Low contrast Negs

[keithwms]

Sounds like you got all kinds of good advice and made lots of progress already. Let me propose one challenge for you: go nuts on a roll and try to overexpose and develop to the point that your highlights block up i.e. that you lose detail in the thickest portions of the neg. Just try to do that, it's very surprising how much b&w film can take! After that you can compare the detail you see on in your neg on a light table with a loupe... to the detail you can actually put onto paper. Then you are ready to start thinking about optimizing your exposure and development together... and/or learning printing tricks like split grade.

 

[jlpape]

Thanks, and yes, thanks to all on this forum I am now at a point where I can start these type of exercises. I am very interested to get a feel of both the development time and exposure on the quality of the negatives.

I am also going to make a trip to B&H to look at enlargers. After a few years in digital, I am ready to go make a commitment to an all analog work flow again. What really cemented this idea for me was when I went to an Ansel Adams exhibit at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC while on a trip there. These were a collection of Ansel's photographs that he printed himself. I was floored by the subtle tones that he was able to achieve in his prints. It is not something that I have seen in an all digital process. Now, I am no Ansel, and could only hope to be a fraction as good as he was, but it really inspired me to return to analog.

Anyway, Thanks to all for getting me on track.