Digital BW, The Print

Djon

I think you will find a little "tech" or "math" will be unavoidable as you
go through this exercise.  The Zone system was about exposure, an inherently
technical subject but one that you likely learnt over a longer period of
time.  All that light, f-stop, film speed, shutter speed stuff.  Same with
all those paper grades and understanding their charts.  One very comforting
factor is that digital is at its core exactly the same as traditional.  One
can relate density measure to f-stops etc quite easily.  I found the stuff
on Norman Koren's site extremely valuable.  Much of it went completely over
my head on the first read (second and third) and my eyes quickly glazed over
but the trick is to read a little bit, go away and think about that little
bit for a while, read that little bit again if necessary and slowly bring
yourself up the curve.  If you read nothing else, focus on the two tutorials
entitled "Monitor calibration and gamma" and "Tonal quality and dynamic
range in digital cameras".  It's tough going but you will have an advantage
if you already have a traditional darkroom background.  Just take it slow
and be persistent.

Steve