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System was still relevant in that then-modern world. He replied "If you don't use the
Zone System, then what system will you use to know what you've got as you
photograph?"
There are many ways to evaluate what you'll get in your final print or display as you
photograph. The Zone System is one way to get a handle on everything. When you
know what you're going to get you can make changes as you're photographing to
optimize your final prints.
The Zone System applies as much to color, digital and video as it does to black-and-
white. Ansel Adams even shows us in The Negative how to use it with point and
shoot cameras!
Ansel Adams chose to divide the range between white and black into about ten
zones. Each is an f/stop apart. Color film and digital tend to have fewer zones, but
that's not important. What's important is understanding how these zones relate to
one another and how they change as they go through each step of any photographic
process.
From the 1920 through the 1960s The Zone System usually required weird film
developing, since people developed sheet film one shot at a time and printed on
fixed-contrast papers. It was a pain.
In the 1970s through today the Zone System for film became more involved with
printing as people tended to shoot rolls of film that are developed all at once and
print on variable contrast paper.
With digital in the 2000s the Zone System focuses more on understanding how
digital cameras respond to different levels of light and dark. The Zone System is the
basis of understanding PhotoShop's Curves command. With digital cameras you set
contrast in-camera, or do as I do and let the camera do this automatically.
The biggest advantage of understanding a Zone System is understanding what's
going on. You'll be able to concentrate on making great images instead of worrying
about petty things like technique and exposure.
Digital cameras no longer require spot meters. Spot meters were used to evaluate
subjects before they were photographed. It was the only way we had to predict
exactly how to expose, develop and print before we made an exposure on film.
Today we have histograms and LCDs instead. Today I use a digital camera instead
of a spot meter (page 87) to evaluate this better than a spot meter for my view
camera!
That said, let me offer that the rest of this page was written in 1999 when I wrote it to
apply to color slides.
The Zone System allows you to get the right exposure every time without
guessing. It does not require you do any special film development and you never
have to waste time with bracketing. Now aren't you interested?
© 2007 KenRockwell.com 70 converted by Sándor Nagy