What can be causing this?

[jfserejo]

In some of my scanned images there are little white spots and I have no idea what is causing it!? I'm developing with HC-110 and both in FP4+ and Tri-X this white holes appear in some photos. I did not use an acid stop-bath, just plain water (not distiled water). Can someone point me a reason for this?

Thanks,
Joao

 

[kully]

If it was a hole, wouldn't it be black?

Do you reckon it might be dust/human skin giblets that you had in the tank or on the reels?

 

[rich815]

Dust. On the neg when either exposed or scanned. If it was a hole it would be black.

 

[jfserejo]

Hi kully and rich815,
I meant spots... excuse me. I try to keep dust away of the process but I don't have a darkroom environment. I clean the tank and jugs with a natural suede, but I can't guarantee an dust free work area.

The fact you identify the problem is great 😉 I thought I was messing up some step in development, as I'm really newbie.

Thanks so much,
Joao

 

[iml]

It's what the clone and spot healing tools were invented for.

A good going over the negs with a rocket blower before scanning helps, but it's pretty common to get a dust spot or two.

Ian

 

[nikon_sam]

Examine the negs with a good loupe before printing or scanning...
Even if you hit it with a good brush sometimes the dust stays on the neg...
Cotton pad and a good Neg Cleaner would be the next step...both sides...just very gently of the emulsion side...
If it's on the neg it will be on everything else...

 

[HSI]

A few seconds with the heal tool in PS.

 

[jfserejo]

Thanks Ian and Sam I will examine the negs carefully!

HSI for internet posting and sharing the healing tool is wonderful but if the spot is large and you want to enlarge without any kind of digital manipulation this could by a problem!

One thing is for sure, I will be much more careful with the cleaning...

Regards all,
Joao

 

[Bryce]

Wait- what if it was a real feature in the image? Say, a stray splash of water from the hose operator in the picture?
Kidding mostly...
Look at it this way- were that a wet print that fell victim to a spot of dust, you'd be retouching it by hand! Not that I've ever had to do that to any of my prints...