no seriously orig

I don't know, she still looks pretty and serious! But the other one is a much nicer print.

Maybe it's just my screen but I like this one better. The other one is more of a dull gray.

I agree with Heather about this being the nicer print, although nicer is subjective. The split grade printed image seems quite alright until one sees a straight or single grade print. I think this means you need to work on your split grade printing technique somewhat, or at least fiddle with the different grade 0 and grade 5 exposures.

Split grade printing is usually more about extremes of contrast, which in your case you did a great job, possibly too great a job.

Still a great picture though!

Mick.

I feel that a portrait of a young girl should not be taken with a 400 ISO film. The resulting grain is unflattering. The top of her glasses are cutting her eyes in two and finally the image is out of focus. I feel that you should move on with your experiment in split grade printing. Sometimes it is better to just let go.

Cheers
TEX

thanks again, everyone