Understanding & Using Ansel Adam's Zone System

4/4/2018 Understanding & Using Ansel Adam's Zone System
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PHOTO & VIDEO > METERING
Understanding & Using Ansel Adam's Zone

System
by Diana Eftaiha 20 Mar 2013
Di culty: Intermediate Length: Long Languages: English
Metering Spot Meter Shooting Zone System Adobe Photoshop Exposure Exposure Calculation

This post is part of a series called Ready, Set, Exposure.
 Light & Photography: Exposure and Tonal Range Considerations
 Mastering Exposure and Flash Compensation
The Zone System is a technique that was formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer
back in the 1930's. It is an approach to a standardized way of working that guarantees
a correct exposure in every situation, even in the trickiest lighting conditions such as
back lighting, extreme difference between light and shadow areas of a scene, and many
similar conditions that are most likely going to throw off your camera's metering giving
you a completely incorrect exposure.
Today we're going to explore this system, and investigate how it can help you with your
photography!
Republished Tutorial
https://photography.tutsplus.com/tutorials/understanding-using-ansel-adams-zone-system--photo-5607 1/34
Every few weeks, we revisit some of our reader's favorite posts from throughout the
history of the site. This tutorial was rst published in February of 2011.
Your camera's metering modes are built to give you a correct reading under most
average situations. But when you're faced with an exceptional situation, your camera's
metering can easily be fooled, thinking a scene is brighter or darker than it actually is.
This is where knowledge of the zone system can save you a lot of trouble, and help you
capture not only correct but also intriguing exposures every time.
Although calculations for the zone system were originally based on black and white
sheet lm, the Zone System is also applicable to roll lm, both black and white and
color, negative and reversal, and even to digital photography.
Bene ts of Utilizing the Zone System

Capturing a correct exposure every time, even in the trickiest light or scene
situations.
Having a precise evaluation of your scene's tones and dynamic range prior to even
making a shot.
Knowing when you need to use graduated neutral density lters.
Knowing exactly how far apart to take exposure bracketed shots for later blending.
Determining the situations where you need to use a ll ash to get a correct
exposure.
Middle Grey
The camera metering is designed to give correct readings under average
circumstances. This means that the camera would look at a scene and try to render it
as average re ectance (18% re ectance), which is middle grey (a value right in the
middle between pure black and pure white). When a scene contains too much bright,
however, the camera tries to render it as average so it darkens it causing under-
exposure. On the other hand, when a scene contains too much dark, the camera tries to
render it as average so it lightens it causing over-exposure.
We as human beings see in color rather than black and white, and there are colors that
are considered average. Meaning, they re ect an average amount of light, which is
around the same amount that middle grey re ects. Learning the average tones is
fundamental for deploying the Zone System.
The Zone System's Key Concepts

The zone system divides a scene into 10 zones on the tonal scale (though there are
variations of 9 and 11 zones). Every tonal range is assigned a zone. Every zone differs
from the one before it by 1 stop, and from the one following it by 1 stop. So every zone
change equals 1 stop difference. Zones are identi ed by roman numbers, with the
middle tone (with 18% re ectance) being a zone V which is zone 5.
For us digital photographers, we are only concerned with zones III through VII (zones 3
through 7). The darkest part of a scene would fall into zone III, while the brightest part
of a scene would fall into zone VII. Anything darker than zone III would render as pure
black with no detail (under-exposed), while anything brighter than zone VII would render
as pure white with no detail (over-exposed).
If you point your camera at an area with average re ectance and obtain the correct
meter readings (a zero on the light meter), that area would be rendered as average. If
you open up your lens or slow down your shutter speed by one stop, that area will
become over-exposed by one stop. If you close down your lens or increase your shutter
speed by one stop, that area will become under-exposed by one stop.
Now, we've agreed that an average tone is naturally placed into zone V. If you over-
expose it by one stop, you'll be placing it in zone VI (zone 6), causing it to render
brighter than it actually is. If you under-expose it by one stop, you'll be placing it in zone
IV (zone 4) causing it to render darker than it actually is.
Placing Different Color Tones in Different Zones
As can be seen by the above image, average colors would render correctly when put in
an average zone which is zone V. By render correctly I mean, they will appear on the
nal photo the same way they look in reality with no over or under-exposure. Those
tones include green grass or tree leaves, red owers, clear blue skies, 18% grey card
and the like...
Color tones that are a bit brighter than the average, should be placed into zone VI.
Those colors are more like pastels, or faded average colors. Those tones include pure
yellow, bright-pinkish red, baby blue, baby pink and the like...
Color tones that are brighter than that should be placed into zone VII. These include
white snow, white clouds, fog, smoke, mist, bright sand...
Color tones slightly darker than average should be placed into zone IV. Those include
tree trunks, dark blue skies, and so on...
Color tones that are darker than that should generally be placed into zone III. Those
tones include black puppies, black shoes, extreme shadows, coal, and the like...
In digital photography, a generally correct exposure (technically speaking) of an average

