Not to get too geeky right off the bat…but let’s talk about the Zone System developed by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer in 1941—a very important concept that will help you to see light, which is the medium you’re working with in photography. Click on the link above and you’ll see that the spectrum goes from pure black (Zone 0) to pure white of the paper being printed on (Zone X). The “Grayscale values” are just another way of saying this: Again 0 is black, 255 is the white of the paper, 128 is gray in between, etc. The idea is to cover most or all of these zones in your final print. Its use helps you to visualize the final photograph with a dynamic range of tones, which really “pops.”

However, more than just a tool for developing and printing (or your digital exposure and Photoshop,) it is a way to really see the light you are writing with, remember that’s the etymology of photo (light) graphy (writing.)

Lesson

Open the scale above, print it and cut it out so you have small card to carry around.

Now start spotting zones even while driving or walking—“that snow is zone X, the dark, dark shade is zone 0, there’s a zone VI!”

We’ll cover the Zone system in more detail, but like the cut out card for framing (see Photowalking if you haven’t yet) it’s a great tool to get used to and play with.