Black fingerprint on the negative

ienes · Jul 9, 2015

Hello there and welcome,

I have an issue with one frame, scanned today, coming from a recently developed Kodak TMax 400 negative. There's a thumb print which I can clone out in Photoshop but want to avoid it if possible since its time-consuming.

Is there any way to get rid of this? Any sort of cleaning agent to use or am I dead in the water? Image attached.

Process: Kodak Tmax 400 developed i D76 1:1 12:30min dev time, Tetenal stop bath and Tetenal fixer for 10 min, washed with a bit of Fotonal afterwards.

tirediron · Jul 9, 2015

It looks like damaged emulsion to me (someone's phat phinger touched it when it was soft), in which case there's really nothing you can do except deal wlith it digitally.

gsgary · Jul 9, 2015

Who was the clumsy bugger that developed that

ienes · Jul 9, 2015

Guys,

This was the last frame on the negative, and also, it happened only once in ten rolls that's why I've wondered what exactly (on what stage) caused that.

480sparky · Jul 9, 2015

It could be anywhere in the handling-by-human-hands stages. Spooling it up, hanging to dry, cutting them, scanning them...... Any where you actually put your paws on them is a possible cause.

limr · Jul 9, 2015

Check the negative to see what side its on. If it's on the emulsion side, there's really nothing to be done. If it's on the other side, try cleaning it the way you'd clean your expensive eye glasses - a little breath to fog up area and gently wipe with a dust-free cloth.

timor · Jul 9, 2015

ienes said:
Guys,

This was the last frame on the negative, and also, it happened only once in ten rolls that's why I've wondered what exactly (on what stage) caused that.

Any stage. And it looks like more, than one fingerprint. Did you develop that film ?

ienes · Jul 10, 2015

timor said:
ienes said:

Guys,

This was the last frame on the negative, and also, it happened only once in ten rolls that's why I've wondered what exactly (on what stage) caused that.

Click to expand...

Any stage. And it looks like more, than one fingerprint. Did you develop that film ?

Yes. And since I've scanned all 10 frames (it's coming from a 6x7 camera) I've seen all the others magnified and they have no such marks nor any other.

Also, yes, it's on emulsion side.