Re: Sunny 16 + Incident Eric G. (digest 1598)

[P3D Eric Goldstein <egoldste@xxxxxx>]

Bob Howard wrote of Adams and the Zone System:

> sheet film with the zone system WHICH REQUIRES DEVELOPMENT OFFSETS OF
> EACH FRAME +N, -N and N for normal. This is not practical for roll film,

My understanding of the Adam's writings and the zone system (which is
BTW only one of many ways to deal the mechanics of exposure, Dean
Collins' color system is based largely on Adams' work) is that N+ or N-
development is for realtively special circumstances where one chooses to
expand or compress contrast with relation to the film, not merely place
it. From my interpretations of his writings, this was not an something
he did all or even most of the time.

I'd also point out that he was a Hasselblad and a Contax shooter, though
clearly his cameras of choice were those back-breaking view cameras he
lugged everywhere (and thank goodness he did!). So shot by shot
development variation is not essential to zone work.

> Adams is
> a master print manipulator..which in B&W is the control of Eric's
> beloved masses and tones. 

If you've ever seen my work, it's more like messes and toil! 8)

Though Adams certainly was the master printer, he placed _tremendous_
emphasis on the measurement of reflectance, the analysis of contrast,
and then proper placement through exposure. Development was for altering
contrast under more unusual circumstances, and printing was for
correcting visualization/measurement errors in the first two steps (a
bit exaggerated but not much)!

> So lets say the Sunny 16 rule is just great
> for our stereo slides used in viewers or projectors. For b&w prints on
> stereo cards get a meter :-).

While the overwhelming majority of Adam's life work dealt with B/W, his
observations concerning reflectance, it's measurement, and how it
relates the the contrast ranges of photographic materials is I think
quite relevant to the proper exposure of slide film. In a world where
deep black clothing reflects 3-4% of incident light, and white white
sands up to 96-97%, do we compensate? If so, how do we know how much?
How do we deal with yellow sand beaches versus white sand beaches versus
snow scenes?



Eric G.


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