The Digital Zone System: Taking Control from Capture to Print

In spite of what the title says, this book is about luminance masks not the zone system. The author provides a set of Photoshop actions to generate a set of masks that cover the various zones of the zone system. In keeping with the ideas of the zone system the masks are separated by a factor of 2 in exposure. The masks area combined with adjustment layers in Photoshop to fine tune an image by confining the effect of the adjustment to a limited area.The author provides a nice color image showing the advantages of using the masks. The demonstration would have had more instructional value if the author had provided the same same kind of detailed descriptions that are used in Oz to Kansas.The color chapter is followed by a chapter on black and white conversions. The best part about this chapter is the discussion of the importance of color in the black and white conversion. This is a valuable discussion. The color image used in the color chapter is used to demonstrate the author's black and white conversion method. This is followed by a second demonstration using red peppers. Then a comparison between the zone system system conversion and a Lightroom conversion.One drawback to the demonstrations is that the author doesn't provide sample images that you can use to follow along.The black and white discussion is followed by a discussion about using the digital zone system in high dynamic range (HDR) applications. I don't know enough about HDR to comment on this chapter.The book concludes with a discussion of printing and the importance of soft proofing and color management. This is a clear and useful discussion.This is one of the few books where the screen shoots showing layers/etc. are printed large enough to read. The reproduction of the the photos is good. I know some reviewers disagree with me here so I just rechecked to see if my memory was right.I've had the book for several months (since the first of March 2013) and have used the techniques on several images. Some of the images showed slight (but worthwhile) improvement in print and others didn't benefit. I did not find that the black and white conversion method offered improvement over other methods that I used--Lightroom conversion, Photoshop black and white adjustment layer, or Silver Efex 6 Pro.If you're looking for a way to get the last bit of image quality from some of your color images, you can benefit from the book. You probably won't use it on all your images, but you can get noticeable improvement in print on some images. The effort to learn to use the digital zone system is worth it--especially if you're interested in printing your images. If all you want is to display your images on the web, you probably won't see any significant benefit.The first part of the book is devoted to a brief discussion of the zone system and really doesn't add anything to the book. Those pages would have been better used by providing more examples with detailed discussion of the changes made to the image to get the final result--see From Oz to Kansas for examples of this.As I look that the book again and the prints I've made using the system, I think that 3 stars might be a little low but four stars is too high. So I'll suggest that my real rating is 3 1/2 stars. Worth buying and spending the time to learn how to apply the information, but not an essential book.

This book does not help you with applying the zone system while shooting in color, nor while post processing color images.The zone system means knowing which colors fall into which zones. This first step is crucial as it informs all the next steps, but the book doesn't explain this at all.Then the zone system helps us understand what the camera does, when we spot meter off a color (the book does explain that it makes it a zone 5, and explains that whites will be underexposed by 2 stops so we have to overexpose by 2 stops, and the opposite is true for blacks. But no word on what it does to the rest of the colors.)Then the zone system explains that we have the option of remapping the colors before we take the shot, if we want to go brighter or darker for artistic purposes (the book doesn't mention this at all).Lastly, the zone system helps in determining the post processing we want: do we want "correct" tones, or "artistically correct" tones? (again the book doesn't explain this at all).In a nutshell for those unfamiliar with the zone system: it is very helpful in determining correct exposure and artistically correct exposure while shooting and while post processing. Btw, it will by its own not help if the dynamic range of the scene exceeds the dynamic range of your camera.What this book brings to the table is a very thorough explanation on printing, and luminosity masks so that the 10 zones can easily be separated in order to be manipulated separately in PhotoShop. But manipulated into what? Into whatever we want, with no guidance by the author. Armed with knowledge of the theory of the zone system this book does give you, you can search the net for "zone system color", there you will find information on which colors fall into which zones. This information is useful, however it is informal, it is an approximation. I bought this book believing that I would learn as exact as possible which colors belong into which zones. I was led to that belief by the picture on the cover showing various step tones next to the color image, and thought that the author would map the colors into their corresponding zones. He didn't.

So many books on the Zone system, most rightfully targeted on black and white sheet film (where each neg can be exposed AND processed individually to optimize the exposure and print); and most giving an extraordinarily complex description of Adams' methods. Applying the zone system to digital isn't as straightforward as one might like, but Fisher does a fine job of showing where exposure technique for BW film and digital color do -- and don't -- overlap. I've purchased (or read samples) of many current books on zone system/digital and concluded that this book provided the best and clearest explanations and guidance. In addition, there are no pages wasted on bare-bones basic stuff like "what is an f-stop," or "1/2 sec at f8 gives the same exposure as 1/4 sec at f5.6" and so on.

For anyone who grew up with the film zone system, this is a good transition starter from film to digital. I personallyliked the book. For anyone who has no background in the film zone system, this book is still a good starter to understandtonality of a print and exposure. For those using Photoshop/Lightroom, this book will give a greater understanding andappreciation for the power of 'curves adjustments.' Additionally, JPEG and RAW is explained without over-complicatedtheory. A good starter book to add to your technical library.

After an initial appraisal of the book, I am not convinced that the technique is as useful for digital photography as the author implies.None of the images within the book have convinced me of the benefits of using this rather complex system. In my opinion, using Photoshop with a number of readily available plug-ins can achieve similar results. I would have liked to have seen much more information in the book, particularly in chapter 5, as I suspect some stages have been missed out, or perhaps more illustrations might have helped.Just owning Photoshop is not enough: unless the reader is an expert in all the detailed workings of Photoshop, I would recommend steering clear of the technique described in this book.Although I am a very keen photographer and an active member of a local camera club, I will not be adopting this technique any time soon.

As a user of the Zone System with film for some 35 years, I found this book extremely interesting. After taking you through the principles it shows you in great detail how to apply those principles to digital photography to give you ultimate control over your images. However, I thought there were a few things missing; for example, I've used a system to determine the true 'speed' of my camera's sensor so that I don't over or under-expose. But having said that, the book is well worth studying.

An easy to understand volume on the subject which is well produced, illustrated and written. Chris Johnson's Focal Press book digs deeper and goes into far more detail but this is an easier read and covers the topic well.

Quality publication

If you want the utmost control over all off your printing and photography read this book.It allows you to fine tune your distributions of frequencies of tones along the ten zone systemmade famous by Ansel. I have added it to my work flow and I am still finding new usesfor this system. I also find it useful to change blending modes and have even inverted specificzones and used blending modes to bring out shadows and detail.