Zone System /
Correct
Exposures
Believe
it or not, exposure skills
Unlike
the skilled, the
unskilled photographer
A WindowLight (window light) portrait
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Thanks
to all who purchased this Simplified Zone System book and made it the most popular as well as the #1 best selling
Zone System book on numerous occasions during the last few years on
amazon.com
Before the beginning of each
Zone System (Light Measurement / Exposure) class, everyone seems to depend
on their camera's "Normal Exposure" readings for their exposures because
it is their only guide to the world of exposing their images!
In this case we have 1 subject, 1
Correct Exposure, 15 students, 15 cameras, and as many as 6
different exposure readings indicated by these cameras, NONE of which matched
our technically correct exposure settings for the subject! If the following
illustration does not convince you to depend on your vision, eyes, heart, mind, and skill (and not
your expensive camera) for correctly exposed images, then in the long run, your
missed opportunities, wasted money, and poorly-exposed images will!
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| The results of
these assignments are usually eye-opening! The technically correct-exposure of 1/125 @ f-16 for this subject was obtained using a standard 18% gray
card (that is how this picture was taken). In
this case, not a single student's camera came up with this reading. As you can see,
some of the cameras were off by as much as 2 to 3 stops. The most interesting
thing about this assignment was that each student thought their expensive camera's reading gave them the "correct
exposure" and none of them had any idea how wrong their
camera's exposure reading was! In order to deprogram the students and teach them exposure skills and the art of seeing, I had to make them realize that they must trust their eyes, heart, mind, and skill more than they trust their expensive camera's meter to determine the "correct exposure" of any subject! Unfortunately the cameras of today, very much like the cameras of some 50 years ago, cannot differentiate between exposing a black surface and a white surface! them realize that they must trust their eyes, heart, mind, and skill more than they trust their expensive camera's meter to determine the "correct exposure" of any subject! Unfortunately the cameras of today, very much like the cameras of some 60 years ago, cannot differentiate between exposing a black surface and a white surface (true!) |
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The World's Easiest and the most practical Zone System book and the World's first 5-stop Digital Zone System book (since 1996) to help you to take better exposed pictures with Digital and Film cameras!
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What
is the Zone System of exposure in photography?
If you have always been left out of the intellectual discussions of the Zone System of Exposure, you are NOT alone! Let's introduce you to the world's easiest and most common-sensical approach to this powerful exposure technique. Simply pick an important tone in your subject (like a forehead in portrait photography) and ask yourself (very much like cooking a steak) how you would like it DONE! |
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Lotus Flower Leaf and a rain drop |
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Your
camera is a "tone-capturing" machine, very muck like a steak-cooking machine
that is programmed to produce "MEDIUM" cooked steaks every time. In the
case of the steak-cooking machine, to have more choices, you must manually adjust the
dials so that it can overcook or undercook the steak. In the case of a camera, you
must adjust the dials to underexpose or overexpose your subject tone so that the desired
image tone can be recorded.
More
examples and explanations? |
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The Skilled
Photographer always questions the meter's authority and often overrides
it. Make your camera the extension of your vision! Learn the art of correctly-exposing your subject! |
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The teaching philosophy behind |
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| "One of the easiest-to-understand books on exposure and the Zone System that we've ever seen" Outdoor Photographer Magazine |
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Correctly exposing an image, very much like driving a "stick shift" car, is a skill that does not come
with any camera and canNOT be bought at any price! The
Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and
It will be enjoyed for life. |
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| Camera-Specific
Zone System Cheat Sheets / Techniques Please note: If you do not see your camera here, chances are that either the camera does not have a spot metering / partial metering feature or I was not able to get the camera locally or my efforts to secure a loaner from the camera manufacturer was unsuccessful. If you wish for me to create you one, please e-mail me and I will do it as soon as I have access to the camera. If you are a manufacturer, please get in touch me for a loaner so that I can get the camera (s) to be included in this list and the Zone System book. Whether
you like it or not, your Zone System (exposure) skill as a photographer will ALWAYS be the most important element of your final image. |
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A digital image with Nikon CoolPix
990 (CP 990) and Novatron studio strobe (flash) units
35mm,
24X36X11574
= 10,000,000 = 10 MegaPixels Where
11574
is pixels/sq. mm.
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Please look us up at the
Birmingham School of Photography | ||||||||||||||
