>>3593984>Muddy tonesYou mean a negative with neutral contrast? This is what HP5+ does, it gives you a neutral negative and you adjust contrast in post. I usually start with a grade 3 filter.
>ugly grain structure w/ loss of highlight detailWhat developer? Grain can become nasty in Rodinal and looks much better in HC-110, or D-76. No idea what happened to your highlights, though, but they look good in the other shots you posted.
Here's some HP5+ stand developed in HC-110. Of course, there is grain, but it's not excessive, let alone ugly. If you want finer grain you have to shoot some film with lower ISO like FP4+, or, even better, T-Max.
