Digital BW, The Print

There are a great many solutions to controlling contrast in digital 
photography that perform the same things as Zone System 
exposure and development used to. One of these is to expose 
for the shadows (making sure you get all the information) and 
then make 2 scans, one for the highlights and one for the 
shadows. The range of densities, especially on Tri-X and color 
negative film allows us to capture detail that was previoiusly 
unprintable with only one scan. Tweaking the single scan with 
Levels and Curves destroys part of the image, even in 16-bit. 
With 2 scans, one for the highlights and one for the shadows, 
you can then recombine these images in Photoshop using this 
procedure and get a nearly flawless Dynamic Range:

1.	In Photoshop select and drag (using the Move Tool) the 
underexposed image on top of the overexposed image. This 
puts the underexposure on a layer on top of the overexposure 
(which becomes the Background).  Go to Difference Blending 
Mode and align, if necessary.
2.	Make a layer mask on the 2nd layer.
3.	Select the Background and copy to the clipboard. Hold down 
the Option/Alt key and click on the mask (it should turn white).
4.	Paste the Background into the layer mask (it will be pasted as 
a B&W mask).
5.	Open View > New View to see the effects of the mask.
6.	Click on the mask and Gaussian Blur the mask to a 30-50 
pixel radius.
7.	Adjust contrast and brightness of the mask with curves.
8.	Flatten.

Another, and more productive way,  is to combine 2 images 
taken in camera on a tripod ( especially with a digital camera) 
and use the new photoshop plugin, Optipix, which does this 
automatically (www.reindeergraphics.com).

I've also just tested the new Epson RIP for the 2200 and it 
produces an absolutely neutral(and outstanding) grayscale 
image (when a Grayscale image is used printed using the Color 
setting (CMYK)). It nearly matches the old Piezography inks in 
tone. 

George