If the fingerprints are due to developer solution, then resulting marks will be light and usually impossible to remove. When the marks are caused by touching the film with fingers that are wet from fixer chemicals, then darker colored fingerprints will be left on the emulsion that can sometimes be removed by thorough washing.
To avoid fingerprints on film surfaces, rinse and dry hands after they have been exposed to chemical solutions and handle film by the edges, not the surface. Fingerprints due to grease and oils can sometimes be removed by rewashing film and treating it again with a wetting agent, or by cleaning the film with a cotton swab or film cleaner. Handling film with cotton editing gloves will avoid fingerprint problems.
Long thin scratches that run parallel to the length of a filmstrip are caused by tears and partial removal of the emulsion by mechanical force. This usually occurs during squeegeeing, but can also occur in the camera back or during processing. Check the film pressure plate on the camera back for damage or raised areas that might be scratching the film as it advances or rewinds. If the film has been forcefully loaded into the developing spool, sometimes the emulsion is rubbed too hard against the spool, causing blemishes.
Film bulk loaders are often the source of scratched film, but this is usually not obvious until the film has been processed. If the error occurs repeatedly, then carefully examine film loading and darkroom technique to uncover the source of the problem.
Film that has been damaged in this manner cannot generally be repaired, but one remedy for printing and scanning purposes is to gently rub some skin oils from the forehead or nose into the scratches for a quick fix. Eventually the oil will collect dust and should removed with film cleaner before storing the transparencies. Large blank spots or patches on the emulsion surface are usually either opaque or very dark in shade when viewed on color negative film.
Occasionally, blank patches will appear clear on the negatives, creating undesirable dark spots on resulting prints. The usual cause is two loops of film that have stuck together in the spool or reel during development. Often, to conserve space in developing tanks, photographers will stack several filmstrips together in the same reel, or will inadvertently wind two loops together on stainless steel reels.
Squeezing reels too tightly in the developing tank can also cause film to overlap and touch. When this occurs, developing solution is prevented from reaching the film emulsion at the point of contact, and the film will not be adequately processed.
In most instances, the affected area will remain totally unprocessed and opaque, but can become clear if the film separates later in the development process. To avoid the problem, check to ensure film is winding correctly on the reel, and listen for crackling or other unusual sounds when loading film reels in the darkroom.
If the winding doesn't proceed smoothly, unwind the film and start over again. Repetitive streaks originating from the sprocket holes and traveling down into the emulsion are caused by too much agitation of the developer solution.
The primary goal of agitating the first developer solution is to ensure an even spread across the film surface and to continuously replenish depleted chemicals in the area immediately adjacent to the emulsion.
Excessive agitation can force too much fresh developer into contact with the emulsion, causing an overdevelopment problem. The solution to this processing error is gentle, yet sufficient agitation of the film according to the manufacturer's specifications during processing. Overdeveloped film is often damaged beyond repair and should usually be discarded. Exceptions do occur however, and film that is not too overdeveloped can sometimes be printed satisfactorily.
Uneven development is manifested by light patches and streaks on the color negative film and is caused by insufficient agitation of the film developing solution. When the agitation level is not high enough, depleted chemicals near the emulsion surface are not replenished in time to complete the development process and can accumulate and slide across the film.
This retards film development in large areas causing streaks that compromise the integrity of the negatives. Although film that is streaked cannot be repaired, future development sessions can be successful if the manufacturer's recommended agitation rates are followed. Negatives that have been streaked by uneven development usually yield unsatisfactory prints, but if the affected area is small, then judicious cropping can often produce a reasonable print.
This error is also common when one of the developer solutions is contaminated with another solution. When the film is first removed from the developing tank, it should be carefully examined for processing errors. Agitate for approximately five to ten minutes and reexamine the film. If it still appears cloudy, then the fixer is depleted or too old and should be replaced.
There is plenty of time to prepare a fresh batch of fixer while the film is kept immersed in water. On some occasions, film that appears fogged or cloudy may have been permanently damaged by light leaks, heat exposure, or irradiation by X-rays at airport checkpoints.
Laboratories that use radioactive chemicals capable of gamma radiation should also store and use film in locations far removed from radioactive chemical work areas. Reticulation occurs when film is exposed to extreme variations in processing temperature.
The negative image appears "crinkled" or cracked throughout the surface and is damaged beyond repair. This error usually occurs when heated developer is inadvertently placed into the developing tank immediately after mixing.
If the color developer bath is too warm, reticulation can occur to a lesser degree. As the degree of reticulation is reduced by using cooler solutions , the cracked surface is no longer a problem, but film grain size often becomes increased. The solution to this problem is to carefully monitor the temperature of all solutions used in the development process. On rare occasions, reticulation can lead to production of prints with some degree of artistic merit, but most film damaged in this manner yields unsatisfactory prints.
