One of the most influential teachers, critics and magazine editors in American black and white photography today is David Vestal, whose own black and white prints testify to his sure command of the medium. The black and white picture that is shown here, one of Vestal's favorites, was made when he was teaching at the Center of the Eye, a school of black and white photography in Aspen, Colorado. It also posed a series of problems whose solutions, although routine for Vestal, are most instructive for less experienced black and white printmakers. The woodland scene presented subtle variations in tone. The time vas morning and the light level was low. The idea Vestal had in mind was to convey what he called the tenderness of the aspens as they appeared in the soft, early-morning light - "representing both light tones in the sky and dark tones in the ground clearly without lowering contrast in the tree trunks to the point where they die." The exposure was made with a Canon L I camera on 35mm Tri-X black and white film, and Vestal first black and white printed the full negative on glossy, doubleweight, grade 2 Spiratone paper, developing it in the Ansco 120 solution he ordinarily uses with Spiratone paper. He had aimed for some increase in contrast, but the result seemed still a little bland and even in tone. Usually the next step would be to try a more contrasty grade of paper, but this. Vestal thought, might change tones too much. He chose instead to switch developers, using the stronger D-72 in a normal concentration for another test black and white print. It added contrast yet did not quite give the tonal balance Vestal demanded. He decided against any attempt to vary exposures over the black and white print. "Burning and dodging in such a black and white picture," he explained, "would tend to throw tonal relationships off so much that the feeling would be killed." Instead he gave the black and white print a relatively short exposure - six and a half seconds. This allowed him to develop the paper longer than usual-five minutes-to bring out the palest tones. Then, to intensify the areas in shadow without losing their detail, he treated the black and white print in a dilute solution of selenium toner chemical, which gives a velvety appearance to the black and white print. The result is a black and white picture of delicacy and restraint that gently draws the eye into the scene.