When you learn the zone system your spot meter will allow you make good use of it. With roll film you will not have quite as much control over the image unless you have at least three backs for your Hasselblad so that you will have a roll to push process, one to pull process, and one to process normally (not really practical at this point) but you will be able to make sure you don't wash out your highlights OR completely lose the shadows OR appropriately place the mid tones (surprisingly, skin tones, regardless of race, expose correctly at or very near zone VI). I apply it in that context with my own work and am pleased with the results. You have a great camera to work with. Take your time and apply concepts as you learn and understand them. Above all, have fun.

I learned the zone system directly from Ansel Adams. Since a major portion of his work was shot with a view camera he had no difficulty changing the film in use if he felt it necessary to do so (just carry extra film holders loaded with a different film). The variation in his development was primarily to control the tonal range of the image. He would meter several areas of the image (definitely both high and low) and kept extensive notes for each shot. When I was learning from him he was using a spot meter. He extended development to increase the contrast range and reduced development to reduce the contrast range. He would plan the development for each shot even before the film was ever exposed.

I watched Ansel set up his view camera looking at a blank white, sunlit wall and create a full ten step gray scale using Polaroid Type 55PN film simply by changing exposure settings between shots.

I see a soprano sax. Where is the clarinet?

Awhile back my daughter was following me at night in her new car. Since she was not yet accustomed to LED headlights she was concerned that they might be bothering me. Obviously she kept them on the low beams and I told her I was impressed that the top cutoff of the beams was so sharp that they stayed below the belt line on my vehicle but still illuminated the road in front of me. I think people are just getting careless about using the high beams when they not appropriate.

I believe the answer to the original question depends on how the subject is presented to the younger people. Though now retired, I was a long time high school physics teacher. In order to teach the concepts of estimation, decimal placement, significant digits, etc. I acquired a class set of slide rules and taught my students how to use them. The students began seeing themselves as having "inside" knowledge and having the ability to do something that others could not. It got to the point that, when it was time for final exams, a surprising number put their electronic calculators away and asked to use a slide rule. When/if we get to the point that being photographically literate sets you apart from the crowd as someone special there will be a significant subset of young people who are ready to join the "cool" people. It is the same as what keeps those of us who are also dedicated to black and white film going in that aspect of photography.

Except for what we were able to fit in the cars when we left, my wife and I were totally wiped out by by one of the earlier major wildfires in California on 9/11 eight years ago. We had the choice of feeling sorry for ourselves or continuing to move forward one step at a time. As you seem to be doing, we chose the latter. We were fortunate in that our insurance company made a mistake in writing our fire policy and wrote it for twice what they had intended (we held them to the contract) and the power company (who started the fire) matched that. We lost a lot of things that we wish we had not lost but we are now in a very comfortable position and, since we are in our "golden years", are fairly well set for the rest of our lives. We definitely know the "what do we do now" feeling but I can assure you that with patience, you will come out the other side with some bad memories but your emotional stability intact. Wishing you the very best.

As one who absolutely loves B&W and learned the zone system directly from AA, most digital B&W photos do not quite meet what I like. On the other hand, I really like what you have done. Well done.

Thank you for your service.

Great photo!

It can sometimes be difficult to understand how tuned-in a trained service dog can be until you have witnessed one in action. My wife is still alive because her service dog picked up on an issue that I had missed. He insisted that I needed to call an ambulance NOW!!! I did and she stoped breathing just as they were wheeling her into the ER. Unfortunately, we eventually lost that dog to cancer last June but we are currently starting over with a (now) six month old puppy for whom all signs indicate he will be great. If you see a service dog wearing a vest in public, please remember that they are doing an important job and should not be distracted from that without the owner's permission.

According to the information that came with my Manfrotto, R458.39 is a hook for hanging ballast to hold the tripod steady if it is otherwise not totally solid. The suggestions on R190.427 being a wrench to adjust tension on the leg clamps are correct.

Given that the light at the edge of the photo has a refraction angle of nearly ninety degrees, it is highly likely that the blue line is, as previously noted, chromatic aberration. Short wavelength light (the blue end of the visible spectrum) is more strongly refracted than longer wavelengths. The longer wavelengths are not refracted far enough to be recorded -- leaving only the blue end of the spectrum.

The more annoying we are demeanor she gets.

I used to attend summer workshops at UCSC and the best place to stay was to take my boat and rent a slip in the harbor. One morning at about 3:00 AM I was rudely awakened by one of them alongside crunching through a shell to get the morsel inside. Not a pleasant sound to wake up to.

One of the few multipage threads that I read start to finish without picking and choosing. Thanks for the collection.

I had a '52 Ford. It didn't take long for me to learn to avoid following too closely in construction zones. That grill does little to protect the radiator.

Don't you mean "panchromatic"? Ortho is unequally sensitive to blue. That is why old photos tend to have a white sky. Early films and plates were orthochromatic.