|
Zone System - part 1/1
Instruction and reference materials
Readers may be forgiven for thinking that there are more books on the Zone System than on any other technical photographic subject. Before I started to write this piece I typed "Zone System" into the book search box of Amazon.co.uk which resulted in a list of 36 titles; and the same words typed into Amazon.com resulted in over 400 (although cookery and other subjects appear to have been included!). So come to think of it readers may be right, and you can easily search for yourselves at the end of this article... but read on first!
Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park, 1944
Art Print
Adams, Ansel
30 in. x 24 in.
Buy at AllPosters.com
Framed
However, as I checked through the UK listing I noted only one example of an Ansel Adams book which was odd as he was the father of the Zone System... and there was a repetition of several other popular titles as well as some by writers I hadn't even heard of.
This is to be the first of four articles presenting an overview of the Zone System of exposure and development, starting with some relevant books on the subject. Then I will describe the practice with the camera and then making prints in the darkroom.
From the Amazon.co.uk list of 32 books I edited "my choice" down to three titles... two very useful and one essential reading. The one essential book is by Ansel Adams who, like Fox Talbot, is a name that will live for ever more... his place in photographic history being assured whether or not his many books continue to be reprinted and resold. He will be remembered too by many non-photographers for his images and prints reproduced on many calendars and posters gracing non-photographers walls.
But if you have seen an original Ansel Adams print such as one of the large versions of "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico" you will know you have seen a wonderful photographic image. To understand that when he saw and composed that scene fleetingly lit by the sun... but discovered he had left his meter in his car so had to calculate his exposure from the known luminance of the moon, is to understand that there was a master photographer very much in control of his art, craft and science.
I mention that because I feel all serious photographers should have his "basics" books. The original “Basic Photo Series” was a five-volume set and is now rather scarce and sought after (I regret selling my set, all signed, although I'm pleased to know they went to a related family member of the late wife of Ansel Adams). The originals were gradually updated from 1980 when they became the three-volume ”The New Ansel Adams Photography Series.”
The latest soft cover set has omitted "New" from the series title... and quite rightly so because it is simply a reprint of the '80s set with no additions, no deletions (even the 1980 acknowledgment and introduction by Adams is included.) Incidentally Little, Brown and Co. have the sole rights to publish his works and their doing so is supervised by a Trust to ensure the continuity and quality of his legacy. But what I see in these reprints are more contrasty reproductions with somewhat less shadow detail visible in many of the photographs. I have to ask where is the quality control?
Still, better to have the reprints if the originals are unavailable and certainly better to have the reprints than many other books on black-and-white which are available. This set is a classic series and will probably be in print long after everyone has gone digital... as he once said he would have also chosen to do!
...page 2 / page 3...
|
