The Zone System Part Five
No Magic!
by Lars Kjellberg

By Lars Kjellberg It is not that often that we get the chance to use the zone system to its full extent. In principle it would require working with a large format camera so that you can process every negative individually. However, it is not necessary to stick grimly to the zone system's principles. You will get far just by learning how it works and by using the parts that can be usefully applied each time you take photographs.

The two main principles important to remember are 1) that exposure controls the dark tones and 2) that development (or paper grade) controls the lighter tones. When you have taken these principles on board and use them when taking photographs, you will find your negatives will be much easier to print.

Avoid Underexposure
When you stand looking at an object you want to photograph, trying to decide what you want in the way of exposure and development, you should ask yourself two questions.

1) How high is the contrast of the object? If you have direct sunlight from a clear sky to cope with, you should plan on reducing the development time in order to reduce the contrast. If you reduce the development time you may also have a problem with a slight reduction in film speed. This has to be compensated for when taking the photograph.

2) Which of the darkest parts do I want to be able to see? Choose an exposure setting accordingly. It is better to expose a little too much than not enough. A slight overexposure can be compensated for by using longer exposure times when printing. An underexposure can never be completely compensated for, either in development or printing. Avoid underexposure!

It is of little importance whether the picture's contrast is adjusted when developing the film or by using different grades of paper when printing. It is difficult to detect any difference between a picture printed from a soft negative on a high-contrast paper and a picture printed from a hard negative on a low-contrast paper. It is also difficult to see any difference between a print from a normally exposed negative and one from a slightly overexposed negative. On the other hand, it is all too easy to tell apart a picture printed from an underexposed negative and a picture printed from a normally exposed negative, since the underexposed negative will have no detail in the shadows.

Roll Film
It is easy to see that you cannot develop every picture on a roll of film separately. When using a roll of film it is therefore best to decide the kind of development you want before you take your photographs. Consider the light and the contrast, and decide whether you can use a normal development, or whether it will have to be plus or minus. Then shoot the whole roll as carefully as possible. It is a good idea even to make notes of the grade of paper the negatives should be printed on. If it turns out that you need a plus development for a film that you had already decided to develop normally, you simply print on a higher-contrast paper. Printing will be easier if you have made a note of this while you were taking the photographs.

Since graininess in the negative increases when using a plus development, it is best to avoid plus development when using high speed 35 mm films. It is preferable to print on higher-contrast paper. Adams supposedly minus 1 developed his 35 mm Tri-X film to avoid graininess. When working with sheet film the grain is far less obvious, which means that plus-development can be used without problem.

Evaluation
A knowledge of the zone system is also handy in evaluating negatives and prints. It becomes easy to see if a negative is underexposed, normal, or overexposed. Place the negative on a light table and look at the areas that are in shadow. Is there enough detail? Are there empty black holes without any texture? Empty holes are not what we are after: next time, increase the exposure.
The quality of the development is judged by looking at the finished print. Is the contrast balanced? Would we have preferred a higher or lower contrast? If the prints are too soft you will need to increase the development time. There is no Film X that is 'uncommonly high contrast', or indeed a Film Y that 'is suitable for sunlight because of its low contrast'. All films can be developed to be high or low in contrast. It is only a matter of changing the development time.

Visualisation
Ansel Adams came up with a concept that he called 'visualisation'. This means that when looking at the object you are about to photograph, you should try to envision the finished print. Try to disregard the object's colour, movement, smell, feel, and three-dimensional character. What remains is a black and white, two-dimensional, static picture, without smell, feel, or taste.
There are certain tricks that can be used to simplify visualisation. You can close one eye and squint with the other. Try looking at the object through a Kodak Wratten 90 filter: it is dark yellowish-green in colour, and cancels out the object's colours. Try to picture what the object will look like, with all its shadows, middle tones, and highlights. Then choose the zones you want the different parts of the object to be placed in.

The Spot Meter
A spot meter is the best tool to help you choose the exposure. It measures light reflected from a very small area of the object. Most spot meters have a measuring angle of only one degree, which makes it possible to measure small details all over the entire object.
You can stick a zone scale onto your spot meter's setting ring. Zone V should be placed in front of the spot that indicates a standard exposure.

Point the meter at one of the object's dark surfaces and read off the value. Turn the setting ring so that that value is next to the Zone in which you wish the detail to be placed; Zone III, for example. The value next to Zone V is the exposure setting you should use. It is now time to see which zones the highlights fall into. Point the meter at a bright part of the object and read off the zone it falls into. Are you satisfied with this, or do you want to adjust it with different development times or paper grades? If you want the bright area moved up one zone, it can be achieved either by using plus 1 development or by printing the picture on a paper that is one grade higher in contrast.

Measuring with the camera
You can also draw an exposure scale in your notebook. Point the camera at the dark part of the object and take a reading. If, for example, we have a reading of f11 and 1/8 seconds, you write 11/8 next to the zone that you want the dark part placed; for example, Zone III. Fill in the rest of the scale, reckoning on an increase of one exposure stop for every zone. In the box by Zone V, for example, you will have 11/30. Now measure a brighter part of the object, and see where it falls. If the meter reads 11/250, it will be placed in Zone VIII. Are you satisfied, or do you want to adjust it?

The all-important printing
The whole point of the zone system is to provide you with good negatives that are easy to print. When it comes to the actual printing, you can forget the zone system completely. Ansel Adams compared printing to playing music. The negative is the score and the print is the music as it is performed. Put the score in the hands of five different conductors and the music will sound different every time. You will recognise it, but it has been interpreted in five different ways. The same holds good for photographic negatives. Give five printers the same negative and they will give you five different prints. You can see that the prints have been made from the same negative, but you will have five different interpretations.
It is in printing that the small but all-important details are decided upon; choice of photographic paper, dodging, burning, toning, and so on. This is something we will return to in another series of articles.

No Magic
The zone system was invented some fifty years ago as a means of controlling exposure and contrast. Over the years it has become shrouded in myth, and has been raised to the level of metaphysics by people who do not really understand it. The zone system is easy and logical. It has been abused by people who claim that their otherwise mediocre pictures are great art because they used the 'difficult zone system' to take them.

Many are led to believe that the method is time-consuming, requires weeks of preparation, and inhibits creativity. But if you use the zone system in a suitably personal way, you will have a wonderful tool that will enhance rather than inhibit your photography.

Practice Makes Perfect
Almost every adult can ride a bike, a skill no-one is born with. Everyone had to learn how to do it. Despite all the mistakes - who hasn't lost their balance, or fallen off and grazed knees and elbows? - we kept practising. When we finally mastered the technique, we were elated. To stay vertical riding a bike was success enough. That cycling could also be a form of transport didn't enter our heads.
The zone system is exactly the same. It is not something you are born with, so you decide to learn it. You make many mistakes, but keep going. At a certain point - invariably after a great deal of practice - you feel that you have mastered it. You can control the tonal qualities of your pictures. The zone system all too easily becomes an end in itself.

But if you continue beyond this point, you will find that zone technique becomes less important. You will use the zone system to a greater or lesser extent, but only to serve your purposes. The technique is always there in the background, just as cannot forget how to ride a bike, and you will no longer get the exposure wrong in your negatives. You acquire a confidence that improves your pictures, regardless of the kind of photographs you take.
When we can ride a bike, we sometimes use it because it is the best way of getting from A to B. In the same way, we can sometimes choose to use the zone system because it is the best tool for tonal control.

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