scene is one that is exposed for the mid-tones, with no blown out highlights. I
emphasize on blown out highlights because, highlight clipped photo details are more
troublesome than shadow clipped photo details.
So if the dynamic range of a scene is greater than one to be captured with only one
shot, you have the choice to sacri ce either the highlights or the shadows of a
photograph. And unless the jeopardized highlight area is really too small to have any
signi cance, you should always protect the highlights. Blown-out highlights yield a
feeling of something missing in the photo, while blown-out shadow detail is more
acceptable and sometimes even intentional for speci c effects.
So to correctly expose an average scene, spot an average color or tone. Adjust your
camera settings till you get the light meter's hash mark on zero for that color, make
sure you're not over exposing your highlights and take the shot.
Below are a few photos, each with the color tone interpretation right below it. This is to
give you an idea on how to evaluate different colors, break down your scene, and place
each tone in its corresponding zone.
Photo by Samy Lamouti dzpixel
In the above image, the yellow is a zone VI. Yellow is generally always placed in zone VI
because it has +1 stop more re ectance than average colors. The slightly bright orange
can also be considered a +1 here, maybe even a +1/2.
The saturated orange is average color so its placed in zone V. Red is usually always
considered an average color unless it's too dark or too bright. Here it's placed in zone IV
for being darker than average. The oor is really bright, so it is placed in zone VII.
Photo by Claudio Alejandro Mufarrege
In this photo half way through the sky, the blue is average so it's placed in zone V.
Towards the bottom, it gets brighter, right around zone VI. At the very top, it is around a
-1 stop darker than average, so it is placed in zone IV. Regarding the trees and the grass,
foliage usually always has an average color unless it's very dark or very bright.
In this photo, the grass is around average so it is placed in zone V. The trees in the back
to the right are approximately a -1 stop darker than average, so they're being placed in
zone IV. The clouds are white but still retaining detail, so they're a zone VII. As for the
road, its around -1 stop darker than average (maybe even a -1 1/2 stop darker) so it's
being placed in zone IV (or in the middle between zone IV and Zone III).
Photo by s k o o v
In the photo of the lighthouse above, the sea towards the bottom is around average so
it is placed in zone V. Going higher though, it starts getting darker till it gets around a -1
stop at the very top so that area could be considered a zone IV.
As for the sky, it's around average color at the top and to the right, so that area is
considered a zone V. Going down and to the left it gets a -1 stop darker than average, so
that area would be a zone IV (maybe slightly brighter than a zone IV, so you could
consider it a -1/2 or -2/3).
A little further down it starts to brighten up moving into a good zone VI and eventually a
zone VII at the very end to the right. As for the dock, the color is very dark with detail, so
it is considered a zone III.
Photo by Ben Fredericson
I've chosen this photo to show you the varying tones foliage can take and how you
would go about placing the different tones of green into different zones. To begin, the
grass to the left of the frame is average re ectance, so it is placed in zone V.
Around the edges of the road going backwards to the left and to the right, it gets
brighter somewhere around a +1 stop so it is considered a zone VI. The trees on either
side of the road are around a -1 stop darker than average, so they are considered a zone
IV. The bushes at the back are around +2 stops darker than average, so they are
considered a zone III.
Photo by Jon Hurd
Here the sand is very bright while still retaining texture and detail, with +2 stops brighter
than average, so that's a good zone VII. The dog in the white areas is also a zone VII,
and in the dark area is around -2 stops darker than an average color making a good
zone III.
Notice that the dog's left eye is becoming just a tiny bit under-exposed which is OK,
since taking the exposure down to retain the detail in such a small area of the entire
frame would blow out all the whites. The very bright and very dark parts of such a
scene take the dynamic range higher than a digital camera's dynamic range, so you
cannot retain all shadow and highlight details with only one exposure. Plus, as we've
said earlier shadow clipping is more tolerated than highlight clipping.
The clouds are bright with detail so they're normally a zone VII. The sky in this shot is
brighter than average, making a +1 stop towards the top left of the frame so that's a
zone VI.
Portrait Photography and the Zone System

