Not Your Average Zone System - The Zone System for the Type-B Personality
"Ansel Adams had the Zone System... I'm working on the points system. First I points it here, and then I points it there..."
"Expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights," is one of the most recognizable mantra of modern photography. These words are from the wisdom and experience of American photographer Ansel Adams. (...also famously known for the expression, "The negative is the score, the print is the performance," but that reflects a somewhat different aspect of photographic process.) His Zone System is an exacting process of testing and measuring whereby a photographer can quantify their Exposure Index, film speed, developer and developing time, etc., etc. For photographers with the time, resources, and sometimes the math skills, the Zone System represents the Holy Grail of photographic precision.
Ya, ok... What the Zone System really does, besides giving people something to argue about on internet forums, is it puts the photographer in control of the way he captures the contrast of a given scene so that they never again block a shadow or blow a highlight, promising (but not guaranteeing) clear details throughout the tonal range of their prints.
The basic premise is this; if you "place" your shadows correctly (usually two stops down from 18% Grey... or in Zone 3, if you really want to get technical) and if you know the contrast range of your scene, you can taylor your exposure and development to optimize the way your film records the full range of detail in your scene. After all the charts and graphs and chest pounding, there is still a need for a simple explanation to really bring the fundamentals of the Zone System into reach of the average photographer who simply wants to take better pictures. It makes perfect sense, why do people have to make it so difficult? Once you have this concept under your belt, you can get into the whole libraries of books written on the subject.
Here are three interpretations of the Zone System for the Type-B personality, used by permission of the authors... look them up, they are fine photographers and nice people. Notice how each explanation hits at the heart of the zone system - expanding or contracting development to suit the contrast range of the scene.
(Type-A Zone System junkies, hit your backspace button now.)
"Expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights," is one of the most recognizable mantra of modern photography. These words are from the wisdom and experience of American photographer Ansel Adams. (...also famously known for the expression, "The negative is the score, the print is the performance," but that reflects a somewhat different aspect of photographic process.) His Zone System is an exacting process of testing and measuring whereby a photographer can quantify their Exposure Index, film speed, developer and developing time, etc., etc. For photographers with the time, resources, and sometimes the math skills, the Zone System represents the Holy Grail of photographic precision.
Ya, ok... What the Zone System really does, besides giving people something to argue about on internet forums, is it puts the photographer in control of the way he captures the contrast of a given scene so that they never again block a shadow or blow a highlight, promising (but not guaranteeing) clear details throughout the tonal range of their prints.
The basic premise is this; if you "place" your shadows correctly (usually two stops down from 18% Grey... or in Zone 3, if you really want to get technical) and if you know the contrast range of your scene, you can taylor your exposure and development to optimize the way your film records the full range of detail in your scene. After all the charts and graphs and chest pounding, there is still a need for a simple explanation to really bring the fundamentals of the Zone System into reach of the average photographer who simply wants to take better pictures. It makes perfect sense, why do people have to make it so difficult? Once you have this concept under your belt, you can get into the whole libraries of books written on the subject.
Here are three interpretations of the Zone System for the Type-B personality, used by permission of the authors... look them up, they are fine photographers and nice people. Notice how each explanation hits at the heart of the zone system - expanding or contracting development to suit the contrast range of the scene.
(Type-A Zone System junkies, hit your backspace button now.)
- Gem Singer's "Zone System in a Nutshell"
Gem posted this simple explanation of the Zone System on the forums at www.largeformatphotography.info.
Aim the one degree spot at the darkest area in the scene where you still want to see some detail. Close down two stops. You have just placed the shadow area in Zone III. That's usually the proper exposure for the scene.
Now, aim the spot at the brightest area in the scene.
If it's a five stop range between the darkest and brightest reading, use normal development.
Less than five, increase development.
More than five, decrease development.
No need to take a whole series of meter readings and average them. That's defeating the purpose. Just make certain that you have given enough exposure to get some detail in the shadows. Then, develop for the highlights.
That's the Zone System in a nutshell. - Another take, by Rob Gray at robgray.com
Rob says, "...most spiels about the Zone system have pages (even entire books) of graphs and crap that are supposed to illustrate how to get the perfect negative.I guess I just figured that a neg doesn’t have to be perfect, just very good."
Make a meter reading for the darkest part of the scene and reduce that reading by two stops, that's your exposure. Make a reading from the brightest part of the scene and record the difference (in stops) between this reading and the one from the dark part.
Then when you process the film...
If the difference is 0-3 stops develop film for longer than normal
If the difference is 4-6 stops develop film for normal
If the difference is 6+ stops develop film for shorter than normal
Changing the development time for film has almost no affect on the thin areas (shadows) and a large affect on the dense areas (highlights) so you can use this technique to adjust the contrast of a film. - And a third version...
A "Thumb-nail sketch of the Zone System", by Jim Brick at visualimpressions.com
Jim said, in response to my request, "Yes, it is I who dreamed this up and wrote it. Not that it was that difficult - it's just common sense. I teach workshops and people were more interested in taking photographs rather than calibrating a film and developer so that they would have control over the process. So I put this together as a quick way to get in the ballpark without having to endlessly photograph gray cards and read the resulting film with a densitometer. And for the most part, it works just fine."
His interpretation of the zone system is quite irreverent, but right on the money in terms of adapting your process to meet your goals.
There are four zones.
Zone Good, Zone Bad, Zone Ugly, Zone Butt Ugly.
To use the system:
Wake up. Get out of bed. Go outside.
Zone Good
It is light overcast, light shadows but good light direction. Normal contrast.
Expose normal (eg: ASA-100 @ 100) develop normal.
Zone Bad
It is dismally overcast, no shadows, perhaps even drizzle. Low contrast.
Underexpose one stop (eg: ASA-100 @ 200) overdevelop 20%
Zone Ugly
The sun is out, sky is clear with puffy clouds, and there are blatant shadows. High contrast.
Overexpose one stop (eg: ASA-100 @ 50) underdevelop 20%
Zone Butt Ugly
The sun is squinty bright, cloudless sky, and the shadows really deep. Very high contrast.
Go in, and go back to bed!. But, if you are a die-hard...
Overexpose two stops (eg: ASA-100 @ 25) underdevelop 30%
I admit these are not very scientific, but they work well if you want good negatives that are easy to print. My thanks to Gem, Rob and Jim for allowing me to post their work here. (and my apologies to any Zone afficionados who are offended by these simplifications.) If this all makes sense to you and you are interested in learning more about the Zone System, try Ansel Adams' The Negative or one of the many fine books that have been written on the subject.
Cheers,
Tom