Maybe I just lead a bland life, but a lot of the stuff I photograph seems to be low contrast scenes. When I use a spot meter, 4 zones are about all I usually see.

http://truckgenerator.com/subdomain/sueandneal/echer4x5.jpg

http://truckgenerator.com/subdomain/sueandneal/selfportrait200fromneg.jpg

Therefore, I would think I would need to overdevelop to raise the gamma and expand the tonal range. As I am shooting Tmax in 4x5 or 8x10, it also seems logical to over expose as I am not worrying about grain or shoving highlights up onto the shoulder.

However, last night I was reading the new Photo Techniques and David Vestal while he seems to agree about overexposing, says never overdevelop.

Near as I can tell David Vestal is one of the smartest living authorities on photography so while I assume he is right, I don’t understand why.

In printing I am always cautioned to leave the print in the soup long enough to get the full tonal range so why isn't this true with negatives?

Any comments would be helpful.

Thanks Neal