I am trying to learn how to use my LF camera, and get proper exposures. After much frustration with film testing, etc, here's the first photo I've been happy with. Hopefully I'd be able to reproduce it :-)
You are doing great. I would maybe print this with a little higher contrast to obtain a little better local contrast in the petals...but that is strictly a personal thing and should not be taken as gospel.
Thanks Donald- That is praise indeed coming from you. This is printed at Grade 2, and I tried at Grade 1, but found that things didn't look sharp in the shadow areas. I didn't try higher contrast, as I thought it would blow out the highlights and cause a loss in tonal separation. The actual print obviously looks better than the scan, but I will try it and see how it looks. I thought local contrast was more controlled with dodging and burning, rather than printing at different contrast grades. I assume you are referring to the highlight region around the center of the flower on the right?