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09/27/2005 06:01:49 PM · #1 |
can anyone offer a *SIMPLE* explanation of the zone system? i have read alot about it, but everything seems to contradict what i have read previously. any help (or web links) would be appreciated.
thanks in advance!
~Lisa |
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09/27/2005 06:58:50 PM · #2 |
In B/W there are 10 zones from 1 (pure black) to 10 (pure white) and each successive zone represents 1 stop or twice the amount of reflected light from the previous zone. Some people use 0 to 9 and some leave out zone 0 but essentially it is more or less the same concept. That's how I understand it. I'm sure I'll be corrected if I have it wrong.
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09/27/2005 07:39:29 PM · #3 |
| Go to the voting page and look a the bottom. The gradient bar at the bottom is representative of what the zone system is. |
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09/27/2005 07:40:49 PM · #4 |
| Black and white photography is not just the black and white, but the grey/gray also. |
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09/27/2005 07:41:22 PM · #5 |
Originally posted by faidoi:
Go to the voting page and look a the bottom. The gradient bar at the bottom is representative of what the zone system is. |
Hmmm ... not exactly. Bear_music should be along shortly to clarify -- I believe he's taught this at the university/pro level for a long time. |
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09/27/2005 07:43:44 PM · #6 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by faidoi:
Go to the voting page and look a the bottom. The gradient bar at the bottom is representative of what the zone system is. |
Hmmm ... not exactly. Bear_music should be along shortly to clarify -- I believe he's taught this at the university/pro level for a long time. |
That was my way of bumping so he can see it. |
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09/27/2005 07:47:08 PM · #7 |
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09/27/2005 07:51:22 PM · #8 |
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by faidoi:
Go to the voting page and look a the bottom. The gradient bar at the bottom is representative of what the zone system is. |
Hmmm ... not exactly. Bear_music should be along shortly to clarify -- I believe he's taught this at the university/pro level for a long time. |
Who better to explain the system, than a former assistant to AA?
Message edited by author 2005-09-27 19:51:34.
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09/28/2005 01:12:48 AM · #9 |
Originally posted by orussell:
Originally posted by GeneralE:
Originally posted by faidoi:
Go to the voting page and look a the bottom. The gradient bar at the bottom is representative of what the zone system is. |
Hmmm ... not exactly. Bear_music should be along shortly to clarify -- I believe he's taught this at the university/pro level for a long time. |
Who better to explain the system, than a former assistant to AA? |
Please don't feed the bear. ;)
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09/28/2005 01:18:48 AM · #10 |
I think Owen is right. I used the zone system when composing this image:
I tried to get white whites, black blacks, but also the many grays in between. I'm not expert is exposing for the zone system or anything, but to me, the loose approach is to make sure your tones are deep and represent the many subtle grays within a scene.
I think.
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09/28/2005 01:37:01 AM · #11 |
A few basic principles:
- The dynamic range of the scene is how many stops of light there are from the darkest interesting detail to the lightest interesting detail.
- The scene can be nearly any dynamic range, depending on the avialable light.
- The camera has a fixed dynamic range.
- the print has a variable dynamic range, depending on paper, development and such.
the question of how to capture the variable dynamic range of the scene with the fixed dynamic range of the camera and develope it for the variable dynamic range of the print is what lead to the development of the zone system.
- a zone is one stop of light in the dynamic range.
- The photogragher decides which zone to expose for, and developes the rest of the image relative to that zone.
The how the last statement is caried out gets as complicated as you care to make it, and stays as simple as you want it to.
David
/edit: removing echo
Message edited by author 2005-09-28 02:12:37.
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09/28/2005 01:42:38 AM · #12 |
Someone mentioned my name?
How deep an explanation do you want? Here's the basics:
1. Zone System is a tool for B/W photography. Or designed as such anyway. It's a technique for metering, exposing, and processing B/W film to achieve previsualized results in the final print.
2. "Zones" are an arbitrary division of the range of possible gey tones between pure white and pure black into 10 steps: 1 is pure black, 5 is middle gray, 10 is pure white. Theoretically.
3. The eye is capable of differentiating between these 10 zones but B/W printing papers are not. The average B/W paper has 7 useable zones ranging from white to black. Negatives can show more tonal range than the paper can reproduce; 8 or 9 zones depending on the film.
4. It's the nature of how silver halide emulsions work that when you process film in a developing solution the thin areas (the "darks") reach their full development very early in the process and never get any denser. But the thick areas (the "brights") continue to gain density for a much longer period of time.
5. It follows from this that we can control the contrast (the tonal range) of our negative by changing the developing time. We can "pull" a negative of a contrasty scene early on, and the highlights will not be as blocked. We can "push" a negative of a flat scene (by developing it longer) and the highlights will become proportionally brighter.
6. To do this we need to meter very accurately in both the dark areas and the bright areas. We must be sure to give adequate exposure to the dark areas so they retain detail in the film. Then we have to know the range between the dark areas and the brightest areas in which we wish to retain detail, and this will allow us customize the processing time of the negative to exapnd or contract the tonal range to one that matches the profile of our printing paper.
Speaking aesthetically, when we categorize a print as being a "Zone System Print", we are referring to a quality of full, rich tonal range with generous luminosity in the image.
The digital analogue of zone system is to meter and expose so the highlights don't get blown out, then to adjust the histogram to bring the dark areas up (or push them down) in relationship to the bright areas. This is because digital photography is a POSITIVE medium (like color slides) while B/W photography is a NEGATIVE medium.
Is this sufficient?
Robt.
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09/28/2005 01:45:14 AM · #13 |
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09/28/2005 03:32:28 AM · #14 |
| B&W should endorse bear as their mascot :p |
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09/28/2005 03:33:44 AM · #15 |
I didn't ask the question, but the answer was great..
I suffered through a photography course years ago where a chap who obviously (Then and more so now) didn't understand the zone system read about it in a book then told us what he thought he read.
Cheers, Me. |
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10/18/2005 10:33:37 PM · #16 |
awesome explanation bear, thanks! i'm (trying to) use the system for gelatin silver prints....was a little confused but i think i've got it.....again, thanks!
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