RETOUCHING The working up of negatives and prints by hand. In this article only the retouching of negatives will be considered. For prints, see " Working-up Prints." It is rarely desirable to retouch a landscape negative, but portrait negatives are commonly retouched by professional workers. The easiest way of improving portrait negatives in a small degree is to coat the glass side with matt varnish, and then, when dry, work on it lightly with a lead pencil or a stump and powdered blacklead. The parts covered with lead pencil print lighter. This work is, however, not true retouching, and will serve only for remedying broad patches in the negative.
For retouching proper, a retouching desk, pencils, and a bottle of medium will be required. Retouching desks (see A) may be bought ready made, or may easily be converted from an ordinary box, as shown at B. A hole, P, is cut with a rebate in the lid to hold the negative, and the lid fixed at a convenient working angle by means of narrow strips of wood, Q, at each side. An extra piece of wood, R, is fixed to the top in order to shield the light from the surface of the negative. All the light must come through the negative, and it is advisable to place white paper in the bottom of the box.
The worker should experiment with three re touching pencils—hard, medium, and soft; and they should have a point literally as sharp as a needle, to obtain which very fine glass-paper or emery cloth is used. Place a piece flat on a table, take the pencil between the thumb and fingers, and carefully roll the point round and round on the rough surface until the lead tapers to a fine point. Retouching medium may be bought, or it may be made according to one of the following formula; : No. 1.—Turpentine, 2 oz. ; powdered resin, 6o grs. No. 2.—Sandarach, 8o grs.; alcohol, oz. ; castor oil, if oz. ; venice turpentine, 4o drops.
The majority of beginners have an erroneous idea of retouching, hence their failures. The secret is not to attempt too much at first, but to be satisfied if even only one freckle or wrinkle has been removed. Now the general idea is that the whole of the negative—or, rather, the face— is worked on by the retoucher with his pencil, which is wrong. Only the blemishes require to be worked on, so as to bring such clear spots up to the density of the surrounding parts ; dia grams C and D explain this. C represents in a highly magnified form a spot or freckle on a negative which is to be worked out, the blemish appearing as a clear spot in an almost opaque part of the negative. If the pencil is worked,
and the lead is put on in even quantities all over the face, the opaque surroundings would be even more dense, and the spot would contain only as much lead as the dense parts ; therefore the spot would still show, say, as in D. The correct thing to do is to leave the surrounding parts alone for the time being, and to work the pencil only on the blemishes, putting sufficient lead in them to bring them up to the required density. The result, if carefully and properly done, would then be as shown at B, that is, a perfectly even surface.
It is advisable to take a rough print of the negative to be retouched on glossy paper, which will show up the defects and serve as a guide to the work. Dust the negative, put a drop of retouching medium on the film side, and then, with the finger-tip, rub the drop of medium in a circular motion over the whole of the face to be retouched ; continue rubbing gently until the surface feels " tacky," and put the negative on one side to dry. Place the negative film side upwards over the hole in the retouching desk, so that a good light comes through it, and, having sharpened the pencil, begin filling up the clear holes, taking particular care that the lead does not go on the outside of the hole, or the result will be as at F. The particular " stroke " or movement of the pencil needs consideration. The four most used strokes are shown, G to J ; G is known as the scribbling touch, and is most useful for softening up and bringing together high lights and shadows, such as the lines under the eyes and down the nose ; H is a " comma " touch suitable for large freckles and blemishes ; I is the " cross hatch " used for filling up com paratively large spaces ; and the " dot " J is the most useful touch of all for filling up freckles.
Begin, then, by dotting the smaller freckles and continually take rough prints to note the progress of the work. Be particularly careful not to do too much or to lay on the lead too thickly, or the working will show. When the freckles and other blemishes are dotted out, smooth the rough skin, soften the wrinkles and places where shadows meet the high lights with the scribbling touch G. This is all a beginner should attempt for some time, and even this requires considerable practice and care to do pro perly. Work done roughly and unsuitably can easily be rubbed off with a clean rag wetted with the retouching medium, and a fresh start made.
Negatives are also retouched with the knife. (See " Knife, Retouching.")