Goal: Produce the greatest tonal range possible with little or no noticeable “grain”.

Factors that affect graininess:

Film type and speed (T-grain structure) smaller halide crystals and thinner emulsion
Developer
Agitation and Development times
Print size
Areas of uniform tone show more grain (sky)
Difference in developing solutions
Contrast
Quality of light

Fine grain developers
Are film developers which help to keep grain size in the photographic image to a minimum.

Fine grain
Film or developer that produces images in which areas of uniform tone appear smooth, with no clumping of the silver particles that form the image.

1. Fine grain developers - Ilford Perceptol, Kodak Microdol-X etc... These powder based developers will give you very fine grain results with a slight loss in sharpness and film speed.

2. 'Normal' developers - Ilford ID11 / Kodak D76 - Also powder based, this is the most commonly used film developer in the world and has been in use for the best part of the 20th century. Produces fine grain results of good sharpness with generally no loss of film speed. It is cheap and keeps well in concentrate form (up to 6 months)

3. High activity developers - Ilford Microphen, Kodak HC110, Agfa Rodinol etc... These developers are ideal when push processing and when maximum sharpness is desired. A slight increase in film speed is to be expected as is an increase in apparent grain. For maximum grain, try something like Kodak DK50.

Assignment
Turn in 2 11x14 inch images on Fiber Paper.
Shoot using any 100 speed film or slower.

You will turn in one of each of the following:

Image #1
Using a tripod or setting the camera down, shoot architectural or landscape images with the intent of capturing a mood or emotion.

Image #2
Match the previous mood while shooting images of objects or people that have highly defined textures.

Both images should match mood and intent and should go together intuitively.
Both images should by shot with the intent of acheiving fine grain.