Spotting 'fun': Why does Neutral Black look blue?

[koraks]

It's really hard matching print hues with micro pens.

Certainly, but I think @RalphLambrecht is talking about the inks, not the pen as a delivery system. Reading his post, I assumed he uses brushes to do the actual spotting.

 

[DREW WILEY]

By definition "ink" contains a binder (such as shellac in India ink). Inkjet inks also require binders; so do graphic inks. And it's quite difficult to maintain sheen consistency when any ink is involved, regardless of the instrument involved.
Edward Weston used plain India Ink, and the spotting is obvious; and I've known people who used acrylic pigments, which stand out like a sore thumb. I've resorted to fine Sharpie pens in desperation when the deepest black is needed, but kept it small enough, just for some little pinhole sized blemish, that nobody will notice unless viewing the print very very carefully.

Those Micron pens come in sizes smaller than Rapidograph pens did, and don't have the same risk of spillage. They can leave a predictable spot smaller than even a 00000 Kolinsky sable brush can. But like I said, I normally use them just on negatives. A brown Micron dot will allow some transmission of light for sake of negative grayscale retouching, while the black version will block out nearly all light transmission. The non-emulsion side of film doesn't accept these kind of inks all that well; but if you're careful to let it dry first before handling again, it will work. On print paper, there isn't that issue.

I just like to have all kinds of options on hand. Needing to do color print spotting as well widens the selection. I dread spotting true gloss prints like Cibachrome or Fuji Supergloss. At one time bleaching was routinely done in conjunction with color print retouching. That eventually ruins a print - the bleach footprint with its neutralizer halo spreads over time. Only with the dye transfer process were dyes specifically chosen for sake of precise selective removal.

I'm pretty well caught up with my spotting chores. Maybe just two or three black and white prints still to do.

 

[logan2z]

Quick follow-up to this thread...

I recently bought a pack of Peerless Dry Spot Spotting Dyes to see if they were a good alternative to the Marshalls product. The pack includes a Black Opaque Sheet, a Lamp Black sheet and an Ivory Black sheet, in addition to Warm Sepia and Pearl Gray sheets. The Black Opaque seemed to be a good starting point for spotting a recent fiber-based print of mine so I gave it a shot. Immediately it was obvious that the Black Opaque dye was actually black! It was easily thinned with water to produce light gray tones that matched various areas of my print - much better than the blue/purple tones I was getting from Marshall's Neutral Black dye.

One thing I do like about Marshalls dyes is that they easily wash out if you mess up and go too dark during spotting. After spotting a few dust spots with the Peerless dye I let the dye dry for a few hours and then dropped the print into the print washer for about 30 minutes. While some of the dye washed out, not all of it did. I may have had better luck washing out the dye if I washed the print immediately after applying it rather than waiting until it completely set in. I might try that experiment and see how it goes.

Despite the possibility that the Peerless dyes do not wash out as easily as the Marshalls dyes, it seems much easier to match tones of B&W prints with the Peerless product. In addition, the Peerless dyes are pretty inexpensive and readily available so I'm going to use those rather than the Marshalls dyes going forward.

 

[logan2z]

Well, a follow-up to my previous follow-up:

The colors of the Peerless dyes are great but, unfortunately, the retouched areas are obvious when the paper is held at an angle to the light - they are glossier than the glossy surface of the Ilford MG Classic Fiber Glossy I'm using. The Marshall's dyes, on the other hand, completely disappear when dry. Unfortunately, the Marshall's product has been discontinued and none of the usual suspects has any in stock So, what are people using to spot their B&W prints these days?

Edit: Looks like spotting dyes for fiber prints were discussed in another thread fairly recently. Posting there...