By Doug Criner

Black & white photographers are urged by the books and the teachers to use the Zone System, popularized by Ansel Adams. Here is what Kodak’s Advanced Black-and-White Photography, authored by two prominent photography instructors, says:

Page 63 of the same book shows two prints of blackberries—nothing but a close-up of a pile of blackberries. In the first photo, taken at the exposure indicated by the meter, the blackberries are more or less gray. In the second photo, supposedly taken at two stops less exposure than indicated by the meter, the blackberries are black. The lesson is that if you want something to appear black with detail, you need to reduce the exposure to "place" the subject on, say, Zone III.

Zone System Applies to Negs, Not Prints

But here is the real story. The only reason that the blackberries in the first shot, taken at the exposure indicated by the meter, appear gray is that the clown who printed the first negative deliberately printed it to produce gray blackberries. That negative could just as well been printed to produce black blackberries, merely by adjusting the exposure of the enlarger.

In fact, I would expect that the first negative (assuming that there were two negatives, not just one), exposed at the indicated meter reading, was probably a better shot than the one exposed at -2 stops. The one that was exposed at -2 stops would have put the darker portions of the individual berries, and the tiny crevices in between, at less than -2 stops, say at Zones I or II, below the film’s ability to record detail. At the same time, the upper portion of the film’s capability, much above Zone V, is totally wasted.

It would be much better to expose the whole pile of blackberries at the average meter reading of the pile and use the film’s full range of capability to capture the detail within the tiny darker and lighter areas comprising the berries. Then, after capturing all the detail, you can decide later how to adjust exposure and contrast when you print the negative. If some of the detail isn’t captured on the negative, then that detail is lost forever.

The main problem with the Zone System is that it’s poorly explained. Most how-to books print a series of eleven "paint chips" that show the classic zones, Zones 0-X: pure black to pure white. Photos of scenes are reprinted in books showing specific areas in the scene that are representative of individual zones. This is all very misleading, since the Zone System has to do with the negative, not the print. In fact, paper is seldom able to differentiate as many zones as a negative—for a wide contrast negative with all zones represented and differentiated, a straight print will result in one end or the other of the spectrum of zones squeezed together and lost.

Likewise, a negative with less than all zones that is "exposed for the shadows" may likely result in an underexposed, thin negative with highlights (bright areas) recorded with less than ideal exposure. It could also result in highlights that are overexposed. "Exposing for the shadows" will result in inconsistent exposures of everything except the shadows. Ironically, the books all worry about the shadows when it’s the highlights that are usually the most important content to capture. It makes much more sense to me to get the highlights exposed correctly and let the shadows take care of themselves.

The second part of the zone system mantra is to "develop for the highlights." The idea is to give more or less than normal development to a negative to achieve detail in the highlights (the densest area of the negative).  This can work with sheet film, for which each shot can be developed separately, but impractical for roll film.  If like most of us, you use roll film, you can forget about this notion altogether.

Fred Picker's Two-Step Process

The idea of exposing for the highlights was succinctly explained by Fred Picker, an artist who has been unfairly maligned because he manufactured and sold photographic equipment, in his June 1987 Zone VI Newsletter as a two-step process: "Step one: Place the highest value on Zone VIII. Step two: Take the picture." I would add that the "highest value" is the highlight for which you want to preserve detail. I would also suggest placing the highest value on Zone VII½. In other words, meter the highlight for which you want to preserve detail, and open up 2½ stops.

Obviously, there will be exceptions. I recently photographed a white church, in full sunlight, with two people a few feet inside the open doorway. The people were more important to me than preserving detail on the outside of the church, so I metered the darkened doorway, and stopped down 2½ stops (Zone II½), figuring that the people would probably be up to about Zone III½.

I read somewhere that you should be able to read newsprint through a properly exposed negative.  Or maybe it was that you shouldn't be able to read newsprint through a negative, I forget which.  I have no idea why this would be recommended or how such advice could be implemented in the field with a camera.  I much prefer the higher density negs that one achieves by following Picker's two-step process.

Case in Point:  Snow Scenes

The usual guidance for snow or bright beach scenes is to meter the general area, perhaps with the camera's built-in meter, and open up a couple of stops; this is good advice.  But the conventional wisdom is that this procedure will "keep the snow white" in the picture–otherwise the meter will be fooled into making the snow grey by putting it on Zone 5, the legendary tone represented by a 17% grey card that meters are calibrated to call "good."

Well, whether the snow is white depends only on the printing, not the exposure of the negative.  It makes no difference whether the snow is placed on Zone V or Zone VIII, it's simple to make the snow white in the print by adjusting the exposure of the enlarger.

In the case of snow scenes, the most prevalent feature of the photo is usually the, uh, snow.  And the snow is the brightest area of the scene.  Any rube can wind up with white snow in the print, but we also want discernable texture in the snow, revealing the little ridges, tiny interstices and granularity, and localized scintillation.  To be sure, there are likely other, darker, features in the scene–perhaps a tree trunk, a leaf, or a sled–for which we wish to allow maximum room on the film's characteristic curve to record some detail.  In order to accomplish all of this, the photographer is well advised to meter the snow, open up 2-3 stops, and trip the shutter–not slavishly running around, metering tree trunks.  Q.E.D.

February 2004

® 2004 Doug Criner