14.03.2014 (Week 6)
Hadis Parsa (0318171)
Exercise 3 : The Zone System

Lecture: In the sixth week of class, as I was absent but I know  Mr. Vinod explained what is Zone System.The Zone System is a photography  technique for determining optimal film, exposure and development, formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer.His technique was to carefully study a scene, visualize the final print, then determine the correspondence between portions of the scene and tones in the print. He would then meter, expose the image.The goal of the Zone system is to expose film/ccd for optimum image quality to make sure all the critical information is present.
These are some examples of Ansel Adams' works.

 

 

He told  that exposure meters are dumb. They are clueless about what they're photographing. They assume that all scenes have the same average tonal value— middle gray— roughly zone 5 in the chart below.

Tones in scenes and prints are divided into nine zones, numbered 1 through 9 from dark to light.

Tones in scenes and prints are divided into nine zones, numbered 1 through 9 from dark to light

 

 

Zone 5 is, by definition, subjective middle gray.In a scene— in the field— each zone represents a doubling or halving of the luminance— the light reflected from the subject— or equivalently, a difference of one f-stop. 

 

 

 

INSTRUCTIONS

Exercise 3a

Choose 3 different subject matters of varying tones.

Tint, Tone & Shade

Photograph:

1. An Image that has different shades of White2. An Image that has varying shades of grey (middle tones)
3. An Image that has varying shade within a dark area.
Marking Criteria: The student must show evidence of using the Zone System technique to capture an ‘accurate exposure’ of a subject with light tones, a subject with middle tones and a subject with dark tones. An accurate exposure entails ‘visible tonal values and details’ in all three tonal areas

shutter speed :1/160     ISO:200     aperture: 22

 

 

 shutter speed :1/20     ISO: 200    aperture: 22

 

 shutter speed : 1/125    ISO: 200   aperture: 5.6

shutter speed :1/250      ISO: 200   aperture: 5.6

 

shutter speed :1/60        ISO:200        aperture:5.6

 

 

 shutter speed : 1/10     ISO:200       aperture: 5.6

 

 shutter speed :1/4000       ISO:3200     aperture: 10

shutter speed :1/4000  ISO: 200   aperture: 10

 

 

 

shutter speed : 1/500   ISO: 200 aperture:6

 

 

shutter speed :1/100      ISO:200    aperture:6

 

 

 

 

 

REFLECTION:

At first, I was not  clear about what zone system is even though Mr. Vinod had explained about it . After taking picture in the trip that we went with my family and I found out about it wen I had problem with the lightness or darkness of the picture I changed shutter speed to have the best exposure so, I started to know and learn more about the zone system. I learnt that the meter in the camera isn't always right. In this exercise, I realised that changing one stop of shutter speed can make a big difference. It can be really dark or too light by changing one stop. Sometimes, instead of changing one stop, changing half a stop is more than enough

Exercise 3b

1. Choose to take a picture either landscape, still life or human
2. Sketch the picture taken and determine the zones of each shade in the picture
3. Write down each zone in the picture alongside it’s aperture and shutter speed settings
4. Determine the subject that is chosen to be prioritize
5. Decide on the final zone, aperture and shutter speed settings
6. Take a photograph with the chosen settings
Marking Criteria: Students must show evidence of using the Zone System. Student must produce 1 black & white image that captures depth and richness in tonal value by capturing light, middle and dark tones while maintaining details (texture and tone) in the dark and light areas of the image