Black & White – The Zone System

(Nikon D300, Sigma 50-500 @ 195mm, 1/640, f/8.0, ISO 250)

We all know when we like am image.

It has to do with the composition, subject, our mood on the day and a myriad of other variables.  One of those, and probably one of the more important ones, include exposure and levels of light and dark in the image.  I am currently working on a black & white project and noticed a great little feature on the Nik Silver Efex Plugin for Photoshop which can teach you a lot about how light and dark works together to make an image work.

The Zone System is a system by which you control and understand the light and dark areas, zones, of an image.  Ansel Adams divided the range between white and black into 9 zones which were each an f/stop apart.  Black can be seen as Zone 1 and white as Zone 9.

By using the Zone System you will get the right exposire every time whether you are shooting black & white or colour.

Most of us shoot colour and then convert the image to black & white during the post processing of the image.  As I was working with the Nik Silver Efex plugin I saw the little zone system bar in the bottom right of the screen.  Initially I did not think too much of it but it has turned out to be extremely helpful.  As you hover your cursor over one of the zones, like zone 6 in the below image, you can see the area in your image that corresponds to that specific zone.

This is not only helpful when converting images to black & white but also teaches you a lot about how to ‘see’ your images when shooting out in the field.  If you can, in your minds eye see the scene in front of you in black & white you might be able to better understand how to expose the image for optimal results.  The ideal, and I use the term loosely, is to have a little bit of each zone in the image.  With the Nik plugin it is easy to check as you can just hover your cursor over each zone and you can then see which areas in your image corresponds with that zone.  Great learning exercise as well.

The Zone System can be used for colour as well but you might find that bright clours confuse your camera slightly which will result in incorrectly exposed images.  The more you shoot and understand not only the Zone System but your equipment and light in general you will get the feeling which area of your image you should meter from.  After looking around I found this chart by Norman Koren which is quite useful for showing how you adjust your exposure settings when shooting colour with the Zone System in mind.

The top row shows five of the different zones.  From Norman’s website: “This chart is fairly simple to use. If you are metering off a surface that subjectively resembles one of the colors, make the exposure adjustment (relative zone 5) shown on the right. For example, if you are metering off a pure yellow surface, increase the exposure by 1½ f-stops above the meter reading (zone 5), i.e., place it at zone 6½. “

Pretty straight forward and something that can make a huge difference to how your images are shot and ultimately exposed.  As with anything these days, there is a lof of information available on the Zone System so if you would like to read more click here for the Google Search results.

Next time you are out in the field keep the Zone System in mind but do not worry about it too much.  There is no scientific formula for great images.  Photography is an art so just like a painter you need to use the light and dark areas available in your scene to create your artwork in whatever way you feel is best.

As always I look forward to hearing from you.

Until next time.

Gerry