I don't think that there is anything wrong with my negatives, although I have been meaning to run some of the tests with density measurements that Ansel Adams suggest in his book "the negative". The reason for me doing a lot of dodging and burning is to get the values just the way I want them. For instance yesterday I printed some portraits of a young lady who was wearing a hat and held a flower. I just wanted her face a *weee* brighter, her hat a *wee* darker, etc etc. Doing all the test strips, drying them, puttting it all together, running through all the chemcial baths, toning etc. I find it very time consuming. But I enjoy it - a lot. I was just starting to wonder if there was something fundementally wrong in my technique. But I can hear that I'm not the only one who spends this amount of time - thats very nice to know. But I think I will take the advice and spend some time testing my film development, to make sure I have the best negatives I can get. But man.... after spending a night in the darkroom, picking up the 1-2 gems the day after, pressing them flat and framing it. It's really worth it :) Cheers from Denmark,Michael |