How Important is Film Processing?

The importance of film processing should never be underestimated. Like everything else, there is a right way that this very critical step of the photographic process must be done. More often than you may think, a lot of the problems which happen with your photos, are in fact not your fault, but happened to your photos as a result of poor processing! Most processors do a fine job, but you've got to make sure you always get a first class job! Highly priced film processing is not always the answer either, because I've had a few rolls of film ruined by big name outfits.

There are really no unimportant photographs, but what I suggest you do is to take the odd roll of less than critical snapshots to different photo processing outlets and decide which you like best. You might even take some photographs on a short roll of film as a test. Take it to one of your local processors and evaluate it. Repeat this process a couple of more times at other labs and see which processing job looks best to you. Then you'll feel more comfortable that you probably won't run into processing problems when you've got some important photos which you just MUST have like baby's first steps or grandma's 90th birthday.

Processing Problems

Here are some more common processing problems to look for which would indicate your choice of film processors is less than satisfactory. Some of these problems can be caused by you too, but I have mentioned how to eliminate your culpability.

• white specs or spots on your photographs - this is usually as a result of dusty conditions at your processor, and those specs are actually dust which got on the negative or photo paper during the printing stage of the processing. Insist the prints be made again!

• white lines in your photographic prints - this is usually the result of scratched negatives, and since you didn't open the film cannister and scratch the film, it's probably the result of poor handling at some stage of the processing job. It is possible however, that you could have had some foreign elements in your camera which actually scratched the film as you advanced it in your camera. You can eliminate your part in this problem, by regularily blowing out the interior of your camera with a small can of compressed air or a small squeeze-bulb type blower available at your local camera shop for a couple of dollars. This happened on one of my rolls because the film was not placed into position, but instead was slid through the gate of the enlarger to the next negative.

• orange areas on your prints - this is usually the result of light getting through to the film where it's not supposed to be. You could have a light leak in you camera or you could have loaded your film incorrectly. But if you are sure you didn't, it probably happened at the lab, at some stage of the processing.

• the colour rendition in your photographs is way off or your shots have a colour cast of magenta or green to them - This can result from improperly stored film, like leaving a loaded camera or the film itself, in a hot car on a hot day, or on a heat radiator for a long period of time. Perhaps you were using badly outdated film which was long past it's 'best before' date. Greenish colour casts can also occur from taking photos under the printing process or the use of improperly maintained processing chemicals. There are VERY tight tolerances which must be maintained in the processing chemicals and their temperatures during the processing of your film. If these are out of whack, your photos won't look anything like they should. Heat is an enemy of film! Extremely cold temperatures have no adverse affect on film, in fact if you get a deal on some film, buy a lot and store it in your freezer till the night before you need it. There is no better way to prevent film from aging!

Like I said above, clean your camera out regularily, store your film and camera properly and you won't be the culprit!

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