Church in Metz

I'd say overall the contrast and exposure looks good on the church. It's visible in the sky however where you dodged, per the halo effect. I gather your intention is to darken the sky, not the steeple. Believe me, I'm all too familiar with this problem... There are a few options, though none of them neccesarily 'easy' and will depend on how you've arrived at this print. Perhaps burning in the sky at a higher contrast grade would be the first consideration, if you hadn't tried this already. You may wear out the garbage bin getting it just right (firsthand knowledge talkin here).

Love the image and espesially the angle and composition. To bad about the halo! Maybe multiple contrast printing then a bit of juditious burning. You might if you can go shoot again with the sky more to your liking. use an orange filter to help.

Thank you both for the constructive comments. This is a first print; I know that the burning was a bit crude and needs more refinement but my main concern is the contrast. I thought that I 'd gone a bit overboard but perhaps I can get away with this. Scott, the garbage bin is also a valued part of my darkroom.

Hi Jon,

Love the shot. Like the one fellow said about split filter printing. You can do an overall exposure with a softer grade. Burn the sky in with a double 00 and then give an overall blast of grade 5 for the shadows. Depends what your base exposure is. If my base exposure is 20 seconds then I would only use the grade 5 for 4 or 5 seconds. Burning in with a softer grade enables you to blend in the tones without seeing the effects of burning in. Just a suggestion. Try different things and see what works. I go through alot of paper but it's worth it. I think Les McLean wrote a book about split filter printing. I believe he's an Apug member. Amazing printer that Les is. PM me your mailing address so we can exchange prints. I will pm you mine.

BWKate