Re: the zone system vs. the Big Picture

[Charles E. Dunlap <cdunlap@rupture.ucsc.edu>]

> _The Negative_ covers only a tiny fraction of the
>practical issues in photography.

The initial poster, who has yet to resurface (and I don't think that we 
can blame him), seemed to be having trouble with flat, washed out prints. 
This is almost certainly an exposure or printing problem. Someone wisely 
recommended _The Negative_ as an excellent reference on practical 
controls of tonal relationships. The recommendation addressed the 
question well, and did not claim that _The Negative_ was an inclusive 
text on photographic practice. Adams wrote _The Camera_ and _The Print_ 
in order to round out his basic photography series. He was humble about 
attempting to provide thorough coverage, but I think he did a very good 
job.

>Adams' own photographs cover a very restricted
>expressive range, and

I think there's an impression here that Adams was trying to preach a 
particular way to view the world and a dogmatic approach to technical 
controls. I recommend his autobiography to anyone who feels that such a 
characterization is largely true. He was big hearted and accepting of 
different points of view. He also photographed subjects which expressed a 
variety of human responses to the natural world and to each other.

>the proportion of photographic images worth seeing that were
>made by his methods is an infinitesimal fraction of the whole in both number
>and variety.

That's ok. My experience is that I wasn't able to get the results I 
wanted until I understood sensitometry. The Zone System is a practical 
approach to employing sensitometric concepts that helped me and has 
helped everyone I know who has taken the time to understand it. Anyone 
finding success in photography has learned to employ sensitometric 
principles, whether explained via the Zone System or learned by trial and 
error.

>A further problem with this: for many kinds of photography, you simply
>cannot plan an image like this - you know that the situation you're in
>is evolving in an interesting way, and you know when the moment arrives
>to take the picture, but the precise composition and tonal structure of
>that picture is not knowable in advance; you may only know what you've
>got after you've done the processing.

Another mistaken conception that people have about the Zone System is 
that it was intended only for a contemplative approach using sheet film 
and large format equipment. Adams describes these procedures because they 
do allow ultimate control, but, as I noted in a previous post, he wrote a 
chapter in an early seventies Leica Manual on applying the Zone System to 
roll films. In a nutshell: determine the film speed for your equipment 
and processing and for a roll of subjects with varying luminance ranges 
develop the roll for N-1 and control contrast using paper grades. Very 
practical and very serviceable in my experience.

-Charlie

Charles E. Dunlap
Earth Sciences Dept.
University of California
Santa Cruz, CA 95064