Understanding Exposure:ZONE SYSTEM

[szichri]

---

Just in case you're wondering what's middle gray, these are in Zone 5:

Zone 5 or exposure indicator at 0

- Light blue, red, orange
- Average blue sky, red brick walls
- Slightly darker grass, deciduous (broadleaf) leaves
- Colors of sunsets and sunrises
- Skin tones of Latin, Greek, Indian, and Asian

Zone 6 or exposure indicator at 1 (usually 0.5 to 1.5)

- Pastel colors: Pink, yellow, very light red, green purple, blue
- lighter tone flowers
- light blue sky
- lighter colors of sunsets and sunrises
- average Caucasian skin, palm of hand

Zone 4 or exposure indicator at -1 (usually -.5 to -1.5)

- deep blues, greens, or brown
- dark green foliage and evergreen needles
- dark tree trunks
- deep blue sky
- fairly dark skin

As a photographer and hopefully as an artist, you should not be bound by these "rules". You can overexpose or underexpose your shots. The point is you know why.

It took me months to understand the Zone System (reading about it is easy but to actually go out there and meter off different colors is another). But let me tell you this, just like driving a car, it will be second nature if you do it every time. After that, you'd thank Ansel Adams and know why every photographer revere him so.

Good luck bro and happy shooting.

Carlo, question... as the light changes mausab ba sad ang zoning/zone numbering? wala pa gyud kaayo ko grasp sa concept aning zone system gud(although naa ko copy sa *****cafe dibidi about zone system which was explained beautifully, pero i got bored and didn't finish it)

thanks...

[noelie_023]

nope... kay in manual mode you control your exposure and not the camera... pero gamit sad na siya nga button when you use AF-C or continuous focusing imo gamiton instead of AF-S or AF-A... just hold it to lock your focus on that particular subject/object... and please drop the master as i've told you before...

hehe ahh mao diay na.. ala man ko hilabot ana sa menu wui. kay wala ko kasabot bro szichri. hehe sory kailmot ko. hehe.. kato ei hold aktong focus lock na button??

[noelie_023]

Just in case you're wondering what's middle gray, these are in Zone 5:

Zone 5 or exposure indicator at 0

- Light blue, red, orange
- Average blue sky, red brick walls
- Slightly darker grass, deciduous (broadleaf) leaves
- Colors of sunsets and sunrises
- Skin tones of Latin, Greek, Indian, and Asian

Zone 6 or exposure indicator at 1 (usually 0.5 to 1.5)

- Pastel colors: Pink, yellow, very light red, green purple, blue
- lighter tone flowers
- light blue sky
- lighter colors of sunsets and sunrises
- average Caucasian skin, palm of hand

Zone 4 or exposure indicator at -1 (usually -.5 to -1.5)

- deep blues, greens, or brown
- dark green foliage and evergreen needles
- dark tree trunks
- deep blue sky
- fairly dark skin

As a photographer and hopefully as an artist, you should not be bound by these "rules". You can overexpose or underexpose your shots. The point is you know why.

It took me months to understand the Zone System (reading about it is easy but to actually go out there and meter off different colors is another). But let me tell you this, just like driving a car, it will be second nature if you do it every time. After that, you'd thank Ansel Adams and know why every photographer revere him so.

Good luck bro and happy shooting.

one question.. hmm asa dapat dyud ei meter diay?? hmm sa eyes, skin sa hair?? asa dyud diay??

[slycry]

use the AE-L/AF-L para dili mausab ang metering when u use focus and recompose that is the reason why naa na siya nga button sa imo cam... to lock your metering/focus...
it is usually useful when using Aperture mode or Shutter mode... HTH

excuse me sir, mo lock ghapon na wen using manual mode?

[szichri]

excuse me sir, mo lock ghapon na wen using manual mode?

nope... kay in manual mode you control your exposure and not the camera(although it will still lock your meter reading) pero way gamit kay ikaw man guihapon mag control sa imo exposure(shutter and aperture)...

pero gamit sad na siya nga button when you use AF-C or continuous focusing imo gamiton instead of AF-S or AF-A... just hold it to lock your focus on that particular subject/object...

