[filmscanners] Re: Real-World Scene Brightness Range

["Daniel Merchant" <djmerchant@comcast.net>]

Actually, I have a confession -- I am really a disciple of Minor White.
While I loved Adams' autobiography, I struggle to read (with not much
retention) his technical writings.

I just wanted to respond to Stan McMqeen's  last statement:  "I agree that
the zone system can help get a good original, but if you don't know what the
light values are in your scene, how could you use the zone system?"

The Zone System can help you on two levels: knowing how your media behaves,
and getting the best shoot  you can with the media that you have.

I consistenently found the published B&W exposure indices too high for
negative materials, and the stock development times produced film (and
print) with a 9 zone range.  Once I tweaked things, I got film (and paper)
with a 10 zone range and full shadow detail because the exposure index was
right.  I did similar test with slide film (20 years ago) and back then it
had around a 7 zone range.  Modern slide films somehow now have a 10 zone
range.  We can go into to how you test media if you want.

You really don't have to know the whole tonal range to use the Zone System.
You can place tones on the proper zones to get the exposure right, and stop
at that.  I tend to check tones that I care about to make sure that they
have not exceeded the range of my media.  That is why I used the girl on the
beach in my example.  I know that I want some detail (Zone 9) in the beach
sand, and I am willing to compromise the shadows to get it.  Adams' famous
shot, Moonrise Over Hernandez, was done by just placing the moon on the
appropriate zone (I'm guessing Zone 8).  Adams only had time to get one
shot, the image was that fleeting.

If you are a B&W sheet film photographer, then you have the luxury of custom
processing each shot.  You would get a feel for the overall brightness by
metering with your spot meter off of the known points of reference, probably
the blackest black with detail (Zone 1) and the whitetest white with detail
(Zone 9).  I used to shoot B&W medium format, and I was tickled pink just to
be able to N+0 processing (a 10 zone range).  I live on a septic field now,
and can't in clear concience dump photographic chemicals in my field.  Now I
use 35 color negative and color transparency, and I am stuck with the film
speed and range that I measure.   Sometimes I even use a point and shoot and
let it place Zone 5 for me, and don't even worry about where the high lights
and shadows went.

Have I been helpful here for you?

I really feel strongly the Zone System is a good tool, even in the modern
digital era.  And I have met my share of boneheads that were so caught up on
the jargon and techical stuff that they produced stale, boring, (but
technically perfect) images.  You are supposed to be able to get an image in
your head of what you want, and they use the Zone System as a tool to get
that image (or at least be aware of the compromises that you can make
because your vision exceeds what your media can do).


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