Digital BW, The Print

Fred advocated first testing to determine film speed and development 
time, as per his book and video.  It is a simple, straightforward 
system. He felt the most negatives benefit from increased exposure than 
strictly called for by placing the lowest shadow area with detail on 
zone III, with zone I .1 above FB+F.  He felt that by placing the 
brightest highlight with detail on zone VIII, that one would guarantee 
the most exposure (without shouldering tri-x), at least with the types 
of scenes that Fred preferred. (He didn't like photographing back lit 
scenes, for example.) Suppose that the brightest area that one wanted 
detail in fell on zone VIII (given a zone III shadow placement.) Instead 
of giving an expansion development, Fred advocated placing that 
highlight on zone VIII, developing normally, and worrying about contrast 
at the printing state. Fred was concerned that many of his students were 
getting overly involved in development expansions and contractions, when 
they should spend more time actually taking photographs.  (I had some 
strange results when I ran my first film test.  Fred said, "Stop 
obsessing. You're close enough. Go take pictures!") His system worked 
quite well, especially with roll film. Obviously, there are extreme 
lighting conditions where it won't give an optimal result.  I shoot 
large format.  I don't bother with + or - 1 development, as that's well 
within the range of my paper.  If the scene requires greater expansion 
or contraction, I'm happy to do so, but this is rarely the case.

-Peter