Spotone help
Mike
shelf awhile).
I'm having a hard time using the stuff. I got 2 touch-up brushes as
well...very small.
The stuff seems so thin and fiber-based MC118 doesn't like picking it up.
In order to get any color, I have to work the brush more, but when I do, I
end up with a big splotch that doesn't match.
Any tips or advice? I'm ready to call it and go get those touchup pens
instead. Any chance the stuff I got was just too old?
Thanks,
Mike
Gregory W Blank
"Mike" <nos...@devnull.com> wrote:
The secret is a very fine (ooo) or a 4-0 brush a small amount of
pigment in the brush at a time (I use a paper towel to
absorb off just enough spotone to leave the brush semi
dry) Then I make the brush point sharp by wiping it across
a test piece of matte board. Then once I am sure the dye intensity
relatively matches the prints density I stipple the color into the area
desired. Another trick is to de tan the area with some Bromo seltzer
in distilled water, this should remove hardener if you use a hardening fixer,
which I do not.
--
LF Website @ http://members.verizon.net/~gregoryblank
"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong,
is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."--Theodore Roosevelt, May 7, 1918
Michael Scarpitti
Spotone is not the best way to spot. Get some very soft pencils and
use them instead. Try an art supply store.
Lloyd Erlick
jun1604 from Lloyd Erlick,
David Vestal goes into spotting technique in quite a bit of
detail in his book, "The Art of Black and White Enlarging".
It's out of print, so try libraries and used book sellers.
In my experience (following Vestal...) the brush itself is
crucial. I'm sorry to stoop to a cheap vs expensive
commentary, because we all know a photograph that originated
in a Hasselblad has no special advantage over one from a
Holga. But that boils down to esthetics. A cheap brush will
not let the spotting dye go where you want it, it won't let
you spot evenly, it will put the dye where you do not expect
it, and on and on. Therefore, a very high quality brush is a
must. In my squirming around looking for a brush that would
allow my teeth to unclench when spotting prints, I found
that Winsor and Newton sable water color brushes did the
trick. They are called Series 7, if I recall. Sable seems to
be the thing. There is an ultra-expensive version labeled
Kolinsky Sable; I don't have one and don't feel deprived,
but if it's the first and hopefully only brush one will ever
buy (they are lifetime tools, and one gets attached...) why
not spring for the best? Size 000 or 0000. It might be a
convenience to have a 00 as well. All three would be a nice
luxury. Art supply stores are the place to get one, not
photo stores. Art stores don't sell Nikons, and it seems
photo stores don't sell water color brushes.
Also, the brush should be close to dry after loading it with
dye, rolling it around to get a point on it, and brushing it
on scrap paper to test before going after the spot. The dye
should be diluted so the dot it makes is a little lighter
than the surrounding area of the print. The correct density
is built up with multiple applications, waiting for the
previous to dry. The method is to load the brush, get it
ready, spot however may spots there are, and repeat with as
many passes as necessary. Eventually the spots that have
been done, and have dried and are waiting for a repeat dab,
will no longer be visible. If you can't find it to do more
spotting, it's done. Overdoing is a potential problem.
Some people like magnifers. I have one on a Luxo-lamp style
arm, with a built in light. I never found it comfortable to
use, and I now only use a regular Luxo-type lamp with a low
power incandescent lamp that I can pull down very close to
the work. My eyes like to be unassisted and very close for
small scale, exacting work, and a magnifier puts me too far
away. No doubt everyone is different in this regard.
I think hardener plays a role in making print spotting a
little more difficult. It's been so long since I used
hardener that I'm sure my slight ability to do spotting was
an equal part of the problem back then. Also, I prefer to
dilute Spotone with distilled water. I never allow anything
to go back into the bottle. I dip a clean glass rod (never
the brush) into the bottle to extract a drop or two at a
time, which I dilute on a white ceramic surface, or a piece
of glass on top of a white sheet of paper. The dye that
dries on a clean surface can be kept and used later.
