making filter decisions?

[JW Dewdney]

Avoid surface reflections. A polarizer may help with some lighting.

a polarizer will help you cut through the surface finish and see more '3D figuring' - at least in theory - try it!

personally i wouldn't touch a color contrast filter because the whole surface is pretty much the same color - it's only going to separate the wood from the background material. I'd go with a polarizer and SOFT lighting - contrary to what someone else said...

not sure i'd want to show much more figure than you already have however... it's already VERY strong to my eye...

[Larry H-L]

KOG has it right. If they will let you, wipe it down with alcohol, it will really help.

[Larry Gebhardt]

Since most of your contrast in the image is created by the lighting I think you could light the scene a bit more softly. You can then increase development time to increase the overall contrast back to where you have it. This will raise the local contrast in the wood. Simply adding a soft box to fill in the shadows a bit and then increasing development by 30% is what I would try.

Also, with some woods I've noticed that the rays in the wood rays are more visible at different lighting angles. You could try a polarizer with polarized light. It's possible that could bring out some contrast. I haven't tried it and it's just a theory.

[stradibarrius]

Thanks for these suggestions. I think maybe the softer light and longer development makes the most sense. I'm going to try it anyway. I will learn something either way it turns out.