While landscape photographers would be more familiar with placing nature's color
tones like the color of mountains, trees, skies, seas and so on on the zone system,
portrait photographers would be more familiar and more focused on skin tones and
hair color.
Most people generally fall between zone IV and zone VI, except for some exceptions
like really bright or dark skin tones. When you're shooting people and portraits, you're
most concerned about skin tones. Their clothes would have importance as well, but not
as much as the person's skin tone, especially if only a small portion of their clothes
appear in the photo.
Let's talk a look at how we go about placing different skin tones in different zones.
Photo by creativesam
This little guy above has a bright skin tone, somewhere around +1 1/2 stops brighter
than average. So it falls between zone VI and zone VII. His bright clothes also still retain
detail, so there's nothing blowing out there.
Maybe inside his mouth, shadow detail is clipped but that's OK. First, because we don't
want to lose our highlight details by over-exposing to register that tiny shadow area.
And second, as I've said earlier when a dynamic range of a scene is higher than one to
be captured with just one shot, shadow clipping is more tolerated than highlight
clipping.
Photo by Mr. Theklan
In this photo, the girl has a darker skin than the above little guy, just not as dark as an
average color. She's mostly around a +1/2 stop brighter than average. The highlights in
her eyes and teeth are safe as well. There's not even any clipping happening in the dark
areas such as her hair, clothes and accessories which is great.
Photo by Fabio Gismondi
This guy above has around average skin tone, so he would go into zone V. There's some
clipping happening in the darker areas of his hair and the black fur, but as long as
highlight detail is all there, that's OK.
Photo by Rajiv Ashra
This poor old lady is around -1 1/2 stops darker than average, so she's between zone IV
and zone III. You would know she's not exactly a zone III by comparing the color of her
skin with the pure black of her hair. You would clearly see that her skin is brighter than
that.
There is just a really tiny bit of highlight clipping on her left shoulder, but that's alright. If
the area was larger than that, the shot might have needed to be re-assessed or
recomposed to preserve all image details.
Evaluating High Dynamic Range Scenes

When a scene has a huge difference between it's darkest and brightest tones, that
would mean it has a high dynamic range which makes it impossible to retain all those
contrasting image details with one shot. So unless you're planning on taking multiple
different shot for later blending back in post-processing, or using a graduated neutral
density lter (which might not even be of help in all situations), you'll de nitely have to
make a choice. Are you rather off with clipped shadows or blown out highlights?
The vast majority of the time, the answer would be protect the highlights and let
everything else fall where it may. Unless, the highlight area is actually too small to ruin
the shot, is not of much signi cance to the shot, or trying to keep it on the account of
losing the shadows would ruin the whole idea behind the photo, you should always
protect your highlights.
Photo by Evan Leeson

Looking at the shot above, you'd be able to tell that either one of the highlights or the
shadows are going to need to be sacri ced. Since you cannot go without that bright
white fog covering the upper half of the frame and losing the whole mood of the shot,
metering for the scene is quite simple. Take your reading off the bright fog, place it into
zone VII, recompose and take the shot. Everything else would fall into place. Having
clipped shadows won't be a problem, since that misty fog, the silky waters and the
oating boat are what's adding so much value and drama to the photo.
Photo by Gwenael Piaser

In this example we know that the light coming through the window is way too
empowering to make it possible to capture the outside and the inside with no detail
loss with only one shot. The photographer has chosen to instead, make creative use of
such a situation and render the people wandering about as stark silhouettes while still
maintaining all that beautiful outside mood of the city which actually made the shot
way more intriguing to the viewer.
Metering for this shot, you would just point your camera at that brightest area of the sky
at the very top, place that in zone VII and let everything else fall where it may.
Photo by Jamie Hladky

