Digital BW, The Print

Hello Paul,

>I'm a fan of the 1 degree spot meter, but the modern cameras 
>virtually do this automatically, and if people have good digital 
>cameras (I don't), I think they can examine the histograms right 
>on the spot to be sure they have not clipped the ends of the range.

Exactly.  During the past year I have made the transition from film to
digital capture and have stopped using my Pentax digi spot meter.  The
histogam and EV adjustment button are the new tools.  Interestingly, I
still previsualize mentally in Zones, but the initial information
comes from the Histogram.  

In addition, since with RAW digital capture+PS we can do the
equivalent of changing the negative after it is developed, the actual
exposure is less critical than it used to be and N+/- development
concepts are obsolete.  Since any captured pixel >0 and <255 can be
moved up or down and contrast can be expanded or compressed, our only
critical decision now (if the scene's range is too wide) is how much
to clip off the top and/or bottom end.  This is the closest we come to
placing a scene's value in a zone.  

However the previsualization we learned helps in making this decision,
so I'm aware of the advantages of having been a Zonie.  The years of
Zone System thinking and darkroom work have have given me a built in
value system for responding to the info the histogram provides.  But
still, while I'm not sure what I'd teach a newbie to do, "learn the
Zone System" seems like an awfully cumbersome path to take to learn
good BW photography from scratch with the new digital stuff.  I'm
guessing that some sort of new hybrid language or "Digital Zone
System" or something will emerge over time.  School/college/workshop
teachers of Fine Art BW photography will have to come up with
something, and soon.


Regards,
Clayton


Info on black and white digital printing at    
http://www.cjcom.net/digiprnarts.htm