Mixing the colors of the various dyes is less of a problem
than I thought it would be. I'm not good with color (ten per
cent of males are termed 'color defective', and that's me!)
but I have found that David Vestal was exactly correct when
he pointed out that the human eye and visual perception
system are not very good at differentiating tiny specks of
color within large areas of similar color.
The eye is excellent at differentiating tiny specks that
contrast strongly, such as white specks on a black ground.
So getting the spotting dyes close to the requisite color is
good enough. I like the Spotone number 5 'neutral' black. I
actually consider it a little on the warm side, which suits
my work on warmtone material. Once the dye dries, the tiny
specks I've spotted are extremely difficult to find. This is
the reason for the tiny, precision water color brush. The
amount of dye laid down per 'touch' is very small, and can
be built up controllably.
Working one spot too much can lead to a change in surface
texture. This texture can draw the eye of the viewer
powerfully, so overworking is to be avoided. Another reason
for good brushes.
Even with poor color perception, I have been able to become
quite good at judging the density of the dye in its little
puddle on my plate. The hardest spots to hide are the ones
surrounded by light or medium density areas; it's very easy
to make the spot a little speck of darkness jumping out of a
light area. With practice one can mix a drop of dye that
will dry (slightly) lighter than the area of concern, and
build up the density gradually.
I was afraid of print spotting for many years, and all my
attempts with cheap brushes and carelessly processed prints
increased my anxiety. I believed my problem was built-in
(poor color perception) and therefore felt I would never be
able to spot prints. In fact, I can judge the requisite
shades of gray just fine, and color actually has very little
to do with it. Little enough that I can deal with it, at any
rate.
Print spotting is a great incentive to work meticulously in
all aspects of one's work. Producing spotless negatives,
careful enlarging technique, together with care in all the
related chores (loading film in LF holders without dust,
yikes! makes me really appreciate 120 film...) -- this all
pays off in reduced spotting effort. Even a small problem
can take longer to spot than to make the print in the first
place. Carefully made negatives can save plenty of time.
I've never used spotting pens. They strike me as akin to the
pens they sell to conceal red-eye from camera mounted flash
in color prints. Maybe I've got it wrong. But can a pen have
the fine point of a 000 sable brush? If old ways are the
best ways we should make spotting brushes from our gray
hair...
regards,
--le
________________________________
Lloyd Erlick Portraits, Toronto.
voice: 416-686-0326
email: port...@heylloyd.com
net: www.heylloyd.com
________________________________
Mike
Thanks for the great post. These are the ones where I really appreciate the
power of an online community.
I found a store with Winson and Newton brushes and picked up a couple. I'm
looking forward to trying out your advice.
Thanks,
Mike
Michael Scarpitti
I assure you that soft pencils are easier and better than ANY brush and liquid.
Francis A. Miniter
You hold a real minority opinion on this. Graphite will not penetrate
the emulsion the way a spot toner will. When viewed from various
angles, the finished print has to show no obvious tampering. Graphite
will show a change in texture even if the color matches. My preference
is first for the spotting pens, and secondly for the liquid spot
toners. In fact, I just ordered some Marshall's sepia and brown spot
toning bottles to deal with a 16x20 print I am making from a damaged 100
year old 4x5 glass plate.
Francis A. Miniter
Herbert Kanner
"Mike" <nos...@devnull.com> wrote:
Mike,
It's been some years since I did B & W with fiber paper, but there is
one thing I remember clearly:
If you use hardening fixer, the paper becomes almost impossible to spot
with dyes. And paper is pretty tough; there is really no need to use
hardener. If that was your problem, try fixing without hardener. You
will be surprised.
