8x10 film processing for smooth skies

Jordke said:

Not only have I been experiencing blotchy smooth skies but also what one would call bromide drag in areas where a tree and sky meet. Everything is level with the drum, capacities are good, so could these inconsistencies be a direct result of the drum only rotating in one direction? Thanks guys.

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Yours is a perplexing problem, for sure. The thing to do would be to try reversing and see if it helps. It should. But then, you shouldn't be having these problems in the first place. I feel your frustration, but don't know what to tell ya.

ChrisC said:

I thought this is where I was going wrong.
With my stack, every minute I lift one end of the stack out of the tray and slide top sheet to bottom for the whole stack + 1. I assumed having the negatives out of the water for possibly too long is what was giving me my uneven development, but now I'm back to square 1.

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As I recall from reading "The Negative", a stack of sheet film in tray development should be constantly agitated. That is, as soon as you've moved the top sheet to the bottom, grab the new top sheet and move it to the bottom. You should have more even development that way. Continuous shuffling, that's the ticket.

If you pause 1 minute between each shuffle action, you might encounter an issue. If your estimation of the passage of time not exact then a given sheet on the top or bottom will receive +- development relative to the stack. That is, the sheet may spend more or less time on the top than the average. This can be solved with a darkroom timer that beeps at minute intervals. Constant agitation goes a long way to evening out the exposure to fresh developer.

From reading this thread, i know know that brush development leads to more even development. One question from this newbie!
Does using a brush for good even development reduce acutance/contrast?