In this photo having the sun within the frame, there is no way you can preserve all those
extremely bright highlights no matter how fast you ride up your shutter speed. You will
only be left with a huge dark area and a tiny bright dot and nothing else. For this reason,
letting the center of the sun blow out while retaining all other image details with the
blue of the sky, the red of the poppies, and the green of the grass is so worth it.
An alternative in this case would be to change your perspective and recompose your
frame in a way that doesn't include the sun within the shot, but I think for this particular
one you'd just be killing everything that made it so special. Don't worry about the
clipped highlights this time.
Conclusion
Some people out there might argue that the zone system was not created for, nor does
it apply to, digital photography but the truth is, it does. Maybe not exactly the same way
it was intended to be used, but it sure makes a huge difference for you and your
photography. It forces you to think about exposure, and plan your shot better.
Rule of thumb is, with average scenes you just point your camera to an average color,
place it into zone V and then recompose. With high dynamic range scenes, unless
you're planing on taking multiple exposures, throwing in some ll ash, or using a
neutral density lter you have to make a choice.
Are you more concerned about the highlights, or are you more concerned about the
shadows? Choose your path, meter on that and everything else should just fall into
place.
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Diana Eftaiha
Diana is a previous author of Tuts+.
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dj • 7 years ago
Sorry, but this newbie is struggling with what you mean (physically) by "place it into zone VII."
I.E. you said "Take your reading off the bright fog," - I assume that means to point the camera at
the fog, partially press the shutter to set the 'reading', then I suppose turn the camera to
recompose the shot without lifting up on the shutter and when ready, depress and shoot. [Or I
may be wrong] What I don't understand is what you mean specifically by once we have the
reading "place it into zone VII."
Sorry, if this is basic - but I don't often get this intrigued by an article to want to follow up on
what I don't understand. This just may be the answer that a non-professional "taker-of-pictures"
has looked for most of his life to get things right.
18 △ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
Diana Eftaiha > dj • 7 years ago

Hello DJ. what i mean by take your reading off the fog and place it in zone VII and then
recompose to take the shot is:
1. if you're shooting in manual mode, and depending on what metering mode you're
using, you need to point your cam to the fog in a way that whatever metering mode
you're using only sees the bright fog (i.e. the whole metering area reads just the fog. like
if you're using spot metering, the middle circle covers the fog alone, center weighted or
whatever only sees the fog with no other elements so it doesn't average any reflectance
of other frame objects). once you're zoomed in on the fog, adjust your camera settings
so the light meter hash mark is at +2 indicating over-exposure by 2 stops. you don't need
to to keep holding the shutter half-way. you can now release, and recompose your shot
however you choose (focusing on whatever you choose) and take the shot. just make
sure you don't alter the settings, so that the brightest area still retains a +2 over-
exposure no matter what the meter is indicating now.
2. if you're not shooting in manual mode, you will need to set you're camera so as to
override the meter by +2 once you recompose your scene, cause as soon as you take
your lens off the brightest area, your camera settings are going to change according to
the new scene it sees now. if you're in av mode, your shutter speed will change. if you're
in shutter priority mode, you're aperture will change. so in order to maintain your desired
settings, you need to over-ride the cam settings.
i hope this is clearer to you now. if you're still having trouble, please feel free to ask more
questions =)
8△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
Diana Eftaiha > Diana Eftaiha • 7 years ago

oh and btw this article is kind of advanced really, so don't feel bad or pressured if
there's anything you don't understand. just try to take it in little by little. visualize
what i'm trying to say, and then think how you can apply it practically. and i'm right
here, i'll help you out with everything you might need =)
Jonno Royston > Diana Eftaiha • 5 years ago

Diana, sorry for jumping in 2 years late, but would it be the same if I took
the Prime Colours(meaning No. 5) and took a light meter reading off those
as a 0? For example if I had a piece of card that was 18% Grey and got a
0 on Manual setting with my cameras light meter, would this work.... I
hope you follow me?!? Thanks for this tutorial! Jon x
△ ▽ • Reply • Share ›
Low Teik Leong > Diana Eftaiha • 6 years ago

Hi.
I read your article on "Understanding & Using Ansel Adam’s Zone System" a
couple of times.
Then I tried it out and have some queries to ask you.
I'm using a Canon 60D with a 24 - 70 mm f2.8L lens.

I followed your instruction ;
1. pointed the camera to the clouds
2. released the shutter button
3. adjust the camera settings so the light meter hash mark is at +2
4. recomposed the shot
In doing so I noticed that the exposure meter changes as I recomposed.
Does it mean that the setting of the exposure at +2 is changed?
I tried manual setting and all the metering modes - evaluative, spot ,c enter
weighted , partial and the metering point still changes as I recompose.
I tried the exposure lock and then recompose. Unfortunately these is something
wrong with the camera. it does not indicate that the exposure is locked [ The
asterisk * did not show up in the view finder!!!!
Randell > Low Teik Leong • 5 years ago

