Shannon Stoney" <shannonstoney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
I use the BTZS system which is a variant on the zone system.
Yup, that's a good way mess up an exposure. I can, with lots of careful metering and figuring and mumbling, use BTZS to cock up an exposure so the film is almost entirely blank. It's not the system, per se, it's just that I loose track of common sense. If it doesn't agree with the exposure suggested in thepackage insert or Kodak pocket guide within a stop then it is probably wrong. Which begs the question why bother with all the jiggery-pokery.
After many-too-many years of missing an exposure I use a Sekonic selenium meter for most work. Only if things deviate significantly from the norm do I grab a spot meter and use the old 'meter shadows/develop highlites'. And then I take a backup shot with what an averaging meter indicates and develop normally.
Scenes worth photographing are ephemeral -- a mediocre exposure of a great scene is better than a carefully metered and exposed picture of a missed moment.I work carefully and elaborately in the darkroom. The negative isn't going anywhere and I can diddle to my hearts content. If I make a mistake printing in the darkroom and I haven't lost the image forever.
Write the score quickly before it fades from your mind. Work on the performance at your leisure. -- Nicholas O. Lindan Cleveland Engineering Design, LLC Cleveland, Ohio 44121 ============================================================================================================= To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.