Herb
--
To send me email, replace deadspam.com by acm.org
Louie Powell
a trick I learned from Vestal (who, in my book, is the guru on printing),
is to put a few drops of the Spottone dye onto a pallte and allow it to
dry. Then, dip the brush into clean distilled water to which you have
added a drop or two of photoflo, and then swipe the damp brush across the
dried dye. The brush will pick up a small amount of the dye, which then
transfers fairly easily to the paper.
Vestal uses a white porcelain saucer as his palate, and uses the matching
cup to hold the clean water. I purchased a white plastic container of
makeup, threw away the makeup, and use the white plastic container as the
palate. I recycled a small shampoo bottle (the kind that hotels provide)
to hold the water, and keep my entire spotting kit in a child's plastic
pencil box.
As to magnifiers, another Vestal trick is to use inexpensive drug store
reading glasses. Look around for glasses with stronger magnification. I
found some 3.5 diopter glasses at a photo flea market that are great.
Finally - spotting is not difficult, but it takes practice (with my track
record for dusty negatives, I get lots of that) and patience. This will
sound strange, but I actually find spotting to be relaxing because you
have to become totally immersed in the process - and it's amazing how
quickly the time passes when you are buried between the grains on prints.
Louie
Michael Scarpitti
I have always used hardeing fixer, and I MUCH prefer the effect from a
very soft pencil. The dyes always form blobs, and dust spots have
sharp edges. Pencils work better for me.
Lloyd Erlick
<nos...@devnull.com> wrote:
>Lloyd,
>
>Thanks for the great post. These are the ones where I really appreciate the
>power of an online community.
jun1904 from Lloyd Erlick,
You're welcome. Happy to help if I can.
I think of it as a libray of minds...
Lloyd Erlick
On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 00:06:19 GMT, Louie Powell
<lpow...@nycap.rr.com> wrote:
...
>a trick I learned from Vestal (who, in my book, is the guru on printing),
>is to put a few drops of the Spottone dye onto a pallte and allow it to
>dry. Then, dip the brush into clean distilled water to which you have
>added a drop or two of photoflo, and then swipe the damp brush across the
>dried dye. The brush will pick up a small amount of the dye, which then
>transfers fairly easily to the paper.
I certainly agree about Vestal! I include Adams' books for
technique, but I really like Vestal's opinionated style.
...
>As to magnifiers, another Vestal trick is to use inexpensive drug store
>reading glasses. Look around for glasses with stronger magnification. I
>found some 3.5 diopter glasses at a photo flea market that are great.
But be sure to try before you buy. Those drugstore closeup
glasses only work for the majority of 'visions' out there.
Most people have plus-diopter vision prescriptions, and
that's what those glasses work for.
I, on the expensive other hand, am a myope ("near sighted").
My prescription is minus diopters (I'm not complaining - my
eyesight is sharp and generally just dynamite from eight
inches to about, oh, twelve inches... and both my eyes have
settled to very close to the same required correction,
which is an incredible convenience.) But I can't use those
drugstore specs. (My prescription is pretty simple, minus
3.25 diopters in each eye. I like a pair of about minus 1.75
for working in the darkroom. I popped over four hundred
dollars for a set of continuous gradation multi-focals, and
find them absolutely useless in the darkroom. They're a
reasonable compromise in normal, day to day use, in bright
light. But a compromise they are, and they don't suit me in
dim light. Using them in combination with a grain focus
device produced more rage than anything useful. In
retrospect, it was just silly of me to expect them to work.)
>
>Finally - spotting is not difficult, but it takes practice
Sadly, I have been a goof off for the best part of the past
year. It's been fun, but I just know my spotting technique
has become rusty (along with the rest of my darkroom
activity, too, I guess...)
...
I actually find spotting to be relaxing because you
>have to become totally immersed in the process - and it's amazing how
>quickly the time passes when you are buried between the grains on prints.
...
It took me years to get over the anxiety and tension of
spotting my prints. Of course, my choice of cheap, useless
brushes and my crappy, sloppy dusty prints didn't help. Sure
is true about passing the time, though!