Hi, I am wanting to explore some alternative salt printing and I know that I am going to need a much more dense and contrasty negative.

I want to test on my 4x5 and then eventually use my 8x10.

What is the best way to create much more dense and higher contrast negatives?

I will be using Ilford HP5 film and HC-110 as my developer because that is what I have, so i would appreciate the comments being focusd on this film and developer.

To create more dense negatives, I assume I will give it more exposure time?

For more contrast, I assume I would just develop the film for longer times?

I understand I will have to do a lot of testing, which I will do, I just want to make sure I am headed in the right direction with my methods to create the more dense and contrasty negatives.

Thank you

Larry