Spotting a negative

[Mats_A]

I did a read of old threads on this but it is still not totally clear to me so here we go.

I have a 6x6 negative that I think is passable. But being a slob I seem to have managed to make a scratch on it . The scratch is on clear snow so it shows really well on the print.

If I would like to spot this on the negative:
- do I do this on the emulsion side or the base
- can I use same material as for spotting a print
- if I want to fix the print instead, can you bleach such a small area

Thanks for any help

r

 

[Bill Burk]

I read a small pamphlet on this today, and read some retouching posts too, so this answer might be a mix of recent online and ancient printed knowledge.

If the scratch doesn't go through the emulsion, then you can use dye.

If the scratch goes through the emulsion, you can use watercolor, with a little gum. Pamphlet says you can get enough gum by running the damp brush on the adhesive of an envelope. Of course you better practice on less-important negatives before you ruin the good one.

 

[w9cae]

To spot a negative you need "Photographic Opaque" Windsor & Newton still make & its available in most good art shops.

You paint the opaque on the shinny non emulsion side of your negative. You will have to practice to get the correct technique with using a 0000 sable brush. If you make a mistake you can clean the opaque off & do again.

Here is some more info: http://www.winsornewton.com/resource-centre/hints-tips-and-techniques/gouache/colours/

 

[Mats_A]

To spot a negative you need "Photographic Opaque" Windsor & Newton still make & its available in most good art shops.

You paint the opaque on the shinny non emulsion side of your negative. You will have to practice to get the correct technique with using a 0000 sable brush. If you make a mistake you can clean the opaque off & do again.

Here is some more info: http://www.winsornewton.com/resource-centre/hints-tips-and-techniques/gouache/colours/

Thank you for the tip!

r

 

[Monophoto]

r -

Second question first - yes, you can bleach the print. However, my experience is that bleaching is not a very subtle solution, and bleaching a dark area in a field of snow is challenging. Because the area is dark against a light field, it's going to take a lot of bleaching to smooth out the tonality. In addition, bleaching the print is not very precise - you are almost certainly going to have to bleach an area larger than the exact flaw, and some of the detail removed will be the texture of the surrounding snow. You can spot back some of that detail, but spotting highlights is tough.

So the first question, how do you spot the negative. My suggestions would be:
1. Don't spot the actual negative. Instead, use a scrap roll of unexposed and undeveloped film - fix it out to retrieve the clear base material. Cut a strip large enough to cover the damaged negative, and carefully tape it to the negative. The orientation of the clear negative is important. If the film you are using has a 'toothy' back, then it's best to give the negatives the same alignment. That is, place the emulsion side of the clear negative against the back of the damaged negative. But if the film has a smooth, non-toothy back, it may be easier to have align the two pieces of film back to back.
2. Use a magenta watercolor dye as your spotting medium. I use Dr. Martin's transparent watercolor dye for this purpose. Put a couple of drops of the dye on a piece of white plastic (I use a throwaway palette from the art store) and let it dry.
3. Tape the negative sandwich to a light box with the emulsion side of the flawed negative against the box. Use a magnifier to see more closely, and a very fine brush. Dampen the brush using distilled water with a small amount of photoflo added, and use it to pick up some of the dried dye, then carefully apply this to the back of the sandwich.

When the dye dries, make a print. You will find that the flaw will be less visible although it probably won't have gone away entirely. The fact that the dye is magenta means that the spotted area of the negative will print with higher contrast - that's a good thing. The fact that the dye is separated from the emulsion by two thicknesses of film means that the spot will be slightly out of focus when the negative is printed. That's also a good thing. And if you don't like the result, you can simply remove the spotted sheet of clear film, apply another sheet, and try again. That's great!

 

[Mats_A]

Louie.
Should the strip be as big as the underlying negative. Or just big enough to cover the damage? If using a small strip will not the edges of the strip show on the print.
If using a "full size" strip, how do you tape them? Just on the base side I suppose. I don't think tape glue would be good on the emulsion.

r

 

[Monophoto]

The strip should be the same size as the negative. Remember that film base has density and reduces the amount of light passing through the negative/film base sandwich, so you want a full size sheet of film so that the reduction is uniform.

I use metal foil tape - the kind that used to be used to bind slides (and if that doesn't date me, nothing will!). That tape comes in 1/4" widths - I split it in half to create a strip 1/8" wide that I run down one edge of the negative/film base sandwich and then fold over so that only about 1/16" of the negative is actually covered. The rebate at the edge of the film is usually wide enough that a 1/16" strip of tape won't interfere with any image content.