Squam Swamp

First, welcome to black & white photography; you're really going to love it, and you've taken the first step. It appears that you needed a little more time in the dark room on this one. The trees in middle are a little dark & muddy. Because the trees on the left edge appear to be correct, I believe that you could dodge the dark trees to show a little more detail and provide a more gentle range of tones from dark to light. From a composition standpoint, it appears a little crowded. I would recommend backing away a little more or using a wider angle lense. Because the boards play a major role in this shot, I would lower the camera to give more of a feeling of depth. It's nice spooky picture. Keep shooting and keep developing and printing.

One more thing. You will like your pictures a lot better if you use a fiber based paper. It is far superior to RC paper which is nothing more than plastic. RC is easier; however, short cuts and easy outs won't help you be your best. Ilford makes many fine quality fiber based papers that will do your prints justice.

I agree with esanford about the trees center left. Quite dark. A bit of dodgeing will help lighten them.
As for paper -
FB is (IMHO) a better paper for finished prints. It is also more demanding and more money. I would suggest you get comfortable with your printing using RC paper first, then switch to FB (if you want to of course).

Great first effort...and the subject matter is 100% mono material - dark broody woods - great places to lurk with a camera! You will be amazed how quickly you improve in the darkroom. I would strongly recommend staying away from FB paper for a good while. I personally do not agree that RC paper is hugely inferior. I prefer FB, but for that extra 10%. RC is fine and will enable you to learn faster thru shorter dev fix wash and dry times. Far faster. I have one image on RC which I have not been able to beat on FB yet. I stoped bothering to try! There are some great RC papers, some colder (such as Agfa Premium) and warmer (Ilford Warmtone etc) than others. Therefore in addition to learning about contrast and density, dodging, burning etc you will also find out about image colour/tone. When I have a nasty neg, I often use RC to get it basically nailed (ie figure out my approx 'look') before going back to FB for the final prints.

Good luck....to those nearest you; they will soon forget what you look like. You will need Vitamin supplements from lack of light exposure!

Tom

I used the chemicals and papers that I used because this is what the class provided. I have obtained the necessary equipment to setup my own darkroom (gotta love eBay) including a Saunders/LPL VCCE enlarger. Waiting for the lens I will need to handle my 6x6 negatives to arrive. I bought a small supply of the same papers/chemicals for home, but the supply was small on purpose, knowing I will want to later decide what I'd best like to use. Thanks for comments. Looking at this on two different computers I have learned something else. It is impossible to know what everyone else is going to see and how to the actual print. But you guys are right, those trees are too dark. Might be a fun first dodging exercise.