The Zone System
The Zone System is a way to measure the tonal range in an image. It's important to note this is the tonal range in the print rather than the negative.
Recorded in roman numerals, the system runs along from 0 to X, 0 being completely black and X being pure white.
Zone I : first tonal appearance in the blacks
Zone II : first shadow detail in the blacks
Zone III : full shadow before detail
Zone IV, V, VI : Mid tones
Zone VII : Light area has mid detail
Zone VIII: The light part of the print has light detail
Zone IX: Mostly grey, no detail
Place and Fall
when you take a light meter reading, it reads the light as a mid grey. So if you take a reading from a highlighted area, it still thinks you're taking a reading from the mid grey in the image. So if you took the photos on the settings it tells you to at this point, everything will be over exposed, as the mid grey is no longer at V, but maybe VIII. This then moves the zone of the shadows up, because the whole image has been shifted along the zone system. So the shadows now may be in the mid grey point. This results in depth being lost and the image being too bright.
Place and Fall would be the opposite of this, but in a more controlled manner.
It's when you take a light meter reading from the shadows, which will expose them as the mid grey of the image. Then, you stop down by changing the aperture to a larger number (smaller hole) the certain amount of stops you want the shadows to be. For example, you've exposed for the mid grey, but you want them to be at zone III in order for them to have good amount of depth. The step between each zone is a singular stop. So to get from zone V to III you'd have to stop down 2 stops. If your light meter reading said, say f16 at 1/500 for the shadows, you'd go down two full stops and set the camera to f32, 1/500 second (or change the shutter to equally go down two stops)
The shadows are now exposed to have good depth but are still reading as the mid grey for the image. This means highlights will be darker than if you were to read from a normal mid grey area in the image. So now you can take a light meter reading of the most highlighted areas of your image, often being the sky.
If your sky now reads at f32, 1/2000 second, you can work out the number of stops between your stopped down measurement (f32, 1/500). in this case, it's 5 stops. this means the highlights will appear five stops above where you've placed your mid grey (Zone III). This means they'll fall into zone VIII.
If you're happy with the highlights there then you can shoot and develop as is. However, if you want your highlights to be more under or over exposed this can be done during development.
Development changes usually affect the highlights far more than the shadows, so we expose for the shadows and fix the highlights later on;
N = normal development
N-1 = 1 minute off development time to bring down the highlights
N+1 = 1 minute and a half (roughly) added to development time to bring the highlights up and have more tonal range and textures in the mid tones.
Recorded in roman numerals, the system runs along from 0 to X, 0 being completely black and X being pure white.
Zone I : first tonal appearance in the blacks
Zone II : first shadow detail in the blacks
Zone III : full shadow before detail
Zone IV, V, VI : Mid tones
Zone VII : Light area has mid detail
Zone VIII: The light part of the print has light detail
Zone IX: Mostly grey, no detail
Place and Fall
when you take a light meter reading, it reads the light as a mid grey. So if you take a reading from a highlighted area, it still thinks you're taking a reading from the mid grey in the image. So if you took the photos on the settings it tells you to at this point, everything will be over exposed, as the mid grey is no longer at V, but maybe VIII. This then moves the zone of the shadows up, because the whole image has been shifted along the zone system. So the shadows now may be in the mid grey point. This results in depth being lost and the image being too bright.
Place and Fall would be the opposite of this, but in a more controlled manner.
It's when you take a light meter reading from the shadows, which will expose them as the mid grey of the image. Then, you stop down by changing the aperture to a larger number (smaller hole) the certain amount of stops you want the shadows to be. For example, you've exposed for the mid grey, but you want them to be at zone III in order for them to have good amount of depth. The step between each zone is a singular stop. So to get from zone V to III you'd have to stop down 2 stops. If your light meter reading said, say f16 at 1/500 for the shadows, you'd go down two full stops and set the camera to f32, 1/500 second (or change the shutter to equally go down two stops)
The shadows are now exposed to have good depth but are still reading as the mid grey for the image. This means highlights will be darker than if you were to read from a normal mid grey area in the image. So now you can take a light meter reading of the most highlighted areas of your image, often being the sky.
If your sky now reads at f32, 1/2000 second, you can work out the number of stops between your stopped down measurement (f32, 1/500). in this case, it's 5 stops. this means the highlights will appear five stops above where you've placed your mid grey (Zone III). This means they'll fall into zone VIII.
If you're happy with the highlights there then you can shoot and develop as is. However, if you want your highlights to be more under or over exposed this can be done during development.
Development changes usually affect the highlights far more than the shadows, so we expose for the shadows and fix the highlights later on;
N = normal development
N-1 = 1 minute off development time to bring down the highlights
N+1 = 1 minute and a half (roughly) added to development time to bring the highlights up and have more tonal range and textures in the mid tones.
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