Response to "tonality" and "acutance"

That's reasonable, but I still think the original scene has an awful lot to do with it. When I see lots of graduated areas of midtone I think "tonality". Modeling. Flat slabs of gray don't do it for me. This morning I was out walking the dog in the fresh snow and realized that the snow didn't have any visible detail at all. Gray sky, gray snow, but no modeling or texture. A photo would have been slabs of gray, and no film or developer or large format would have improved it. Actually, grain might have been desirable to add some interest. If the details with modeling are small, say tree branches and sunlight, and the modeling is obscured by excessive contrast, grain, or edge effects (see, Rodinal at least got mentioned!), then what I consider tonality, suffers. So, for me, tonality is lots of smooth modeling in the midtones; grain and sharpness have to be good enough not to obscure it, and that depends on the subject.

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