I spent 3 years washing my negatives wrong before a guy in Portland set me straight

I always ran my negatives under tap water for like 5 minutes after the stabilizer step. Thought that was normal. Then I was at a photo meetup in Portland last spring and this older guy asked why my prints had that blueish haze. He told me to use distilled water with a drop of Photo-Flo for the final rinse and then just hang dry without touching. Tried it that night and my negatives came out crystal clear for the first time ever. Has anyone else had a 'wait I've been doing this wrong' moment with their developing routine?

3 comments

3 Comments

fiona98514d ago

Tap water for 5 minutes? That's pretty standard for most people honestly. I doubt a little blue haze is ruining anyone's prints that badly.

lily7014d agoMost Upvoted

Jump right in and say @fiona985 has a point about most people not noticing a difference. A little blue haze from short tap water soaks probably only shows up under a magnifier or heavy scrutiny. For everyday printing and casual use, the water type barely matters compared to technique or paper quality.

drew_reed6214d ago

Honestly never thought about it but you might be right.