How much B&W darkroom work have you done, John? That results are not repeatable is another of these fallacies that have drifted around for years. In order to get repeatable results you have to get down to getting the mechanics of the darkroom right, but that doesn't mean you're operating like a machine or a robot. A lot has to do with the way the darkroom is set up, a lot has to do with patience, a lot has to do with technique and a good eye ... it's by the numbers, but not all by the numbers.
And let me mention that good darkroom results start before the film is even exposed, by previsualizing the result, knowing exactly how the negative is to be exposed, and knowing how it will be processed. Good, repeatable results encompass much more than some dodging, burning, and using an appropriate contrast grade of paper. Shel > > I agree. And in any case, if you're going to reduce the process to a > mechanical following of a recipe/formula, you might as well let a > machine do the work - you've removed any creative input from the process > of creating those subsequent prints. >
