AD5803 - Final retouching

Today I went through all my prints looking for white dots to adjust with the brush. I have found a few and I took the brush with some neutral ink in order to cover them. I expected the ink to work very differently, more like watercolors; which are absorbed by the paper and you can easily blend them. Unfortunately, I found the ink specific for photographic print quite difficult to use and every mistake is permanent.

I successfully recovered one print that I wouldn't otherwise been able to use since the subject had a white dot right in the face.

I though that correcting fiber base prints would have been easier since the paper is more porous and the ink should be absorbed better. However, the correction I did on fiber base did not go well. I had a visible white mark to cover and, even if I did a test before, the ink left a dark dot.

I would not say that I ruined it, since the white dot was as disturbing as the dark one, but definitely I have not improved it at all...

For the future I will make sure to pay extra attention in cleaning my negatives before putting them into the enlarger. All the little dots that I had were completely avoidable if I cleaned my negs better and now I know that it's better not to rely on the ink.