Contrast Filter Practice

When I was developing prints I noticed that I wanted to get more contrast. The enlarger that I was using had its contrast filter set at 2 and sometimes I would move it up to 2.5 if I had a huge range of whites and blacks. I found that a lot of my prints were very grey, especially in the sky. I wanted to retake a print that I liked and play around with the contrast filter to see if I could get some difference in the HDR.

 

The first shot I moved the contrast filter all the way up to five and I noticed that the deep shadows formed together underneath the train car.

The next print I made I went down to a contrast filter of 4.5. This one you could see a little more of the underside of the train and the lettering on the side of the train stands out a lot more.

The next photo I moved the contrast filter down to 4.0. This photo you can see the change in the graffiti the most. The black outlines around the graffiti have the same tone against the side of the grain. The sky still seems a little too dark. 

This next photo I decided to reduce the exposure time and raise the contrast filter all the way p to five again to play with the sky and see if I could lighten it up. I thought that they would balance out and the reduced time would help reduce the contrast but everything went really black again.

This photo I kept the reduced time but I lowered the contrast to 3.5 and this one is by far the best contrast I found. The sky is light and is different from the tone of the grain and you can see all of the darker details around the train.