Studio lighting has been popular since the dawn of photography.  North facing windows, flash powder, incandescent lamps, and most recently, electronic flash photography.  People have been very successful with these techniques over the years and you can be too. 

Film Characteristic Curves are provided by most film manufacturers to help describe a film’s behavior.  I am an engineer, a rocket scientist even, and I was getting frustrated trying to make sense of these curves.  Some web resources described what the different parts of the curves mean and individuals on forums answered questions with authority “It’s obvious from looking at the curves.”  Thanks for nothing.  I finally buckled down and combined research with my math background to figure out how to put these curves to practical use.