Take your metering off the fog and over expose by two stops.
Do this in Manual Mode and not Av or Tv Mode.
The AEL will not work in Manual Mode - This is why you can't see the
Asterix (*) in your viewfinder.
AEL is only available in semi automatic modes.
By taking your exposure metering off the fog you've now correctly
exposed for the highlights and all other zones of the scene will fall
correctly into place without 'Blown highlights', appearing in the fog.
Jeffrey L. > Low Teik Leong • a year ago

If I understand your question right, the reason you are seeing the
exposure meter change after you set the exposure (as described) is
because you have changed where the camera is pointed. Remember, you
had set that +2 because of an area of the image that is no longer the area
that the meter is reading. For example, if you have a center-weighted
metering mode and the center is Zone V, your meter will read 0. If you
have a Zone VII somewhere else, the meter won't know it if it isn't pointing
at it, but you can still manually set the exposure to properly expose that
Zone VII.
shakty > Low Teik Leong • 4 years ago

before recomposing do AE lock.thats all you are missing
7 > dj • 7 years ago

You can also do this quicker by using the overall evaluative / matrix metering mode, and
just considering the "overall" tonality of the scene before you. It'll get you really close to
correct and if you aren't pressed for time you can chimp it, checking the preview /
blinking highlights / histogram to see whether you were close enough, and take
additional exposures if necessary. Also, if you shoot in RAW you can make a surprisingly
large amount of adjustment in post, if something didn't quite come out as you'd thought.
My personal workflow is using spot metering and meter my most important tone (or if
using matrix / evaluative, just zoom / get close enough to the tone to fill the frame) to
make sure I'm metering *only* that tone, and then adjust my manual settings
accordingly, much like this excellent article suggests.
It can take some time to get the hang of it, but once you get to know how your particular
camera, lens and flash (if present) respond as a system, you can get pretty accurate at
judging the overall exposure you'd need to set for a given scene. Just takes time and
practice, like anything else. :)
shakty > dj • 4 years ago

may be it means using spot metering point your spot towards the average colour and
then lock the AE.then after recompose and snap.half pressing the shutter does only
focus lock but not the AE lock.so the key term is AE lock
Dave • 6 years ago

The one that needs to be emphasized in this tutorial is that you need to look at the meter in your
viewfinder after you determine what zone the color is you are taking a meter off of. With a zone
5 tone, you adjust aperture, shutter speed and ISO so the meter reads 0. When metering off a
zone 6 it should read + 1 for a zone 4 tone it should read -1, etc...
Andreas • 6 years ago

Thanks for this very useful article, it helped me a lot. But I still think that you are mixing up two
issues here, which got me little confused initially. So I will clarify it here, even if is for myself only
:-).
The amount of light that is reflected by an object (into your camera lens) is determined by two
things: 1. the amount of light that is coming from a light source and is falling onto that object, 2.
the reflectance behaviour of the object, which in turn depends on its color tone (dark colors
reflect less of the source light than bright colors).
The second point is what the the Zoning system deals with: the fact that there are differences
between colors in the way they reflect light, i.e. more or less reflectance than an average 18%
gray. Thus, the color tone of an object can "fool" the camera meter by suggesting bright source
light when actually there is just an above-average-reflecting color (e.g. yellow). Therefore you
have to correct exposure of a yellow object up 1 stop (or, in Zone-language: place the yellow
object in Zone VI).
The first point (the amount of source light) is the more general issue of exposure: even if
everything were of average gray color, you still have bright and dark objects in your picture
depending on the actual amount of source light that falls on them. In your second example (the
road), the green grass and the blue sky are both Zone V, because grass-green and sky-blue are
average-reflecting colors similar to gray, but typically the sky would still be much brighter than
the grass in the foreground. Thus, you still have to decide whether you expose your image
according to the bright or dark parts. The last chapter “evaluating high dynamic range scenes”
therefore has not so much to do with the zoning system in my opinion, but rather deals with
differences in amounts of source light between objects. E.g. the skin colors and clothes of the
people in the silhouettes-example may be in the same tonal zone as the brick walls of the
houses outside, but what matters more here is that the people are in the shadow and the
houses are in sunlight.
So you are dealing with 2 issues here: dynamic range in terms of source light AND reflectance
behaviour of different colors.
Thought that might be useful to say.

