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Background
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| The Zone System was developed by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer as a teaching aid while they were teaching at the Art Center School in Los Angeles in 1940. It became clear to Adams and Archer that the way to liberate the students creativity was to provide a practical system that would guarantee 'correct' results and allow visualisation (knowing how the final image will look at the time of exposure). To quote Ansel Adams from his autobiography, |
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The Zone System is wrongly thought by many to be for photographers using large format cameras and working only in monochrome. This is absolute rubbish! The Zone System is a method of controlling film exposure (using a light meter) and film contrast (using development). Both of these controls work whatever the film used, neither specifies what film to use. Every time you press the shutter release, you are making an exposure and once the film is exposed it requires development to produce the image (assuming silver based methods, not digital). This procedure applies to mono neg., colour neg., and colour tranny in whatever format you choose (110 upwards). The only difference is in the way one applies the system depending upon the format being used. Obviously, with sheet film you can develop each negative separately (the ideal) but with roll film (35mm and 120) the whole roll tends to be developed at the same time. This can be allowed for in your working methods! Ansel Adams used all formats, including Polaroid (he was a consultant for Polaroid), for his image making both in colour and mono using the Zone System. Many 'experts' in photography have made reputations by trying to re-invent the wheel and coming up with their own systems. They then claim their system is in some way superior in order to market it, usually including trying to denigrate the Zone System to do it. As soon as you look at these 'systems', you realise they are simply the Zone System by another name. The Zone System is the practical application of photographic sensitometry, and the principles of sensitometry haven't changed dramatically since the beginning. Any system of exposure/development control must be based on sensitometry, hence it must be based on the original Zone System. Some people believe that using the Zone System to control negative quality is not necessary because we have variable contrast papers that can be used to 'rescue' a poor negative. I and many others look at it from the other direction, if you start with a superb negative (or tranny) all the various controls that follow can be used creatively to 'enhance' an already good original. You have greater creative freedom. Whereas, if the negative is poor to begin with (under-exposed, over-developed is normal) most of the 'creative' controls are used up simply trying to scrape a poor print from a poorer original. You lose the creative options. It is so easy to get it right on the negative, the Zone System makes it easy! |