U of S | Mailing List Archive | alt-photo-process-l | fogged digital negative?

fogged digital negative?



I was printing some cyanotypes today and one of my digital negatives seems to have "fogged". I've printed with this negative 3-4 times before, with fairly consistent results. But today it added a dark ring around the print. When I looked at the negative, it looked OK on the inkjet side, but the other side had a strange, silvery fog to it. The effect was to lighten the negative and print out darker around an area about 6 inches in diameter.

Is this a normal problem for a digital negative - a short life span? Or did I do something wrong - maybe use it too soon after printing the negative. I don't remember how long I waited before using it to make a print. But I've used it several times over several weeks. I'll make another negative, but just wanted to check here to see what I may have done wrong. The negative requires a 9 minute exposure for the cyanotype and paper I'm using. I'm printing with a UV lightbox that's around 26 x 20 inches or so, and about 4 inches from the bulbs.

- Gregg