Cloud and Sky Contrast in B/W Prints

[danac]

For me light clouds and dark skies really make a good landscape great. As AA used to say: "The blue dome is boring." My scanned negatives demonstrate that I'm getting  this nice cloud to sky contrast but when I make the prints the clouds and sky wash out. With my condenser enlarger I use the individual Ilford color filter cards (0 through five in half steps). I'm fairly new at using these. Which direction should I go with them to get the above effect without unduly sacrificing gray tone contrast?  I usually start with a two and go down for less contrast and up for more but the cloud/sky contrast is not really affected. Maybe I need to go to more extremes but which direction? Of course this is far less of a problem when the images were taken with anything darker than a #8 yellow lens filter. Many of my images in the old days were made without a filter or just a circular polarizer though.

Edited August 4, 2023 by danac
divine infusion

[stuart_pratt]

Are you burning the sky in? If you are getting the contrast you need and like in the scans, there should be no reason you can’t print it. Perhaps it just needs more exposure in that area?

[danac]

It's an interesting problem and I enjoy the challenge. Funny thing is, my old smaller Beseler Cadet didn't have this problem and I didn't even bother with colored enlarger filters back then. The Printmaker 67 does. I do burn the sky in whenever desirable but when you are making landscapes of mountains the horizon not a straight line.

[stuart_pratt]

To minimise halos when burning in, try two or three different ways of burning. For example, use the traditional mask, cut to fit the landscape for perhaps a third of the exposure, then use a straight edge mask mid way through the mountains (you’ll increase the density of some of the mountain tops, but hopefully not significantly. Then use a board with a hole in it to burn in locally. This will help minimise halos that would ordinarily occur using just a straight mask for the whole extra exposure. Keep the mask up near the enlarger for a more diffuse edge. You could try flashing just the sky area of the sheet of paper too.