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Help … Dust .. Hair .. Fibres
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I am going mad I seem to have loads on my negatives, I know I am never going to get rid of them all but any tips to reduce them would be much appreciated
Marc
You could scan the negs and tidy them up in photoshop or how about printing them off and retouch the print, gunns sell special maker retouching pens about €40 per pack of 12, may have price or qty of pens wrong.
Have a read of this recent discussion lots of the suggestions will help you out.
https://photographyireland.net/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=34956
Paul Wh wrote:
You could scan the negs and tidy them up in photoshop or how about printing them off and retouch the print, gunns sell special maker retouching pens about €40 per pack of 12, may have price or qty of pens wrong.
Paul
I have been using PS (using the spot healing tool) which is pretty good but you know what they say prevention is better than cure!
Cheers Marc
Eddie wrote:
Have a read of this recent discussion lots of the suggestions will help you out.
Thanks Eddie might try that distilled water all right
MArc
Marc,
Try to ensure how you’re storing your negatives is not contributing to the problem also.
Also try to ensure you’re leaving the negatives to dry in a place thats not too dusty. Haven’t had problems in this regard myself, but have seen photographers recommending steaming up your bathroom by running the hot taps, and then hanging the negatives to dry there,
Damien
damien.murphy wrote:
Marc,
Try to ensure how you’re storing your negatives is not contributing to the problem also.
Also try to ensure you’re leaving the negatives to dry in a place thats not too dusty. Haven’t had problems in this regard myself, but have seen photographers recommending steaming up your bathroom by running the hot taps, and then hanging the negatives to dry there,
Damien
Thanks Damien,
Funny you should mention steaming up the bathroom I dry my negs in a steam room because it is fully tiled, I reckon they are getting the specks on them between drying and scanning, I use cotton glove to handle the negs and blow them off with compressed air before scanning I reckon the cotton glove may not be a great idea, I might go back to latex gloves.
Cheers
MArcbigger negs is my strategy-
you don’t enlarge the dust so much…But it is a major problem, more so with sheet film.
A clean room is the only solution, but I don’t have one.
A changing tent is cleaner than a changing bag,
and a dedicated hard surfaced darkroom is the best of the lot-Final wash in filtered water can help-
I agree with Joseph regrding a water filter. Best option IMO along with hanging the film in a dust free environment.
I’ve seen particles in water but never hair and dust.
Your clothes, what do you wear? Most longtime darkroom workers have a favourite t=shirt or sweatshirt which have been through the washing machine 200 times. It will have almost zero fibres on it.
Jumpers, cardigans, smoking jackets :lol: some fleece tops etc will cause fibres to literally jump off you onto the film. Sometimes when loading the film, sometimes when handling it afterwards. Watch out for this.
Does your water come straight from the mains supply or from a tank? if there’s a tank or pump involved and there’s hair in the water I’m afraid it’s most commonly from dead rodents!!!
You might want to get it tested if it’s your drinking water…
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