Activity: Identify the 11 Values in a Print

Purpose:

• To introduce you to the Zone System
• Practice identifying the 11 Zones

Procedure:

• Select a full-scale photograph you have printed (a work print is fine)
• Identify the 11 Zones with a permanent marker (possible only with a full-scale print) If you find you cannot identify all the zones, please include those you can find. Write the zone number on the margins of the photograph and draw arrows to the areas of the photograph that match the tone for that zone.

What is the Zone System?

"The Zone System is a photographic technique for determining optimal film exposure and development, formulated by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer in 1941. The Zone System provides photographers with a systematic method of precisely defining the relationship between the way they visualize the photographic subject and the final results." This definition comes directly from Wikipedia and includes more information.

Zone Descriptions

0    Pure black
I     Near black, with slight tonality but no texture
II    Textured black; the darkest part of the image in which slight detail is recorded
III   Average dark materials and low values showing adequate texture
IV   Average dark foliage, dark stone, or landscape shadows
V    Middle gray: clear north sky; dark stone, average weathered wood
VI   Average Caucasian skin; light stone; shadows on snow in sunlit landscapes
VII  Very light skin; shadows in snow with acute side lighting
VIII Lightest tone with texture: textured snow
IX   Slight tone without texture; glaring snow
X    Pure white: light sources and specular reflections

The example below is not true to zone values, only a guide to marking on your photograph.