would flashing help me in this situation?

[xkaes]

Another approach would be to make your perfect print of the sky -- JUST the sky -- using whatever time and contrast (paper/filter) works for you. Assuming you can do that, just merge the two.

[Doremus Scudder]

Flashing and burning with a #00 filter have essentially the same effect; to add density but not detail. If you need detail, you need to burn with high-contrast filtration.

It may be that the best solution is a combination of both. The tricky part, of course is dealing with edges and avoiding halos.

xkaes' suggestion to make your perfect print of just the sky is a good one. It may work out that a backward approach is best for this particular print; base everything on the sky and then dodge/burn the foreground.

Best,

Doremus

[Chester McCheeserton]

Flashing and burning with a #00 filter have essentially the same effect; to add density but not detail. If you need detail, you need to burn with high-contrast filtration.

It may be that the best solution is a combination of both. The tricky part, of course is dealing with edges and avoiding halos.

xkaes' suggestion to make your perfect print of just the sky is a good one. It may work out that a backward approach is best for this particular print; base everything on the sky and then dodge/burn the foreground.

Best,

Doremus

Thank you Everyone for the suggestions – I will give this another shot when I get back in the darkroom this week. Forgot that that analog enlarging takes a minute to get back into the flow!

Here's hoping that it's all worth it.

I'll try to post an update on whether I was able to get an improved result.

[xkaes]

Having worked with similar photos, I suspect you can get what you want without any flashing. You might even discover that you can make it much better than you expected.

[Michael R]

It’s worth noting also that Acros has much higher highlight contrast and densities than say TMX or Delta100. This is one of those double-edged swords. It can make it harder to bring bright highlights in on a print, but on the other hand they can stand a lot more compression without becoming too flat or losing detail.

[Chester McCheeserton]

good point...I initially shot a bunch of it planning to scan...it def shows a huge difference compared to Tri-x in terms of less shadow + Highlight detail, punchier contrast....at least in the analog contact sheets. The detail is there but hidden away.
I find enlarging 11x14 and 20x24 I'm mainly using filter 1 and 1.5 and that's with what I thought was very gentle development using HC-110 diluted 1 to 12 or 1 to 15 from the stock, which I think is closest to Dilution H.

On the flip side the grain is super tight on a well exposed neg at 20x24 and sometimes almost hard to see at 11x14.

[Michael R]

Indeed it’s a wonderful film. Wish they still made it in sheets.

good point...I initially shot a bunch of it planning to scan...it def shows a huge difference compared to Tri-x in terms of less shadow + Highlight detail, punchier contrast....at least in the analog contact sheets. The detail is there but hidden away.
I find enlarging 11x14 and 20x24 I'm mainly using filter 1 and 1.5 and that's with what I thought was very gentle development using HC-110 diluted 1 to 12 or 1 to 15 from the stock, which I think is closest to Dilution H.

On the flip side the grain is super tight on a well exposed neg at 20x24 and sometimes almost hard to see at 11x14.

[otto.f]

Chester, in my opinion, your darkroom print looks fine. But I know how niggling things like that can drive one crazy.

Totally agree. Total detail in the sky is only possible when placed in Zone V which is mostly unnatural. The detail is in the crushed metal which is in fact the subject. You could vignet the whole image a bit. But locally, the tonal scale of the wet print is the best of all versions.

[Jim Noel]

I would begin with flashing since if done properly it will have essentially no effect on the shadow and mid densities.

[Chester McCheeserton]

Thanks again everyone. I did end pre- flashing and burning with the 1.5 filter and while it still isn't as perfect in terms of the masking of the burning as I'd like, it is way better. I will try and post some pictures of the actual prints once I've flattened them in a few days. I think I combined suggestions from several of you. The grain in the sky isn't quite as beautiful as a drum scan when you are burning for 85 seconds wide open But it is a handmade object that is inside the paper now, so I'm happy.