Andreas
Zonal > Andreas • 2 years ago

I'd simply say that the zone system means that you meter from anything in the scene
based on tonality (zone) and you get an exposure where everything under the same light
condition falls into place (=is correctly exposed).
So yes, in the silhouette photo you have to choose between the outside and inside
scene as both are under different light conditions and therefore you choose to either
meter from someone's jumper inside and get a correct exposure for everything inside or
you meter from the sky outside and get correct exposure for everything outside.
But that's the whole point of metering... getting correct exposure in certain light
conditions, isn't it?
Lloyd Ettinger • 6 years ago

At last - someone that really understands the zone system. I can't tell you how many people
have just not grasped exposure meters and what they are measureing.
Example (from an expert!) if the shot has a white background then take a "reading from the
subject".
if the shot has a a dark backround still "take a reading from the subject"
So - a Bride in a white dress !! against either of these two examples still produces under
exposure
Its not explained that you have to know which zone you are taking a reading from. ( white dress
zone V1)
meter reads zone V (mid grey) increase expose 1 stop from white dress reading (easy peasy)
This is an very good article indeed and explains it very well..

Hans • 3 years ago

Regarding the last picture, the flowers and the sun, there is a way to get details in the highlights
and the shadows at the same time. The method used is developed by Guy Gowan and gives
you an extensive control of the tonal range and contrast. I have used this method on the jpg
posted on the site and got a relative good result. When this method is used on the raw image
file the result gets much and much better because the raw file has more information stored in
the file. It is possible to create HDR images from one single shot without making compromises
to the highlight or shadows. just Google Guy Gowan to learn more about this method. For me it
became one of the standard workflows in processing my images.
⛺
Theingar Tun > Hans • 8 months ago

I know 11 zone
I know 11 zone
bugsy • 4 years ago

Hi, are you still accepting questions? ;) We know white skin is around 1.5 stops above middle
grey yes? So we apply exposure compensation in this event of +1.5. Now what if that same
person steps into dark shade? I take it we no longer apply the +1.5 stops? Because essentially
the subject has dark skin now?
jaime_arg > bugsy • 3 years ago

That is true if you want that person to look as dark as you see them in the final picture.
So if you're in shade or indoors and you see their (usually white) skin dark or brown you
should measure and then underexpose a couple of stops so that they look dark. I don't
know how many stops exactly but I'm guessing around 2.
Mountain Man • 5 years ago

Thank you for this article. It's clearly written and very informative.
lol • 5 years ago

"If my lips were made of Skittles, would you taste the rainbow?"-lol
Marcio • 7 years ago

Congrat's Diana. I folow all your twet's and post's of your site, you do an awsome work that i
admire a lot.I'll try to pratice more with this tip's
I live in Brasil. Santa Catarina state.
PS: Sorry about my poor english, i hope make me understand !
Marcio
STUDIO FRANKE
photographias
Diana Eftaiha > Marcio • 7 years ago

thank you very much Marcio for the sweet words. im really flattered you like my work.
please do keep me updated with your work =)
Laurence Everitt • 4 months ago

A very informative article and it has helped me a lot, but if you introduce flash into the equation
(double exposure) does it still work.
Jo • a year ago
Thanks for this article, really helpful ! :)
Thanks for this article, really helpful ! :)
Olly Bian • a year ago

Awesome article and a straight-forward execution.
One question, with cameras that have a greater DR than 5 stops. Often averaging beyond 10.
Would you keep the division in this zone system as (Black, Shadow, Mid, Highlight, White) and
essentially multiply each stop change by a factor of 2?
A Filmer • 2 years ago

thanks for the lesson,what a way for doing shots and lighting and a lot of stuff.
Michele • 2 years ago

Useful article Diana, thank you. Regarding the above photo with the boat and fog, when you
state "Take your reading off the bright fog, place it into zone VII, recompose and take the shot",
do you mean simply meter off the fog using, for example, spot metering, and ensure that the
exposure reading on your camera's meter for the fog is exactly two stops above 0 / 18% grey /
average exposure and therefore, within Ansel Adams' Zone VII? If so, a) does this mean the fog
will have an exposure of two stops above zero in your image (with detail preserved) and b)
which parts of the image would then have an average exposure and be within Zone V?
Nadsy • 3 years ago

Great article Thank you. PLus reading all teh comments helped also. I was stumped on a few
things till i went through it asll a couple of times :)
Dave Bennett • 3 years ago

Thank you for posting on such a complicated subject. After rereading your article I have a
greater understanding of the zone system. Zones in black and white are relatively straight
forward, but colour is always trickier to visualize. Labeling the Zone systems in your examples
was extremely beneficial in the clarification of the zones in colour.
I've linked to your article with hopes it will help others as well.
Dave
leslie_nicole • 5 years ago

