Ugly gray-yellow haze on my prints.

[Antithesis]

I just spent 8 hours in the darkroom and there seems to be this recurring tint to my prints. It's most obvious in my skies and anything that would be an off white in the print. My whites also tend to be not-true, and they get this ugly light gray haze. I've been split filtering to get true blacks, but when my whites come out they are pretty nasty. The color is a light gray but has this sickly, very light creamy yellowish. I don't think it's the paper because my borders are white.

I see some prints and the contrast is really good with both true blacks and true whites, but I can't seem to get my true whites. My prints aren't necessarily flat I just think brighter whites would give them more pop. Suggestions please!

I'm using Ilford Multigrade RC semi-gloss btw.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

Wash them longer. I'm pretty sure that's fixer that you're seeing.

 

[Antithesis]

I usually leave them in the water for 10 minutes+, RC paper is supposed to only be like 3-5 minutes I thought. I'll give it a try though, thanks.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

how long do you fix?

 

[Antithesis]

2-3 minutes, sometimes longer. I was told it wasn't all that important from both my teacher and TA. Should I be more cautious about my developing and fixing times?

 

[JC1220]

2-3 minutes, sometimes longer. I was told it wasn't all that important from both my teacher and TA. Should I be more cautious about my developing and fixing times?

Yes you should! What are these people teaching you if not how to develop correctly?

I would guess with certainty cross contamination in the gang darkroom, along with improper fix and wash times.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

2-3 minutes, sometimes longer. I was told it wasn't all that important from both my teacher and TA. Should I be more cautious about my developing and fixing times?

2-3 minutes isn't long enough. It should be more like 6-10, agitating every minute or so, wash for another 10 with constant agitation and you should be golden.

 

[Helen B]

What's puzzling me about this thread is that you say that the borders are clean and white, but there is grey fogging in the image area. If that is correct, it sounds more like a light fogging issue that a chemical fogging or underfixing issue. Are the borders clean and white? Is there any area in the image that is as clean as the border? What safelight are you using? Have you tested it with the paper you are using?

Best,
Helen

 

[frXnz kafka]

2-3 minutes isn't long enough. It should be more like 6-10, agitating every minute or so, wash for another 10 with constant agitation and you should be golden.

What fix are you using? I fix for 1 minute, then wash for 3-5. It sounds to me like you're talking about film, not prints.