Pete, with your excessively contrasty negatives, you can try developing the prints till you begin to see density in the dark areas, then immediately move the print to a water bath for 30 sec or so. Then go back to the developer; then back to the water bath as often as necessary till you get an acceptable result. This procedure tends to produce grainy prints, but with 4x5 TMAX that shouldn't be any problem.(posted 8384 days ago)Another alternative is to flash the paper. You'll have to work out an exposure sequence for your particular paper. Try closing your lens down to its minimum aperture, cover the lens with a styrofoam coffee cup, then expose text strips on a full sheet for 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 15 sec. Process the sheet and label the times on the sheet when it's dry, and keep it handy. For starters with your prints, flash the paper at the point just below were any density shows. Then print your negative. This will effectively bring the highlight density up faster than the shadows. If it's still too contrasy, you can try the next step up the scale. If it has become too flat (you are effectively fogging the paper), go down a step. You could also combine the two techniques--water bath and flashing. Good luck.