Jennifer

Well seeing that you're already at 00 filter, the only other advice I could offer to make "softer" would be.. (in general)

1. Flash fill or reflectors in the outdoors. What our eyes see is not what the film sees. Harsh shadows can be reduced considerably with fill lighting, however that is performed. If you're on low budget, white poster board or foam board can be used close to the subject to make shadows less contrasty
2. Longer lens. Portraiture on 35mm is best on 80 - 135mm lenses. This way you can open lens up and depth of field will eliminate clutter in background and soften it to the point of reducing the busy-ness.
3. Filter on the camera to reduce contrast. You'll have to look this one up because portraiture is not my forte and I don't know what colors work for skin tones. It might be that a blue filter will do that. That would be my guess. Blue or violet? Someone correct me if I'm wrong!
4. If you've got money, buy a soft focus lens.

Fomapan 100 & 200 are very contrasty films, The fact that you have to print at 00 and it's still contrasty shows you need to do two things, cut the EI and reduce development.

I've been shooting quite a lot of Fomapan 100 and I use it at 50 EI and process at about 70-75% of the time for my other films. That way I get great results, very easy to print, I'm shooting in harsh lighting conditions here in Turkey, but that same technique is equally applicable when I'm in the bUK.

Ian

Thanks so much. I need to slow down a bit again and work on my camera work! I'll try to shoot the next roll of portraits at 50 with my 135 lens. I'll also try some reflector for lighting. I do have a flash for this camera also. Just haven't done any flash photography. Guess there is no time like the present!
Lori