Tilbury Power station coal jetty

Well... with the highlights that you have, it's no wonder that the rest of the image looks flat. It looks like ou scanned the neg... right?
I dont even begin to have the expertice to open my mouth in regard to scanning... BUT, if this were a B&W print I'd say dodge the hell out of the clouds, and let the rest of the scene fill in.. or just burn everything except the top of the rig where it will be in silhouette against the clouds... This is a typical example of super contrasty negs, and the troubles they bring us in the DR. Um... the only other answer I'd see is contact printing on something like AZO, where you can take full advantage of the loooong scale.

This is a great image - love the comosition and the sky is absolutely majestic! Great eye! The only thing that it lacks (in my humble view of course) is that the d-max areas don't seem to be really fully exploited for maximum depth. I know this is not easy to do and this looks like a tricky neg - but I almost think I would rather see the crane/loader as a silhouette, to give the print more punch.
Of course, this is all from what I see on my computer screen - so it is very possible that I am not seeing everything the print has to offer. I have seen many a wonderful image "castrated" by the transfer to the screen (to some extent, I would say most B&W images, if not all, suffer to some extent.). Frankly, like with the interesting contact print, I saw this image on the side bar and it really cought my eye - so whatever suggestions are secondary to the impact the image had!

This is the type of shot I would be inclined to do a couple of exposures on and then think about development in terms the final print (after you see how the first development goes). Since the contrast range is a bit "out there" it would be a more difficult development than a standard landscape. I'm curious about the range of values in light you had to work with, do you have your notes for this shot?

I don't see a filter mentioned. I would have opted for a yellow filter to bring good definition to the clouds and their edges. This would have helped with the cloud contrast, but the darker values (the rest of the print has "blue light") would need a bit less development, perhaps a 1/2 stop? This would have helped a little, but an extra shot or two is still a good way to go for better leeway in development. Split-filter printing will help on a VC paper to bring out the best.

Very nice image to work with, very strong. tim

When I shot this, I noted a range of 9 stops, excluding the sun highlights. I knew that the loader would be dark, but with enough detail to 'explain' what it is. Maybe once I've got a print I'm happy with, I'll replace this film scan with that.