Eric,(posted 8526 days ago)The simple answer is that modifying development is used to match your negative to the contrast range of the subject, not to your paper. The idea is to preserve as much information on the negative as possible. Therefore, minus development is used to stop the highlights from blocking (becoming so dark that they cannot be differentiated on the film) so that you can control them in your print. After minus development, you may still want/need to print your negative on soft, or hard, paper in order to create the image you want.