As one gets more and more comfortable in the darkroom, one learns to start taming these factors (contrast, tonal range, dynamic range) to yield the results one wants. My own personal photographic journey has led me down a path which I have been pursuing for more than a year now, and only now am I starting to produce optical B&W prints that please me. I hope my recently posted work reflects that

One thing which I used to take for granted, is that one could take pretty much any digital image, and maximise both contrast and dynamic range, regardless of lighting, lens, or ISO. This was possible through simple curves manipulation. With film, and optically printing images, it's a different story. Here, the subtle interplay of film type (each has its own inherent characteristic curve), taking lens, development process, enlarger lens, contrast filter(s), and paper onto which one prints all need to come together to produce a pleasing image.

There is no question that B&W film has a massively greater dynamic range than any currently single-shot digital camera. This whole range can also be easily printed onto almost any multigrade paper, but the result will lack punch, looking like a poorly done digital HDR composite. Most things will be soft tones of grey.

Sometimes, though, the factors come together, producing an image like my recently posted Bridges to the Market which has both the punch, and the immense dynamic range (full shadow, highlight, and sky detail in harsh mid-morning light) that I like.

The particular combination was:

• Zuiko 90mm f/2.0 Macro taking lens
• Ilford FP4+, developed in a South-African made concoction that claims to be equivalent to Kodak D76
• Printed to Kentmere Multigrade 5x7in satin-finish paper
• Rodenstock Rodagon 80mm f/4.0 enlarging lens (severely beat-up / scratched)

As I am starting to realise the "look" that I want, I need to be careful to not adjust more than one variable at a time, and I certainly have been through many. Great words of wisdom once said that one must shoot one kind of film for a full year, get to know it, before moving on to another. Well, it's been more than a year with Ilford FP4+, and early next year I will try a different film as my mainstay. In the meantime, I have a file with more than 1000 unprinted negatives just crying to see the light of an enlarger...