I thought it would be better to publicly ask my questions in this forum so that others could participate in addition to Steve Sherman and possibly Sandy King (whose research and test results Steve Sherman heavily relied upon in his recent article).

The combination of stand development (and using Pyrocat HD) followed by printing on Azo (as presented in Steve's recent VCM article, "Controlling a Negative's Genetic Make-up") truly captured my imagination. As a relative newcomer I have a few questions. Thanks in advance, guys.

What, exactly, are adjacency effects? Relation to micro contrast? Why do "...the combination of diluted developer, extended time in developer and reduced agitation" cause adjacency effects?

Steve Sherman cites Sandy King's comment that the stand/dilute developer/extended time/reduced agitation technique was "fraught with dangers." What, exactly, are the dangers (beyond spending one's entire life in the darkroom)?

I don't care that I'm biting off more than I can chew. I just want a print that I can really be proud of. I've made a bunch that were underwhelming. Yes, I know I don't have to go through all this stuff to get a good print. (After all, Adams did it.)

It's just that Steve's article truly captured my imagination.

Regards!