groping in the dark

Out Damned Spot

No matter how much care you take to keep dust off your prints, it never fails that some of you best darkroom work is ruined by a big blob of white in the middle of your print. It really pays then, to work on your spotting technique so you can rescue these prints and display them proudly.

You will need some equipment:

Let's start spotting, step-by-step:

1. On a clear, clean workspace assemble your work: the print to be spotted, brush, bottle of spotone, and the old print/palette.


2. Dip the tip of the brush in the spotone, swirl the excess spotone in a small area on the back of your palette.


3. Close the lid of the spotone bottle and put it away, you won't need it again for awhile. You can use the same palette until the spotone is exhasuted.


4. Clean most of the excess spotone from the brush by holding it at an acute angle against your palette, brushing in short strokes while twirling the handle.


5. Look at your print and look at the small stripes you are making on the palette. Make a judgement on darkness of the spot you will need to fill in you print.


6. When the marks you are making on the palette are about half as light as you think you will need for the spot on the print, begin very carefully dotting the print with the tip of your brush, working from the outside of the spot, towards the center. Try carefully not to overlap the printed area of your print, or you will end up with a dark ring around your spot.


7. Lick your brush to allow it to pick up fresh spotone from the palette. Keep a dry toungue, use hardly any saliva. You'll get the hang of it.


8. Continue to layer tone until the spot is no longer visible. Reload the brush with spit/spotone as needed.


9. Allow the print to dry.

A couple more hints:

Despite what some people say, don't bother with the spotting pen sets, use a brush. With a little practice, you'll be able to do much finer work in much tighter spaces (plus, spotone lasts forever).

Start with test prints first to build up your technique and practice before you get to your best work. Nothing is worse than going through all of the work of spotting just to have your white spots turn into dark spots. But don't stress out. Chances are, people will not even notice any mistakes. The goal is to improve your print without making it worse.

It may not seem so, but spotting can be fun. Get comfortable, crank the tunes, and zone out with the spotone for a few relaxing hours. Your prints will thank you for it.