Digital BW, The Print

Lots of good advice on lighting, but I want to add a comment on process.

Painters have long favored "northern light" as it is considered cold and consistent (northern hemisphere). My father was a painter and built his studio with the northern side almost all glass with no other windows. During the day, the northern light will vary much less in color and brightness - or so it seemed to me (I didn't measure this, I just looked).

The COLD part is so that if it looks good in the this light is will look good in warmer light.

The CONSISTENT part is probably the most important in this context. To judge prints, you will want a consistent light environment so that you get used to judging them against each other. If you intend to be a serious printer, with experience you will develop a good idea of what a print will look like in other conditions. 

You can't control the light in the rest of the world (and that's a good thing I think for making photos!), only where you are.  You can learn to judge the impact of other lighting conditions and make appropriate allowances.





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