When using Lightroom you can use the sliders highlight and shadow to manipulate the shades of gray. The black point and white point slider will let you manipulate the boundaries, and locale adjustments make it possible to optimize any part of the photo to your liking. With proper post-processing you will end up with a perfect contrast in your black and white photo.
It is almost as if we stepped into the darkroom of Ansel Adams again. How about color? The zone-system of Ansel Adams is invented for black and white photography, of course, but it can be used for color photography as well.
Sometimes it can be difficult to recognize the different highlights in a color photo. By temporary converting it to black and white, it might become possible to successfully use the zone-system of Ansel Adams again. You can read more about this method in my previous article. Have you ever used the zone-system for your photography, either for black and white or for color? Or do you think this method is outdated and not suitable for digital photography.
I love to read about your opinion in the comments below. Nando Harmsen is a Dutch photographer that is specialized in wedding and landscape photography. With his roots in the analog photo age he gained an extensive knowledge about photography techniques and equipment, and shares this through his personal blog and many workshops. Check out the Fstoppers Store for in-depth tutorials from some of the best instructors in the business.
In the old days, you would burn certain parts the paper longer or shorter to get the right overall exposure. Digital dynamic range tries to mimic the same result, but it doesn't always work, which is why multiple exposures are used and the average HDR is worked out.
In other words, less light is "burnt" on the sensor in bright areas eg highlights , and more light is "burnt" on the sensor where it's darker eg shadow. I don't know if I'm making sense, but I hope it helps. I think the sensor has more dynamic range in RAW especially then you get in a jpeg, so you do have some room to move up and down in- just beware not to lose the highlights, because if you do, they are gone.
I find I have a lot of room to bring up shadows. For landscapes I tend to do what the author says- basically make sure the sky is good, no clipping of clouds, then bring up the shadows in RAW as needed. When shooting film I tend to use filters to darken the sky reduce overall dynamic range and maybe shift exposure a little up or down. If they say 13 or 15 you might get 10 in the real world. That might be true. But it is not really that important.
It is about the way of exposing and "developing" your digital photo. If the DR is larger than the sensor can register, it is always possible to make an HDR and use something like the zone system for developing that HDR file. Jan Kruize , you're right that once you've gone past the dynamic range of your sensor, the data is indeed lost. Also, it's more of a strict cliff than analog, where old films had a gentle fall-off in the "shoulder" or "toe" which still have some data, which you could use as-is, or compensate for by changing the development time, at least for highlights.
I think the analogy "expose for the shadows, develop for the highlights" to "expose to the right, and let the shadows fall where they will" is pretty accurate and good advice for a technically careful photographer wanting to use their gear to the best. The "why it works" to the analogy is more that the default matrix meter in most digital cams expose for middle gray, which can leave sometimes shadows, sometimes highlights clipped.
If you are set to JPG, you are stuck with the dynamic range of that color profile; with RAW, you have the entirety of the dynamic range available in post, especially shadows. The analogy is a real thing, for a few reasons: 1. It has something to do with the physics of light triggering electrical currents. ETTR is a great tool, because it lets you use the least-noisy part of your sensor, minimizing the risk of clipping.
The only trade-off is you have to do at least a basic grade in post: that only sucks if your client expects to see your best right out of camera and there is no time for post production.
The only thing where the analogy doesn't fit in the DR discussion of film vs digital, is that with film, you control the dynamic range during the development phase by deciding how much long you let chemicals act on the latent image; and with digital, you're locked in.
The trick to reducing noise is to have good light, or if not allowing more light through the lens ie open aperture.. Also ETTR increases the risk of blowing the highlights. The best advice I can find is to ensure that you don't exceed the boundaries of the histogram - note that this may require exposure stacking to capture the full dynamic range.
RE: "linear in nature" Perhaps I'm misinformed. I understood that being linear in nature means they capture twice as much light as values one step down. I presume the newest cameras equipped with computational photography algorithms and ML do this innately.
Yes, was thinking about it today, I think I do have it right. If digital sensors were logarithmic like stops, then you would get the same steps bits per value at zone V vs zone VI. But they're linear, not logarithmic, so you get half the bits at zone V as you do with zone VI.
Not all situation will end up with completely black. Most situations the dynamic range will be enough to recover at least a part of the dark areas. If you run into a higher contrast, you can always use bracketing. I have never used the Zone System formally, but try and consider its principles when I shoot. I had a spot meter, but it stopped working, and I just replaced it. Even if I don't change development I have a couple of Graflex cameras to restore I will try and use the spot meter to help place my exposure.
I really do not need the spot meter for digital. Really, the zone system is an attempt where you decide when you take a picture what you want it to look like after you've finished printing it. So you take a lot of notes on where your spotmeter says the darkest and brightest area is, and the put extra work into developing a few sheets of film, all so you don't need to futz around a lot in the darkroom wasting expensive paper until you're satisfied.
The zone system is a very technical process but a simplification of the field of sensitometry that encourages an artist to slow down and produce something really good that will hopefully put them on the map, or keep their clients coming back. For others, it's a boring distraction that's like reading a high school math book, so they say go have fun shooting instead, and your prints are going to look fine.
This worked best when they followed the advise from their teachers: to choose a single film, and get totally dialed into it, so you know what it'll do and you won't mess up an important assignment. That line of thinking is equally applicable to digital photography. Film purists will argue that there is no Zone System in digital, because the Zone System was so tightly integrated with the photo-chemical process.
