Like most other newcomers into the digital world who bypassed film, I keep on hearing about the Zone System. Of coarse we all have seen Ansel Adams work and know who he is, and we may have seen an article or two about the Zone system he created. However for me the disconnect was, yea so what does this Zone system look like visually with my color or B&W Images and how can I use.
My interest on the subject kept on growing after having brushes with the ZONE system in NIK Silver effects Pro (SEP), and some training videos by author Jason Odell on SEP, also the constant reminder that our digital camera sees in the grey tonal range, and my newly found Vince Versace’s (VV) Welcome to OZ 2 tools are based/designed on an understanding of this tonal range.
In fact, I’d encourage you view two of my prior Blog’s to view the impact of OZ2 VV actions Sierra-VV and pre VV Sierra. I truly think that with a good knowledge of Zones coupled with Oz2 VV actions (ie LAZ effect) that you can really start to understand where your imagination and influence is headed with your pixels in the digital darkroom. Point of capture is critical, and author Lee Varis will provide you with information that will be helpful to understanding what the DLSR is calculating.
All of these influences, kept me wondering how can use I it and do I need to use it…..these basic questions were clearly explained with my ebook purchase from author Lee Varis, of his May 2010 title released; ‘Mastering Exposure and the Zone system for Digital Photographers’…(Kindle version for MAC)
So here is the simple scoop….
Set up your own zone system step graphic, overlay it on your Image, and use the photoshop “info” panel to ‘see’ what your pixels information contains and where they land in the Zone system.
You need Photoshop. (This workflow was adapted from information provided in the Lee Varis Book). The author’ss book provides detailed illustrations and screen shots to create the Zone system graphic. I’d highly recommend that you purchase the book and benefit from his research and acumen on the workflow. I will only provide the cheap man’s version, it’s accurate, but really consider stepping up your game and buying the book…..
- File new, name,Vertical Zone, width 1 inch, height,1.8 inches,resolution 300,color mode, LAB,background LAB, 8bit, OK
- Windows/channels,select lightness
- Windows/layers/mouse right click ‘background layer’/duplicate layer,rename layer, Vertical Zone,[return]
- press D…….info only-this sets background mask to default black/white
- Windows/tools/gradient tool/upper left,large gradient drop down, select 1st icon,foreground to background, uncheck dither
- Place mouse Pointer in bottom center of white rectangle
- Hold Shift, drag mouse to top of rectangle and release
- Image/Adjustments/Posterize/11, OK
- Image/mode/RGB, (dont flatten), Image/mode/16bit
- File save as: Vertical Zone
- Windows/info
- 2nd header right/panel options
- first color readout/mode, rgb color
- second color readout/Lab color, OK
So….we have a nice looking skinny graphic of the zones, (I’ve included yellow text of zone step and RGB value @gamma 1.8). Here middle grey is Zone 5, RGB value 99.
what’s next ……
- Well, Keep this zone file open, and Open up any Image you want,
- then Window/arrange/tile/select tab,Vertical zone,
- Window/layer/vertical zone
- Hold Shift vertical zone layer and drag on top of your Image and release.
- Press V…….info only this is move tool
- drag layer to right hand edge of Image
- Press command T or Edit/free transform…….info this is transform tool to resize
- Resize Zone Layer to fit inside Image
- Press Hand tool or Check mark on top tool bar window
- Window/info
That is it….
Now you can evaluate your Image. A typical DLSR has max about 5 maybe six tonal ranges, and now you can move your cursor around and see what zones your pixels are in by looking at your info panel….here I am applying a tip from VV workshops to use an Image mask to give me an idea what I have to work on as a starting point for this image …
Here is an example:
Here you have shadows in the base lower part of the image in zone III, as you move up, you have mid-tones in zone IV thru VI, and highlights in zone VII-IX…the image does not have any blown highlights (zone X) (r-255,g=255,b=255) and no lost information in zone 0 (r=0,g=0,b=0).
In the info pallet, I have my mouse pointer just to the left of the pallet edge, you can read L=82,/10=zone VIII, and rgb~194..
So again how is all this helpful, well, now that I know the image has six zones of info, and nothing is blown out, I know I have a lot of pixels to work with. I can, for instance, put this image thru NIK Tonal Contrast and get these results…
There is really a lot more subtly going into a final image, as was drilled into my head by VV references to a Brian Eno quote, ‘Go to an extreme then retreat to a useable position’, i.e. start off in an extreme slider position and then retreat to something ‘useable’ lower on the slider, you can not know the full range of an effect by starting in the middle.
I hope this blog-post is semi-useful for the reader. For me,it is a new tool that I’ll goto when I get into an area where I need some visualization to assist my decision making on how my shots are coming out and will help with my digital darkroom efforts.
If your interested in a top notch book that goes into some of the practicalities of the process and several great real world scenarios of how to apply the Zone system, I would highly recommend the book. The author is an accomplished film and digital photographer and you’ll get a lot of knowledge and information of current best practices, workflows and equipment….