Very nice article! I learned the zone system back doing traditional B&W photography. To be
honest, I hadn't completely stopped to think about how to transfer that to color digital, although I
have been guided by the basic principals. Definitely sharing this tut.
JoanieGranola • 5 years ago

My husband and I recently attended an RMSP workshop on the digital zone photography and it
took me a while to get it. I recently began my search for "digital zone" to complement the
workshop and this article hit the nail on the head. It reinforces what I learned in 2 hours. I'm still
a little confused on how to "see" the zones but I'm sure that will come in time Good article
a little confused on how to see the zones, but I m sure that will come in time. Good article.
raffy • 5 years ago

nice, a bit confused~, so if lets says its really bright outside,. and im gonna take a pic of a cloud
or a zone VI subject, if I know its zone VI, ill just +1 using the exposure compensation dial right?
well thats what I understood with the zone system, determine if the scene would be from
average zone 3~7 , then if its like zone 3 for me, I will -2 my exposure compensation right?
please tell me if I get this right, i've read that when you point at a dark image (say zone 3) the
cam will overexpose it to make it 18% gray(+2) ,so itll up the exposure a bit, making it
overexposed, then, Ill contradict that auto metering (which will make the zone 3 overexposed)
and underexpose it by 2 right?
thanks, im just new

iwannaapple > raffy • 2 years ago

no, all pictures no matter the color render 18% grey. Try this taking pictures of various
shades of gray, black and white paper without anything else in the frame. The results will
all be the same. To compensate for darker colors the camera must be fooled by
underexposing for darker colors and overexposing for brighter colors. 18% gray - no
compensation needed.
nico • 5 years ago

I read this article a while ago and seemed very interesting but I didn't really grasp the concept of
the zones and how I had to expose my shots using this technique. I just reread it today and it
suddenly made sense.
I'll try to give a small example for some people who are still confused. Anyone has encountered
a situation where you're face to face with this beautiful scenery but don't know how or on what
you should expose your picture. Let's say that the brightest part of your picture is the sky with a
value VII because it is so bright. If you would expose correctly for the sky, meaning you're
adjusting your ISO or shutterspeed or aperture as to get that little arrow in the middle of the
line(on the zero) with the numbers
(like this -> -2..-1..Ô..1..2 ). You sky would, as mentioned before, be exposed correctly but all
the rest would be too dark. Since your sky is a value of VII (7) and you want to expose for your
midtones (5) you would, if i'm not mistaken, drop your exposure from two F-stops.
Now your picture should be correctly exposed and your sky wouldn't be blown out. Some parts
might be a bit underexposed. However as the article mentioned it, it's frequently not as
bothering as blown out highlights.
Yonathan • 5 years ago

I still don't get it! Do I need to point with my camera at multiple points in my picture and set
avery one of them the exposure or I pick one and let the camera do the rest?! Please answer
me ASAP I'm very curious!
James Burke > Yonathan • 5 years ago

You don't necessarily need to aim at many points in the scene, but you can if you want
to.
Think of it like this. You aim your camera at some scene. There are many objects in the
scene and many of them have different brightness levels. Some of them may be too dark
and some of them may be too light - if you take a reading from the darkest object, then
take a reading from the lightest object, you will get an average exposure that MAY be
OK, but may not fit your vision of the photograph.
For example, if the lightest object is a lit light bulb and the darkest is a black sheet of
paper, your exposure is going to be really whacky. What if in the same scene, there is a
white skinned child and that child is what you want as your photo's subject.
According to Ansel Adams, the inventor of the zone system, many white skinned people
fall into zone 6 - that is, if you were to take a b&w photo of an 18% grey card at perfect
exposure, white people's skin would be one stop (one zone) lighter than the 18% card.
Remember, Zone 5 is 18% grey, neutral. So, you'd meter off the child's skin and bump
up the exposure one stop to get his skin a little lighter into Zone 6.
If you just read the child's skin and shoot at the default exposure the meter gives you, it
may appear a little under exposed, or it may not have its full potential of tones/colors. It
will probably look OK, but the Zone system is an approach to make things better than
just OK.
But let's say that you have a similar scene, but this time, in the background, you have
some light puffy clouds that you want to include without blowing the highlights
completely. Now you need to consider in which zone the child's skin is going to be.
If you take a reading of ONLY the clouds and then take a shot of the child with the
clouds in the BG, the clouds will be exposed as if they are 18% grey - technically well
exposed but the child's skin may not look correct anymore. So you need to bump the
clouds up into zone 7 (add 2 stops of exposure) and take the shot.
With digital we have the benefit of seeing the immediate results of our shot so we can
check if the child's skin is light or dark enough for our preference.
Lee Slaymaker • 5 years ago