But some of the ideas around tonal control contained in the Zone System can be translated into digital as something else DigiZonal Luminosity Control System? It's very true that the zone system is not just about exposing the negative.
It's about exposing a negative for a particular paper. I agree it is kinda boring to work only with such a system, but it can help even with the creative part of photography.
Knowing the system is enough, but following it as a mandatory rule is not really creative. I agree with you guys to an extent. If you want to take an image, analyze it as fitting 10 zones, and call it Zone System, then most photographers won't argue with you. Personally, I do film testing for fun see attachment. So I own a densitometer, graphing software, all of which I use more than the full frame, and I have put at least hundreds of hours into testing film and studying photographic sensitometry.
It helps me get really dialed into materials, and I like switching materials to experiment with a new look ie I don't shoot tri-x all the time. Studying also helps me produce a look that is way way different from the norm. I would not say the results are better that digital photography, just really different. IMO, it's all really overkill for the majority of photographers, what's more useful is just talking about getting that "look" you want by adjusting curves.
That's limited thinking. One can't do it in all scenes but in many you can bracket and blend the exposures and use luminosity masking to dodge, burn, etc.
True, but this is not about those kind of tricks. Multiple exposures make it possible to have everything within the "dynamic range" of the image you look at on screen or print. But it is not always good to have everything within those boundaries. I see a lot of bracket shots and HDR or tonemapping photos that are flat and dull because of that. Even with HDR like imaging you can play with the tonal range of the zone system. I even thing that would be more necessary, to prevent those flat images.
I had a Weston meter, adjusted developer temp, used print paper numbers-every variable to place greys,etc. Although your photos have dramatic contrast and value range they most certainly do not achieve Angel Adams effect.
The value relations are harsh, IMHO. You will never get close with 5DMk4. Adams played the grays like notes on a piano-eg. Or only grays from Zone 5 to white. Just having a lot of clearly defined grays is not enough. There should be a theme, an aesthetic to the value choices-a decision. Agree, it's hard to match his mastery as a photographic printer. I bet nobody ever will. What's even more amazing is he was always working real magic with really poor negatives by todays' standards.
Three generations of photographers have learned how to approach the artistic possibilities of their art form through this seminal series. Now available in paperback, it remains as vital today as when it was first published. The Camera covers 35 mm, medium format, and large-format view cameras and offers detailed advice on camera components such as lenses, shutters, and light meters.
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Theres not even any clipping happening in the dark areas such as her hair, clothes and accessories which is great. This guy above has around average skin tone, so he would go into zone V. Theres some clipping happening in the darker areas of his hair and the black fur, but as long as highlight detail is all there, thats OK. You would know shes not exactly a zone III by comparing the color of her skin with the pure black of her hair. You would clearly see that her skin is brighter than that.
There is just a really tiny bit of highlight clipping on her left shoulder, but thats alright. If the area was larger than that, the shot might have needed to be re-assessed or recomposed to preserve all image details. Evaluating High Dynamic Range Scenes When a scene has a huge difference between its darkest and brightest tones, that would mean it has a high dynamic range which makes it impossible to retain all those contrasting image details with one shot.
So unless. Are you rather off with clipped shadows or blown out highlights? The vast majority of the time, the answer would be protect the highlights and let everything else fall where it may. Unless, the highlight area is actually too small to ruin the shot, is not of much significance to the shot, or trying to keep it on the account of losing the shadows would ruin the whole idea behind the photo, you should always protect your highlights.
Photo by Evan Leeson Looking at the shot above, youd be able to tell that either one of the highlights or the shadows are going to need to be sacrificed. Since you cannot go without that bright white fog covering the upper half of the frame and losing the whole mood of the shot, metering for the scene is quite simple. Take your reading off the bright fog, place it into zone VII, recompose and take the shot.
Everything else would fall into place. Having clipped shadows wont be a problem, since that misty fog, the silky waters and the floating boat are whats adding so much value and drama to the photo. Photo by Gwenael Piaser In this example we know that the light coming through the window is way too empowering to make it possible to capture the outside and the inside with no detail loss with only one shot.
The photographer has chosen to instead, make creative use of such a situation and render the people wandering about as stark silhouettes while still maintaining all that beautiful outside mood of the city which actually made the shot way more intriguing to the viewer.
Metering for this shot, you would just point your camera at that brightest area of the sky at the very top, place that in zone VII and let everything else fall where it may. Photo by Jamie Hladky In this photo having the sun within the frame, there is no way you can preserve all those extremely bright highlights no matter how fast you ride up your shutter speed.
You will only be left with a huge dark area and a tiny bright dot and nothing else. For this reason, letting the center of the sun blow out while retaining all other image details with the blue of the sky, the red of the poppies, and the green of the grass is so worth it.
An alternative in this case would be to change your perspective and recompose your frame in a way that doesnt include the sun within the shot, but I think for this particular one youd just be killing everything that made it so special.
Dont worry about the clipped highlights this time. Conclusion Some people out there might argue that the zone system was not created for, nor does it apply to, digital photography but the truth is, it does. Maybe not exactly the same way it was intended to be used, but it sure makes a huge difference for you and your photography.
It forces you to think about exposure, and plan your shot better. Rule of thumb is, with average scenes you just point your camera to an average color, place it into zone V and then recompose. With high dynamic range scenes, unless youre planing on taking multiple exposures, throwing. Are you more concerned about the highlights, or are you more concerned about the shadows? Choose your path, meter on that and everything else should just fall into place.
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