Zone System

1. Zone System By Jacob Blume

2. Zone System • Is a photographic technique for determining optimal film exposure and development which was created by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer in 1939. • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_system

3. Ansel Adams • Ansel Adams was an American photographer best know for his black and white photos.

4. Principles • Zone System is split up into five main principles • Visualization • Exposure Metering • Exposure Zones • Zones (the physical world and print) • Zones as Tone and Texture

5. Visualization • Images need to be planned and arranged and rendered depending on the scene. Achieve your desired image requires image management ( where you place the camera etc.). In Zone System the most concern is put upon control of image values to try and control placement of the light and dark areas.

6. Exposure Metering • The photographic interest of a scene is all determined by the differing luminance among the elements. You can determine the exposure using a reflected-light exposure meter, although they do not work well with photos containing areas of high and low luminance. “When exposure is determined from average luminance measurements, the exposure of any given scene element depends on the relationship of its reflectance to the effective average reflectance.”(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_system)

7. Exposure Zones • Generally in Zone System measurements are made of the elements of a scene and the exposure is adjusted accordingly to the best knowledge of the photographer. The system uses numbers 0 through 10 to determine the exposure with zero being black 5 being medium grey and 10 being white. Each zone ends up differing from the last on its exposure rating.

8. Zones (the physical and the print world) • The difference between the physical picture and the print that comes from it depends on the characteristics of the negative and the print. The exposure and method of development of the negative usually determine the quality of the final print. In black and white picture zones are formed by tonal values ranging from black to white

9. Zones as Tone and Texture • Adams distinguished between three different scales of exposure for a negative • The full range from black to white, represented by Zone 0 through Zone X. • The dynamic range comprising Zone I through Zone IX, which Adams considered to represent the darkest and lightest “useful” negative densities. • The textural range comprising Zone II through Zone VIII. This range of zones conveys a sense of texture and the recognition of substance. • 0 Pure black • I Near black, with slight tonality but no texture • II Textured black; the darkest part of the image in which slight detail is recorded • III Average dark materials and low values showing adequate texture • IV Average dark foliage, dark stone, or landscape shadows • V Middle gray: clear north sky; dark skin, average weathered wood • VI Average Caucasian skin; light stone; shadows on snow in sunlit landscapes • VII Very light skin; shadows in snow with acute side lighting • VIII Lightest tone with texture: textured snow • IX Slight tone without texture; glaring snow • X Pure white: light sources and specularreflections • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_system

10. Application • Zone System can be used in basically all applications, such as roll film, color film and even digital photography.