. I store my unframed prints in old cardboard boxes in a room of normal humidity and temperature, away from sunlight. My framed prints of roughly similar age – despite using the same paper and process! – are unaffected.
I tried to get rid of the spots on the affected prints – to no avail. Re-fixing, washing, thio clear bath, none of it made any difference.
With all of the above in mind, I think it's either my storage being subpar, me washing too much or the wash aid/stabilizer being unfit. Yet, none of this would explain why it's only newer prints that are affected.
I'm all open for clues and/or hints. This is so terribly frustrating to witness, especially with more involved prints; two bath lith, special toning, fine dodging/burning, etc., all for nothing in the end.
Also: is it possible for those white spots to "infect" currently unaffected prints too?
I'll try and get a scan of some affected prints over the coming days.
Thanks everyone
