Thank you to everyone who took the time to respond to my request for critiques. Usually, when I ask friends for comment on my work, they tend to not be very critical. I will try some of the suggested image manipulation and report on the results.
Here's another, fresh off the scanner... http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2085362&size=lg ...which leads to my next question. I have a great deal of difficulty with lack of sharpness and grain, especially when scanning B&W, which is my preferred medium. Oddly, the grain seems to have a less objectionable appearance (at least to me) with high speed emulsion/developer combos... (Old Tri-X @ 1600 ASA in Diafine) http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=316146 http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=317510&size=lg than with my typical low speed choice (APX 100 in Rodinal). In an effort to reduce grain, I developed a batch of APX 100 rolls in HC110B, hoping the faster development would lessen the grain, but I still get an unpleasant mottled grain look, as in the rainbow image (I used Neat Image to clean up the mottled look, but it is still evident). I thought my scanner might be to blame. Admittedly a cheapo (Scanwit 2720S), I scanned some negatives with the local camera shops Nikon scanner and got similar results. I am using Vuescan. What combinations of film/developer/scanner settings are yielding go B&W results for folks here? Aric
