Need some help on this one.

Next time ask yourself how much a roll of film costs -- then consider how important the image is. Then when you come to an image like this, end the roll early and dedicate a whole new roll to your most important image. Film is cheap! Your time and opportunities are not.

Anyway, end of lecture...this image is way too busy to do a lot with.

1) I was thinking of a litho film mask. Expose the litho film (you'll have to figure a way to register it) to get a positive, then contact that to get a negative. Then by hand, black out all that you want to lighten in the print. Use some sort of grainless paint or dye. Print light, then complete the exposure with the mask laying on the photopaper in registration.

2) Re-shoot

Vaughn

I know, I know, it's not that expensive and I have a ton of it in the fridge. I knew I wasn't going to be that far off from where I wanted to be and was hoping I could pull it off in the darkroom. What can I say, I still have a lot to learn Was just hoping that I might be able to save it still. The whole litho mask thing is WAY beyond me at this point. Luckily fog is never never a scarce thing around here so I'll see if I can reshoot it. Thank you very much for chiming in Vaughn.

Aaron

I think it is a promising image and can certainly see why the scene caught your eye. I personally enjoy a complex image.

Anyway, consider cropping out the top 30 percent of the image, just past the sky on the left. For me, it becomes very graphic at that point. Very nice location.

I think 8x10 is plenty big to work with. Try projecting onto some card stock to create your dodge/burn line, then cut it out. Keep this cardboard tool well above the paper, and keep it moving. Try 50 and 100 percent and see if one is right and one too far off. Make the edge fuzzy if you need to.

Thanks jmcd, I'll give it a shot

Aaron, This has some potential from my perspective. As this was printed onto EMAK graded paper, that stuff really handles toning well. I think you could add some additional punch contrast wise from a light bleach back, and light sepia toning, then finish it in selenium. It will raise the contrast just a bit, but create a lovely airiness to the highlights with a soft warm tint, and the blacks and midtones will strengthen and seperate out nicely. I think it could help bring out the sense of light that the fog portrayed. Your milage may vary, but I think it would work quite well.

You could add just a small top edge burn (including the tree tops) to contain and bring your eye back into the chaos of the trees. The bleaching/toning helps seperate the midtones well with this paper. I use Kodak Sepia II kit, and I mix the pot ferri bleach kit (A) to get the stock dilution. I then measure off a further dilution of 1:6 or 1:7 as the ferri bleach with this paper is very active. It makes it more controllable. I put EMAKS paper in it for around 1 minute to 1.5 minutes, wash for 10 mins, and place into hypo clear bath for 30 seconds and agitate. Wash again for 10 minutes. Then you can place it into the smelly sulfide bath for no more than 1 minute (color will change within seconds!!) then wash and soak for 15 mins. Then it can go into the selenium for final bath. Tone to taste, and I think you will like the results.... Wash for 2 mins, place back into Hypo clear briefly, and wash for 30 minutes or whatever your cycle is to remove all trace of toner and fixer.

Thank you very much Andrew. I have never done any toning other than using selenium. For doing the bleach back, what do you use for a dilution? Do I just use regular household bleach? I've been wanting to try sepia toning, will need to order some next time I get supplies.

Thanks Again,
Aaron