[uyarchie]

i boought a book about the Zone System a few years back and I gave it away..cause i felt like its a good book and it really helps a photographer. After reading it my eyes functions like a spot meter. haha, although i dont use spot meter always.

but really, kato chart mao nato imo basihan. mag -2 black no details, -1 black w/ details, 0 grey (neutral), +1 white w/ details, +2 white w/o details, etc. nya if dika sure, convert it to B&W using your imagination..hints green grass, blue sky and asian skin is "0"

whats important is you meter for your subject so if your subject is black, meter for the black area (use spot meter if available or ipaduol imo cam sa area and get the value. then dial -2 on your camera (manual ni) then ayaw na hilabti ang settings nya recompose. usually everything will follow. bahala nanang highlight masunog or etc. as long as you got your subject correctly exposed. im not sure i explained that well kai nag tungab ko ug superior. haha

but if you reserach about it, im surre youll find easier to understand nga explanations. try youtube.

it really helps me as a photographer. and youll be spending lesser time in front of the computer correcting for expsures beyond -2 and +2 values thats really really impossible to bring up good details.

to sum up, expose for your subject using the zone system. and dont forget to thank ansel adams for the zone system. hahahahha. go pips. expose well.

[uyarchie]

haha i wasnt reading the rest of the thread. nana diay mga clues on what to apply nga value on common nga examples... so there.... best teacher is to keep shooting.

[cmontoya]

Carlo, question... as the light changes mausab ba sad ang zoning/zone numbering? wala pa gyud kaayo ko grasp sa concept aning zone system gud(although naa ko copy sa *****cafe dibidi about zone system which was explained beautifully, pero i got bored and didn't finish it)

thanks...

Fafa szichri, you must be reading my mind. I forgot to mention that yes, when the light changes, expose for the reflected light. For example, your skin tone is at 0.5 (ay mestizo, he he) but just in case you eat in a candlelit restaurant, your skin tone is no longer 0.5 but darker. Same for shooting Spanish-Filipinas in low-lit restobars. They're no longer at +1 but possibly even at -1 or -1.5. Of course, I'm assuming the photographer would be going after 'natural looking' photos as in he or she wants to show what a low lit restobar looks like.

Yup, that's where I learned the Zone System. I still have a copy so I can watch it from time to time. I watched it 2x already I didn't watch it straight para dili ko ma-bored.

[cmontoya]

one question.. hmm asa dapat dyud ei meter diay?? hmm sa eyes, skin sa hair?? asa dyud diay??

It depends. Since your examples above are parts of the human body, then when shooting humans, meter off the skin. If shooting at animals, meter off their dominant color if they're multi-colored like a peacock. If shooting at trees or green plants, meter off the green leaves. If flowers, dominant color or maybe the color you want to pop out.

Personally, I just meter off once but when I change position or the light changes, I re-meter. For example, if I photowalk, the exposure of a newspaper peddler under the sun is different from when he is in the shade. Photographers with advanced DLSRs can pre-program exposures and just select them with a button (I think). However, I only have a 450D so I need to re-meter often. This means I usually lose a few seconds or so and may miss important shots but heck I'm just a hobbyist so I don't really care if I do.

[cmontoya]

(OT) Fafa szich: Although I know about Zone System, it seems I'm unable to use it when I use flash. We had a two-day in-house convention at our office and nobody volunteered to be the photographer so I was it. Aris lent me his flash but it was my first time to use it. Although I know the principles of bounce flash, in practice it's really hard. Most of my photos are 'burned' (puti kaayo). I have yet to marry the Zone System with flash techniques. He he he. It seems you and fafa dj_dark already know a lot about flashes and I'm wondering if you are planning an advanced workshop on using them, maybe a one-day seminar/workshop about on-cam flash techniques?