A quick question: i get the principle you have laid out in the article but would like clarification on
one point. When you say to make sure not to clip the highlights would you therefore not just find
the brightest aspect of most, if not all, images and put it in to Zone VII? So instead of measuring
for correct average exposure you would be exposing for the brightest part of the image, no?
João Romano > Lee Slaymaker • 3 years ago

Maybe you already know this, but if you have a stark contrast, but your highlights are a
very small portion of your picture it may be not a good idea. You might end with a picture
way too dark in key areas of the frame. Sometimes evaluating may be tricky.
Dwarak • 5 years ago

I thought the zone system was quiet complex listening to few people talk about it I guess
applying it will take some experience. Thanks for the article.
RW • 6 years ago
Great article and i do understand most of it, ie placing each colour into a Zone, BUT, for
examoke in the photograph of the road lined by trees and blue skies, which zone do you take
the reading from? The same on the dock photo? how do you decide which zone to read from?
iwannaapple > RW • 2 years ago

I came back to answer this again. I said brighter colors simply because they are easier
to see. But however, if there is something in the frame that translates to 18% gray use
that for exposure. Then all the rest of the colors will fall into the correct exposure. For an
example, A scene with black colors, red colors and a little gray that you think translates
to 18% gray. Take your exposure off of that and recompose the shot. No adjustments
needed. On the other hand if the exposure reading was taken from the black color, the
normal exposure reading from your camera will actually translate to 18% gray which also
shifts the rest of the colors and that you don't want. Close the aperature down by up to
two stops, recompose the shot and the rest of the colors will fall back into place. In short,
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Understanding &amp; Using Ansel Adam&#39;s Zone System

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4/4/2018 Understanding & Using Ansel Adam's Zone System

PHOTO & VIDEO > METERING

Understanding & Using Ansel Adam's Zone

This post is part of a series called Ready, Set, Exposure.

 Light & Photography: Exposure and Tonal Range Considerations

 Mastering Exposure and Flash Compensation

Bene ts of Utilizing the Zone System

The Zone System's Key Concepts

Placing Different Color Tones in Different Zones

In digital photography, a generally correct exposure (technically speaking) of an average

Photo by Samy Lamouti dzpixel

Photo by Claudio Alejandro Mufarrege

Photo by Ben Fredericson

grass to the left of the frame is average re ectance, so it is placed in zone V.

Photo by Jon Hurd

Portrait Photography and the Zone System

Photo by Mr. Theklan

Photo by Fabio Gismondi

Photo by Rajiv Ashra

recomposed to preserve all image details.

Evaluating High Dynamic Range Scenes

Photo by Evan Leeson

Photo by Gwenael Piaser

Photo by Jamie Hladky

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61 Comments Tuts+ Photography 

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Diana Eftaiha > dj • 7 years ago

Diana Eftaiha > Diana Eftaiha • 7 years ago

Jonno Royston > Diana Eftaiha • 5 years ago

Low Teik Leong > Diana Eftaiha • 6 years ago

I'm using a Canon 60D with a 24 - 70 mm f2.8L lens.

Randell > Low Teik Leong • 5 years ago

Jeffrey L. > Low Teik Leong • a year ago

shakty > Low Teik Leong • 4 years ago

7 > dj • 7 years ago

shakty > dj • 4 years ago

Dave • 6 years ago

Andreas • 6 years ago

Thought that might be useful to say.

Zonal > Andreas • 2 years ago

Lloyd Ettinger • 6 years ago

This is an very good article indeed and explains it very well..

Hans • 3 years ago

Theingar Tun > Hans • 8 months ago

bugsy • 4 years ago

jaime_arg > bugsy • 3 years ago

Mountain Man • 5 years ago

lol • 5 years ago

Marcio • 7 years ago

PS: Sorry about my poor english, i hope make me understand !

Diana Eftaiha > Marcio • 7 years ago

Laurence Everitt • 4 months ago

Olly Bian • a year ago

A Filmer • 2 years ago

Michele • 2 years ago

Nadsy • 3 years ago

Dave Bennett • 3 years ago

leslie_nicole • 5 years ago

JoanieGranola • 5 years ago

raffy • 5 years ago

thanks, im just new

Understanding & Using Ansel Adam's Zone System

Understanding & Using Ansel Adam's Zone System