One tricky aspect about paper negatives is that most photo paper today is variable contrast, meaning you can manipulate the contrast of the final print in the darkroom with different colored filters. This is convenient in the darkroom, but not so much in the field. When using such stock to create paper negatives, their contrast is dictated not only by the scene itself, but also by the color contained within. Since I cannot filter in camera, these first attempts proved challenging to finish, as evidenced by the lack of highlight or shadow detail.

Another issue is the sensitivity of the paper. Instead of an ISO of 100 or 400 like we are used to with film, photo paper has an ISO in the mid single digits. This means extremely long exposure times, despite the bright mid-day light. Note that in the first two images of the rocky shore, the only hint of the ocean is the mist effect resulting from their long exposures. Most of these images were taken under a bright sky with a thin, high overcast. The last exposure ran 16 minutes in a light rain. Unfortunately the highlights were lost in my attempt to pull out the shadow detail. It would have been nice to see the mist effect in that one.

I find it interesting to compare the garden shed image below with a second version made with film and sun a year later.

Click any image for a larger view.