Doremus,

Very well articulated and, in general, I agree with your technique. I probably over-simplified with my example because part of what I'm doing while scanning the scene is evaluating the tonal values to see where they fall in relation to my anticipated exposure. Kind of an electronic pre-visualization shall we say? Based on what you wrote, it sounds like we're kind of doing the same thing. Most times I will base my exposure on important shadow areas, but if I see that my important high values are on the edge or above Zone VIII, then I'll base my exposure on the high values and let the shadows fall where they may. Since I don't make development adjustments any more, my exposures are always based on what I determine to be the most important luminance values. Does this make sense?

What I don't like about simply basing my exposure on the shadow areas is: What if the high values are beyond the shoulder of the curve? In Zone System parlance let's say my important highlights fall on Zone X? Yeah, I've read the arguments that one can "print through" densities that extend well above Zone IX, but in my 40 years of LF photography I've never myself seen nor have seen an example of where a fine print was pulled from that style of negative. I'll admit...could be me, and I'm not a good enough technician to print a really dense negative.

Great discussion! I truly appreciate your feedback as I consider you a smart guy that I've learned a thing or two from over the years.