yes, taking zone plate and zone sieve images is exciting. With a digital camera it is easy too. I found that exposure bracketing, with at least three exposures to choose from, works better than just relying on the camera’s measurement. Sometimes, slightly underexposed zone images let the highlights stand out nicely and put a soft glow around brighter areas. However, it is also possible to combine a series of photographs into one HDR (high dynamic range) image.
To achieve this you can either use Photoshop or more specialized applications which do just this. Here I have used Photomatrix Pro 3.2. to combine five single images into one and fine tuned the result in Photoshop.

Camera: Panasonic Lumix DMC-GF1
Lens: Skink Pinhole Pancake with zone sieve “soft-glow”
Aperture: f/42
Focal length: 18mm
ISO 100