Help! Reprinted image for present, but ...

[echoyjeff222]

Okay, so I went back to my old high school to print out some images for a christmas present. It was sort of late in the day, so I was in a rush. I ended up spending like two hours in the darkroom, trying to figure out what was going wrong ... turns out, I was using a different negative than I had originally used (the new one was all scratched >.<) When all was said and done, I finally managed to print a reasonable image ... however, it was different than the one I had printed last year. I sort of increased darkness/contrast, but the clouds are fuzzy -- I felt that it was almost a nice illusion, as though it were a long exposure. However, I'm not entirely sure. I don't have a photo copier at home, so I did my best and took a picture of the new one. I know that is is bad quality, but I need some advice! Thanks!

Old one:

New one:

 

[timor]

Wet printing has many variables. In this case it may be a different paper when comes to contrast. Did you printed it on RC or FB (I assume that it was VC in any case) ? If FB then choice of developer has an influence, temperature, exhaustion of chemicals etc. If that was a long exposure and you can't get the clouds sharp, then it might be they are not sharp at all, in original image clouds are fuzzy too, just with less contrast it is less visible.

 

[echoyjeff222]

Thanks for the reply, timor!

It definitely felt like a different paper - I was using my teacher's leftover paper. It was on glossy paper.

At any rate, I was just wondering how you guys liked the new version vs. the old version. Is it too dark? Is the fuzzy/long exposure effect working? When I actually shot this, it was definitely not long exposure. The darkroom was what made it long exposure-like

 

[timor]

I prefer the first version.
By different paper I meant more of different manufacturer or type of paper than type of paper finish. If the exposure was of usual length then apparently the clouds escaped outside the limits of DoF, but sometimes the clouds are so soft, that no matter what, they will look not sharp in the print.