Fogging is the result of a light leak, either in the film development tank, darkroom light leaking through the door, an inadequately blocked window, or a safelight , or in the camera back. Usually several frames are destroyed by fogging, but not the entire roll. Check all potential problem areas to ensure the mistake is not repeated with the next roll.
Light leaks in the development tank can occur because the lid is not properly secured, or because the light-tight solution tube that runs through the center of the film reels is not seated properly. In rare cases, development tanks are cracked when they are slammed against the counter to dislodge air bubbles.
If the cause was air bells or the result of air bubbles, then make sure to lightly tap the film tank on your work area during the developer phase of processing your film.
These air bubbles can happen at any point during the film process developing, stop bath, fixer so make sure to agitate properly throughout. This is a great general tutorial on developing film. If you follow the link, step 5 talks about agitation. If the cause was debris on your lens or in your camera, make sure to clean your lens and film compartment with a soft cloth, soft brush, or a squeezable air blower like included in this kit before loading your film.
The sprocket holes on your film are torn either completely or in certain places. Sprocket holes are the little perforated edge along the top and bottom of your film that moves your film through your camera to create exposures. Unfortunately, there is no way to fix torn sprocket holes once it happens.
Fingerprints on a the negative can either look like oval shaped marks or smudges. They can either dark or lighter colored fingerprints depending on what was your fingers at the time.
The oils on your fingers can also damage to the negatives. Fortunately, there are some instances when it can be fixed. If the fingerprints are caused by fingers with fixer, oil, or grease the prints can be cleaned by rewashing the film, by breathing on the film and using an anti-static microfiber cleaning cloth, like this one , or by using a film cleaning solution, like this.
Repetitive streaking coming from the sprocket holes the holes on the edge of your film that are going both downward and upward toward the middle of the image. The main cause is too much agitation is happening during the development process. Agitation makes sure that enough developer is reaching the film evenly. This happens because too much fresh developer is reaching the image and causing over-development in those areas.
Also, watch this helpful video about how poor agitation can affect your film. Uneven development can look like light patches, clear streaks, or a lighter band across the entire roll on one side of the film. The opposite side of the film appears to be correctly developed.
It can also appear as partially developed frames. There are two main causes of unevenness. While too much agitation can cause repetitive streaks coming from the sprocket holes on the image, the lack of agitation can cause uneven development.
A think and uniform black bar that divides your image where one side is completely black and other has image information. The cause of the black bar on your image is your shutter when you exceed the flash sync speed of your shutter on your camera.
The sync speed is the fastest shutter speed where the shutter is completely open. The light from your flash es reaches the film faster than the shutter can get out of the way and casts a shadow onto your film. Most be film cameras have a mark next to the sync speed on the dial where you choose your shutter speed. Do this by opening the film door without film in it, cock the shutter and fire it using different shutter speeds looking for when the shutter is completely out of the way of the opening in the front of the camera.
The image on the negative looks cracked or crinkled like dirt that has been in the sun without water. This is called reticulation and it happens during film processing when the temperature of the chemicals varies wildly. This most likely happens when the developer is too hot right after mixing and is used for developing right away.
However, depending on how much the film is overexposed it is possible to get a passable print or scan by editing the image in digital software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. The image is dark, dense with image information, and has high contrast. It can also appear sooty with no detail in the highlights with extremely dark shadows. The grain is also very noticeable. There are two main stages when this could to happen to a negative.
However, depending on how much the film is overexposed it is possible to get a passable print or scan from the negative by editing the image in digital software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. Keep in mind that color film loves light and can be pleasing when overexposed.
In fact, most photographers prefer overexposing film for a specific look. The key is not to overexpose so much that you lose information in the highlight areas and create a flat or low-contrast negative. If you believe the problem was related to development, follow these tips to avoid it in the future:. Source 1 , Source 2 , Source 3. The film has a white-ish, cloudy or milky appearance over the entire image area. The film is also very flat or low-contrast with little to no details in the shadow area or highlight areas.
Fortunately, depending on the severity you might be able clear your negatives by repeating the fixing process before the final wash with fresh fixer, the correct time, and temperature. If necessary, keep your film wet in water while you make fresh fixer. If the film was fogged by x-rays then unfortunately, there is no fix once it happens.
However, depending on how much the film is fogged it is possible to get a passable print or scan from the negative by editing the image in digital software like Adobe Photoshop or Lightroom. My name is Lee and I love photography and learning. Always rinse your developing tank after developing film.
