This is part 3 of a series. Click this if you missed part 2!
Today I received the results of my developed and scanned film. While I am pleased by the overall result, I was expecting something a bit different. First of all, the film was slightly older and thus the grain was much more visible than I had anticipated. Additionally, I had been using a dark orange filter and was expecting a significant amount of darkening of the sky, yet due to me stupidly metering through the lens, the camera adjusted for the filter and I ended up with washed out skies. In future, I will go back to using an external light meter and possibly try underexposing for a bit more contrast. Additionally, I didn't make any requests at my lab regarding the scanning procedure and thus the scans were done using standard settings.
Overall, the high level of grain makes the images look a lot older than they actually are and I quite like the effect. It's always interesting to see the result of what one photographs on film and how it differs from what one expected. After seeing these results, I am inclined to follow the advice of 
Apart from some minor cropping on the first two images, the following images are unedited and the way I received them from my lab after scanning:
Camera: Contax RTSII
Lens: Carl Zeiss Distagon 28mm f/2.8 and Carl Zeiss Planar 50mm f/1.4.
Filter: Contax 056 (02) MC (Orange)
Film: Ilford HP5+
I may edit a couple of images for contrast slightly, as I received them with the standard scanning settings the lab uses. Should I do so, I will post some side by side comparisons. This has been an interesting experiment, allowing me to get a feeling for how my new lab will handle my negatives. Overall I'm very pleased with the professionalism the lab has shown and will be discussing the results the next time I am there. It's very important to develop a relationship with a single lab, so the lab can attune to your specific style and needs and help you get the most out of your images.
