Alabama Hills on Carbon

If it's moisture evaporating, wouldn't you want to keep the moisture there until after it's out from under the UV?

Anyway; Great photo, I like the composition and the tonality; the shadow details are good on my screen as is the texture of the rocks. Though I see the lighter brown in the sky you are talking about, it's not distraction. I could look at that for hours. What size film was this?

The marks in the sky look to be the result of stress ridges of unexposed gelatin caused by removing the tissue support from the final support -- an usual occurence. One usually sees them over the whole print just after removing the tissue support and the image starts to appear. Extended development will get rid of them. And one has to get completely rid of them because they darken as the print dries...any hint of them and they just get worse. At this stage, you can have bright lights on, so take a good look at the print before shocking it in the cold water.

If you have trouble removing them, put the print on a slanted piece of glass in the sink and pour hot water (110 to 120F) over the print -- or a hose at a low pressure (with care!)

BTW...a great image!

Vaughn

Thanks fellas.

Vaughn - I'll give the hose tip a try next time.

Shadowtracker - it's Arista's 5x7.

I like it nonetheless!

I drove through Alabama and all I saw were dead Armadillos and pine trees... I have to check these hill out next time through.

Not in Alabama...

vpwphoto - my bad it's in Lone Pine, CA - I'm glad you like it.

Vaughn - I made some tissues last night from fixed out X-ray films, I wonder if the thicker tissues could cause more stress ridges.

I get the ridges using both the x-ray and the litho film as tissue support (.007" and .004" respectively). But not the few times I have used Dick's thin tissue (the support material just about falls off on its own with those). Somehow they seem to be a function of how much effort it takes to remove the tissue support.

I always get the ridges, but I have not let it worry me -- they do melt off eventually. I have switched my source of gelatin, but that has not changed anything (both food grade).

I like the sky, at least it isn't blank!

This is a gorgeous print.
May I offer the advice to not obsess about the sky densities too much? Just make more pictures like this. The sky is more than good enough.