The problem: Have you ever seen dark spots like this on your negatives? There are many opportunities for hair and dust to get on your negatives. When this happens, you will find spots like this that have to be removed in Lightroom or Photoshop although some photographers like the authentic appearance of dust on their images.
I f the dust or hairs are black on your scanned or printed image they likely came from inside the camera and left a shadow on the negative. In this case, the only way to remove the dust is to clone it out in Lightroom or Photoshop. In the images above, fibers from the cloth shutter were blocking a small part of the image, leaving behind these black strands on the negatives. The easiest way to see if fiber from the shutter is blocking your image frame is to use the bulb mode, and hold the shutter open.
If you notice a fiber, then carefully cut it as close to the shutter as possible with a pair of fine scissors. If there are no fibers from the shutter, then clean the inside of your camera with a rocket blower, and remove any dust from the backside of the lens with a microfiber cleaning cloth and spray. Cleaning your camera lenses often will also help prevent the formation of fungus inside the lens. If the dust or hairs are a light color on the scanned or printed image then they are the result of dust on the scanner or the negative.
Film negatives are sticky and tend to attract a lot of dust during the drying process. You can use a cheap rocket blower to remove dust from the negatives before scanning or printing them.
Epson V or V scanners also have a habit of collecting a large amount of dust over time. So it is always a good idea to clean them with a microfiber cloth and rocket blower before scanning. The best way to fix under-fixed negatives getting milky or foggy is to simply re-insert the film in a new batch of fixer.
If the fog or milky appearance happens over 20 or 30 years, though, it may not be so easy to solve by dunking in fixer again. The negatives were left in the developer too long, or were over-exposed in-camera creating overly dense negatives. But even they do start to lose some sharpness after 2. Another issue to consider when over-exposing your negatives is that your scanner will have to work harder to reveal an image. So these images were overexposed by stops and developed normally in Cawanol Professional developer.
The developer is based on caffenol, and usually exhibits grain similar in size to Rodinal. But this is still much more grain than should be expected. I tried to fix some of these images by using HDR DSLR scanning , but that was only enough to bring back some of the details, but not to reduce the appearance of grain in the images above. Take a look at your settings, and test to ensure your camera is working properly. The first sign that your film was underexposed is that the negatives will appear more clear than normal.
Thin negatives are usually recoverable to a point. However, that image will always appear grainier than normal, and may not have any details left over in the darker places.
Learn more about how film grains work, and why under and overexposed film tends to look grainier than properly-exposed film in this detailed article about how film works. Typically this problem is referred to as bromide drag. Bromide drag occurs when the film developer exhausts in some areas within the first 30 seconds of minute of development, leaving patches along the film.
The way to fix bromide drag is to consistently agitate the film for the first 30 seconds to a minute of the development cycle. Agitating for this long will ensure that the film developer is evenly distributed throughout the process. Then put the lid on and do regular inversions from there. The only solution here is to open the reel and try again. Buy metal reels, as everyone with a superiority complex on the Internet has apparently done, or make sure those Paterson reels are bone dry next time you load up a roll.
In every case other than this one, I handle film delicately by the edges are never run into problems. But another solution is to use a pair of rubber, nitrile, or museum-grade cotton gloves. This can happen to anyone loading film onto wet Paterson reels. At an average temperature and humidity, film will last for approximately 40 years before they start to break down. The best method for storing film at home is in a cardboard box in a cool, dry basement. Learn more about film storage, and which films are the most archival on this article.
Out-of-focus specs on your film are usually caused by water and dust making their way onto the film. This seals the container, making it light tight. At this point, so you can turn on the lights in the room, but first, put the extra cap on just in case you flubbed something with the funnel. Now for the fun part! Be sure to mix the chemicals according to the instructions that come with them. Powdered chemicals really do mix best at the temperatures on their instructions.
To keep your negatives free of mineral deposits, you should mix them with distilled water. You can get away with tap water if need be, but depending on the mineral content of your water, this might leave spots on your film. Many films include development guides inside the cardboard boxes. Dev times are longer at colder temperatures and grow shorter as things heat up.
The first chemical you add is the developer, which makes the actual image crystallize on the film. As soon as you pour the developer into the tank, tap the bottom of the tank on the counter a few times. This knocks out air bubbles that may have formed around the film and prevents them from leaving ugly spots on the pictures. As time passes, you should agitate the tank for roughly 10 seconds every 30 seconds to a minute. Doing it more often will give your pictures more contrast and slightly more grain because fresh chemicals will be touching the film on a more regular basis.
Although the image should be on the film at this point, it can still be ruined by light. Once the time is up, pour the developer back into the bottle, then pour in the stop bath. When the fixing time is up, take the negatives out of the tank.
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