Two Print-Spotting Questions

[Steve Roberts]

Hi All,

Last night I found myself attending to imperfections on three prints with the usual stuff I use (I think it's Spot Tone). I found myself wondering two things; firstly, how permanent is print spotting, ie will it fade in a few years to reveal my white dust specks?
Secondly, once I'd sorted out the dust specks, I also spotted out some small white highlights which were technically part of the photo, but which I personally found distracting. I've done this before, often just slightly subduing a prominent (very small) white feature to a more acceptable grey.
I wondered how common that practice is, and yes - getting back to my first question, I know the best way is not to have the b****y dust there in the first place!

Best wishes to all,

Steve

 

[Monophoto]

I have prints in my collection that are nearing 30 years old. I can't detect any evidence that the spotting has faded over time.

As to your second question - I think it was George Tice who joked that his calling in life was to spot away all of the cigarette butts in New Jersey.

Seriously, spotting as just one more tool that you can use to produce a print that matches your vision of the scene. No one argues that you can't burn or dodge the print - spotting is merely a more precise form of burning..

 

[ann]

A very long time ago, and it was a long time; my very first print from a 4x5 negative i spent what seemed like hours spotting out an area of white. This was a bit bigger than a dust spot but thinking it was dust went ahead and removed the offending portion.

Serveral weeks later i happened to walk by the scene, which by the way i passed everyday and looked down and realized, it was bird droppings.

 

[Ronald Moravec]

The way to not have to spot prints is to clean the dark room. Take everything out. Clean the ceiling floor walls shelving air vents with damp sponge. EVERYTHING!

Clean every thing before it goes back in. Keep the room closed. Put a filter over the inlet air vent.

Install water and air filters.

Get rid of the dirty old plastic bottles with crud on the bottom you can`t see.

Use new glass bottles ( Specialty Bottle for one ). Clean and drain each bottle after each use and don`t cross containinate.

Don`t reuse chemicals specially fix. It gets silver precipitate after a day or so and it attaches to the next film on either a face in a portrait or sky in a landscape ( this is an unwritten law).

99% of the problems will go away.

 

[Monophoto]

Ronald is correct that cleaniness will help reduce the amount of spotting that a print requires.

However, I find that spotting is a great way to spend quality time with a print, getting to know it in intimate detail. Frankly, it's a bit therapeutic - you have no choice but to become totally involved in the process, and you leave other problems behind.

 

[Donald Miller]

Hi All,

Last night I found myself attending to imperfections on three prints with the usual stuff I use (I think it's Spot Tone). I found myself wondering two things; firstly, how permanent is print spotting, ie will it fade in a few years to reveal my white dust specks?
Secondly, once I'd sorted out the dust specks, I also spotted out some small white highlights which were technically part of the photo, but which I personally found distracting. I've done this before, often just slightly subduing a prominent (very small) white feature to a more acceptable grey.
I wondered how common that practice is, and yes - getting back to my first question, I know the best way is not to have the b****y dust there in the first place!

Best wishes to all,

Steve

I will try to answer your questions as posed. The first is about impremanence. I have prints that were printed and spotted over twenty years ago. They show no signs that the spotting material degrades over time.

Your second question was about spotting out unwanted specular highlights. I have done this at times. I view this as part of the print making process. That the means of achieving a desired result in print presentation are part of the creative license.

Good luck.

 

[Dave Swinnard]

Spotone = analog PhotoS**p?

As already mentioned, Spotone seems fairly stable. My oldest (spotted) prints are only pushing 30 years old, but the spots (that I can find) seem fine. (My older prints weren't spotted - not a habit I picked until later).

Spotting out "blemishes" like bird droppings, cigarette butts, general litter, etc. is just part of the game. Get too extensive and you've moved into the world of retouching. (a honoured profession, not much in demand now - speaking in an analog sense)

Dave

 

[baronfoxx]

Ronald is correct that cleaniness will help reduce the amount of spotting that a print requires.

However, I find that spotting is a great way to spend quality time with a print, getting to know it in intimate detail. Frankly, it's a bit therapeutic - you have no choice but to become totally involved in the process, and you leave other problems behind.

I agree, after spending time in the darkroom doing spotting I always feel relaxed and happy with the finished result.

to help reduce the need for spotting I always use distilled water, it works for me!

 

[baronfoxx]

Your second question was about spotting out unwanted specular highlights. I have done this at times. I view this as part of the print making process. That the means of achieving a desired result in print presentation are part of the creative license.

Good luck.[/QUOTE]
try burning in unwanted highlights during the enlarging exposure, it saves a lot of after work

 

[Steve Roberts]

Ronald is correct that cleaniness will help reduce the amount of spotting that a print requires.

However, I find that spotting is a great way to spend quality time with a print, getting to know it in intimate detail. Frankly, it's a bit therapeutic - you have no choice but to become totally involved in the process, and you leave other problems behind.

Thanks everyone for all the replies. Of course the standard of cleanliness will affect the need for spotting, but at times I 've tried really hard and still ended up with white flecks, whilst other times I've taken a devil-may-care attitude and everything has turned out fine. The content of the scene where any flecks fall also has a great bearing on their nuisance value.

Spotting is, indeed, therapeutic, and sometimes I amaze myself at how an offending mark can be made to vanish. Particularly good is the option to re-wash and dry the print and go back to square one if things aren't working!

Best wishes,

Steve