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What went wrong?

There are dark branching or tree-like marks on my film

Negatives and slides

What you're seeing

Dark marks on the negative shaped like branches, lightning, fans or clusters of dots. They show as light marks on a scan or print.

Check this first

Check this first

Are the marks darker than their surroundings on the negative, and branched or dotted rather than straight lines?

Likely causes, most common first

  1. 01

    Static discharge from winding film fast in dry air

    Occasional
    How to tell
    Branching, fan-shaped or dotted marks with extra density. A spark between turns of film exposes it, so the mark is a real exposure. More likely in dry weather, on cold days or with fast winding or rewinding.
    Test it
    Rewind your next roll slowly and steadily. If the marks stop, static was the cause.
    The fix
    Wind and rewind slowly, especially in dry or cold weather, and don't pull film fast off a spool or out of a bulk loader.

    Sources Eastman Kodak Company, Processing KODAK Motion Picture Films, Module 15: Processing Black-and-White Films; Fountain Press (L. J. Wheeler), via Media History Digital Library, Principles of Cinematography: A Handbook of Motion Picture Technology (Fountain Press, London, 1953); Society of Motion Picture Engineers (J. I. Crabtree and C. E. Ives, Eastman Kodak Research Laboratories), via Media History Digital Library, Static Markings Encountered in Practice and Methods of Their Prevention (Transactions of the Society of Motion Picture Engineers, 1925); Eastman Kodak Company, Storage and Handling of Unprocessed Film (TIB 5202, May 2002)

  2. 02

    Pressure or kink marks

    Occasional
    How to tell
    Short crescent or straight marks, light or dark, where the film was pinched or buckled, rather than branching shapes.
    Test it
    Check whether the marks match places where the film jammed while loading the reel.
    The fix
    See the crescent marks entry.

    Sources Eastman Kodak Company, Processing KODAK Motion Picture Films, Module 15: Processing Black-and-White Films; Ilford Photo (Harman Technology), Common Processing Problems

Avoiding it next time

  • Rewind slowly, especially in cold or dry conditions.
  • Let refrigerated film warm up fully before opening it.

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