Zone placement

Many photographers already use one aspect of the zone system when they take a light meter reading. Taking a refl ected meter reading from a gray card and exposing the fi lm to that meter indicated exposure is to place a tone (middle gray) to a specifi c zone (Zone V). Th e placing of a tone to a specifi c zone is called ‘zone placement’. To use the zone system fully the photographer must take two readings when metering the subject. One reading is taken from a highlight and one from a shadow. Th ey are chosen by the photographer as the brightest and darkest tones which will require detail when these tones are viewed in the fi nal image. Th ese tones are selected subjectively. Each photographer may choose diff erent highlight or shadow tones depending on the desired outcome. Th e selected highlight and shadow tones are then placed to appropriate zones.

Th e tonal range of the print is of course much greater than just ten tones. Breaking the tonal range into ten precise zones allows the photographer to visualize how a metered tone in the subject will translate into a tone on the printing paper. A selected tone can be moved up or down the scale one zone at a time simply by opening or closing the aperture one stop at a time. By placing a tone further up or down the scale the image is made darker or lighter as all other tones are moved in the same direction.

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Th e zone ruler

Activity 1

Frame a location (one that you can revisit again easily) when it is illuminated by directional sunlight. Approach a broad range of tones, from bright highlights to dark shadows, within the framed image and take a refl ected light meter reading from each. Keep a record of each tone and its meter indicated exposure. Take a gray card reading and bracket three exposures (meter indicated exposure, plus one stop and minus one stop). Process the fi lm normally using the manufacturer’s recommended development time, temperature and frequency of agitation. Make a print from each of the three negatives without burning the highlights or dodging the shadows on medium-contrast printing paper. Using your notes label the range of tones you metered for in the fi rst step of this activity, e.g. you may label a dark tone f4 @ 1/125 second and a highlight as f16 @ 1/125 second. Discuss the tonal quality of each print with other students, e.g. can you see detail in the highlights and shadows?