Reddit reviews Way Beyond Monochrome 2e: Advanced Techniques for Traditional Black & White Photography including digital negatives and hybrid printing

Agreed - the film is the output of the camera, not the scan. You can learn a lot by looking them over carefully, and a lot of scanning issues can be traced to the scanner struggling with something inherent in the negative, like it being too thin, or too dense, or improperly fixed.

I'll also take this moment to suggest that people check out "Way Beyond Monochrome" from the library to get a better idea of all the things that can happen between the exposure and the scan, and how much of it you have direct control over.

(ok GenXr)

I'd strongly suggest updated books. Ansel Adams, while a genius, had to work with more limited materials that we have available now.

For example, masking, split contrast printing, unsharp masks, toning, reducing, bleaching and the like are barely mentioned in the above books. Some of them because of material unavailibility, some of them because of his particular brand of photography.

Some suggestions:

• http://www.amazon.com/Edge-Darkness-High-Definition-Monochrome-Photograph/dp/0817438157
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Black-White-Photography-McLean/dp/0715314483
  
• http://www.amazon.com/The-Photographers-Master-Printing-Course/dp/0240803248
  
• http://www.amazon.com/The-Variable-Contrast-Printing-Manual/dp/0240802594/ref=pd_sim_14_8?ie=UTF8&refRID=1HJXHAV19M9HXFZCEQQ1
  
• http://www.amazon.com/Way-Beyond-Monochrome-Traditional-Photography/dp/0240816250/ref=pd_sim_14_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=512rnb9T0xL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR159%2C160_&refRID=1ZD9ZX3H56FA6P6H8DV7
  
  
  
  

I too have a copy of Way Beyond Monochrome and it is excellent. It's also >2" thick and is $60. I started shooting and developing 1980, in 4th grade. I've read a ton of books and articles on photography and Way Beyond Monochrome is an astounding resource. I would not recommend it to a beginner.

You may want to get a used copy of John Hedgecoe's Complete Photography Course or Photographer's Handbook, both of which can be had for pennies (get pre-2000 editions).

I just picked up the newly published The Film Photography Handbook and it's a great intro that covers traditional and hybrid (shooting film, digital post).

https://www.amazon.com/Black-White-Darkroom-Dataguide-Publication/dp/0879856025/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492160981&sr=1-2&keywords=Black+and+white+darkroom

https://www.amazon.com/Film-Developing-Cookbook-Darkroom-Vol/dp/0240802772/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492161106&sr=1-4&keywords=Black+and+white+darkroom

https://www.amazon.com/Way-Beyond-Monochrome-Traditional-Photography/dp/0240816250/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492161323&sr=1-1&keywords=way+beyond+monochrome

And, of course, Ansel Adams trilogy, The Camera, The Negative, and The Print.

I've read the 'holy trinity' (The Camera, The Negative, The Print) but I've found that I like Way Beyond Monochrome (second edition) much more. It's more modern and covers why multigrade papers are so awesome, Ansel only covers this slightly in The Print while WBM covers in in detail.

Also, for printing in general, Larry Bartlett's B&W photographic printing workshop is the best piece I've ever written. The technical side of things is covered better in other books (and here it's only covered in a few pages in the introduction chapter), but this book is a description on how a master printer approaches and prints several tricky images, as well as more normal images. I've read it several times and will most likely read it several times again.

The technical bits are easy, however. Better read photography books, for portraiture I really like the work of Inta Ruka (People I know is...magic) and Gregory Heisler (50 portraits).