underexposed fomapan 100

Is there any clue on the film packaging, like a sell-by date?
Film is usually much more stable than paper.
 
Nope, it was stuck in my camera bag for possibly up to 10 years. I'm just wondering if it's a dilution of developer thing.
 
Ten years isn’t all that long for B+W film. It would be different for colour or multi-grade paper.
Have you tried a darkroom print? All the necessary detail seems to have been captured, which is the important thing, and the proponents of split-grade printing seem to promise miracles. Were you hoping for a negative that would print perfectly with no intervention? That would be a rare and wonderful thing.
I’m not the person to advise on the various split-grade techniques, but others on the forum will know more.
 
what is split grade printing?
let me guess.
exposing the blacks with magenta filters the exposing the whites with yellows?
 
I'm not an expert on this, but briefly, you're right.
There seems to be a great deal more to it and practitioners make all sorts of claims for its versatility and subtlety.
As well as control over overall grade and the distribution of tonality, dodging and burning can be done with either filter for very fine control. I have even heard of flashing...
If you've read of Steve Sherman on this forum, he uses blue and green filters for the same purpose, as did the out-of-production Phillips enlarger. They are the complementary colours to magenta and yellow. Mr Sherman has originated and advocates an entire system of exposure, development and printing. He also wears a baseball cap in his darkroom.
The more common magenta and yellow filters are adjusted to give even grade-spacing and constant exposures when changing grades.
Although split-grade printing has been possible since variable contrast paper was introduced in the 1940s, it's only since exhibition-grade papers have become available that it seems to have become so popular.
There is a good deal information available on the web, if you want to know more.
 
what is split grade printing?
let me guess.
exposing the blacks with magenta filters the exposing the whites with yellows?

Yes, but there's a bit more to it. Keep in mind that this is a ballet of balancing things between the Photographing Me and the Darkroom Me. In general I pursue a number of simultaneous goals:

  1. Expose the scene for the shadows. Lack of shadow detail is the #1 sin I see committed in many negatives (my own included).
  2. Process the negative to hold the highlights into a range that is printable
  3. Process the negative to optimize mid-tone local contrast in the dominant parts of the scene
  4. VC split print, but use different ratios in different parts of the image to optimize local contrast everywhere
2 and 3 are often at odds. 2 often requires less development in the highlights, 3 often requires extended development in the mid-tones. There are a number of techniques for doing this including Semistand development, Extreme Minimal Agitation, Divided Development, and using a lower contrast developer like D-23 with less agitation but extended time.

In my experience, when you get 1-3 right, 4 mostly requires very simple soft light exposures and most of the work in making an expressive print lies in the hard light exposures and burns. Steve Sherman refers to soft light as "contrast killing" light for good reason.
 
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