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Why You NEED the Zone System for Digital…

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Gavin Seim:
Good thoughts David. Spot metering is indeed messy is misused. But if zones concepts are applied it becomes very simple. All it takes it a basic concept of how it's designed to work to get started. And yes PPA does still offer degrees which is pretty cool.

As for all the other aspects of the ZS, they indeed are pretty endless. I keep digging deeper. The other aspects, meter calibration and beyond are all worthy things to study.

That said I think one reason the Zones System gets left behind is because it's often presented along with so much technical stuff and details all as one. Because of that they think it's complex. While it can be used in a complex manner, it's simple at it's core.

I would disagree that the visualization and tonal scale are a small part of the process. I think they are the very core of the process. Anyone right now can use spot metering and the concept of the Zones. With a handheld meter or in camera, the principles work. Meter calibration and beyond are valid, but not needed to "start" mastering tone. Often I feel like even those who know the ZS get so caught up in making it complicated that they don't really even apply it themselves.

While I would like to see everyone dig deeper into Zones (there's some great books out there) my goal here was just get people applying the concepts of visualization, zones and metering. Once they see how powerful that is they should.

TSSP:
Well put

Previsualization and the concepts of zones are the foundation stones on which the core elements involved in the taking of the image and carry over to the developing and printing of the image.  They are fundamentally essential and the basis for all the complexities that make up the ZS in its entirety.  There is no denying that.

To support the title of your original post "Why you NEED the ZS...": these fundamentals are crucial in essentially reteaching how the photograph is approached.  Primarily slowing down the image making process.  Facts are that doing math, taking spot readings and envisioning an image before you take it forces the photographer to slow down and take less photographs.

Take less photographs, yes, less. Quality not quantity.

As for the complexity of the ZS and to me the even more complicated BTZS, it is all an effort to gain the precision and consistency that are inherent in digital technology that now requires relatively little fiddling with.

In some ways it has gotten easier, but the tenants of the process familiarity with materials and having the mental flexibility to equate abstract variables of exposure to tonal qualities are still the same and no less essential.
 

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