Photographic negatives can be damaged by static electricity in the camera when the humidity is low (more common in cold weather, desert climes, etc.). I’ve heard this phenomenon described many times, but have yet to see what the results look like. Is the entire frame overexposed? Do we see cool lightning bolts across the image?
My Google searches have only turned up references to the error, not any actual scans of static-damaged photographs. Any help?
You get clear, branchy looking streaks on your negs which come out black on prints. I haven’t seen it on any of my chromes.
I’ll try and find an example to post. I would post my own, but I have no scanner.
My Gawd, I am so dyslexic
Dark on the negs
Whitish? (never printed them) on the prints
and I’m sitting here LOOKING at my negs!
Argh!
BTW, here is a link. Mine look like the middle example.
It’s a natural Kirlian photo showing the souls of the cows in the gelatin. They try to get out of the emulsion and haunt you. [cue spooky music]
Interesting. I was trying to see if that could be a ready explanation for the vague story, “Photos show odd images near shuttle”
… but, as I quickly re-read the article, I see that the astronomer had a DIGITAL Nikon …
Doh.
Excuse me while I go crawl back under my rock now.
And yet he mentions the discharges showing up on the film when he developed it. And he’s remaining anonymous and not releasing the photos. I think that there are simpler explanations than “static discharge”. :dubious:
Lightning bolts.
The example in my photography textbook (Photography, 6th Edition, Barbara London and John Upton, basically a condensed version of the old Time-Life series) isn’t as extreme as NoClueBoy’s link; it just has a few little lines in one corner, like the edge of a tree. I’ve never had it happen to me.
Search on keywords “Lichtenberg Figures”
Here are some: http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Lab/8063/lichtenb.htm