Using Zones for Black and White Photography: Exploring Photography with Mark Wallace: AdoramaTV

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Learn how to use zones of light to convert color photographs to stunning, high contrast, black and white images. In this episode Mark Wallace explains his abbreviated version of Ansel Adam’s Zone System. Mark explains the five zones of exposure and demonstrates how to manipulate them using Lightroom 5.

Related Products:

Canon EOS-5D Mark III Digital SLR Camera Body

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L II

Adobe Lightroom 5

Apple MacBook Pro 13” i7 2.8GHz 8GB RAM, 512 Flash Storage

BlackRapid Classic (RS-4) Strap Ballistic Nylon Camera Strap, Black

Mark’s Previous Episodes:

How Color Influences B&W Photography: Ep 232: Digital Photography 1 on 1: Adorama Photography TV

50 Shades of Black: Ep 133: Exploring Photography with Mark Wallace

Getting it Right in Camera: Ep 235: Digital Photography 1 on 1: Adorama Photography TV

Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 67: Lighting for Black and White Photography

Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 41: Dynamic Range: Adorama Photography TV

Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 33: Histograms: Adorama Photography TV

Digital Photography 1 on 1: Episode 24: Understanding Stops: Adorama Photography TV

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39 Comments
  1. Ray C says

    Hmmmm, what about calibrated development times to achieve N-2, N-1, N, N+1 and N+2 ranges in the negative?

  2. Lift_Heavyy Gaming says

    Hey everyone have recently started up my instagram black and white profile I was hoping you guys would check out the page and let me know what you think ? @Cu3llo_andy ..

  3. Richard Lynch says

    too much clipping!

  4. Stan Prendergast says

    This is so great

  5. Chris Foong says

    With the Lumix GX9 I bought recently, I just shoot in L Monochrome D for B&W and RAW (in case I needed colour later). Very easy.

  6. mhs vz says

    Thank you.

  7. dipbhattacharya says

    12:59 – where can I find this option in photoshop cc ? can anyone give me the path ?

  8. Snowman says

    the rolling advertisements in these videos is painfully annoying. Click here, buy this. Sigh.

  9. shadowmihaiu says

    Nice discussion but… really?? Your "abbreviated zone system" is the standard system built into photo editors?

  10. Arijit Biswas says

    Nice.

  11. Cyrille says

    I've seen (a lot !) of videos on editing photography and this one is def in my top five. Thanks for those awesome tips ! I'll never look at a locker the same way again 😊🙏🌈

  12. Laís says

    Awesome! Thank you!!!

  13. Harsh Nama says

    Very useful video. Thank you 🙏

  14. CFS GR.MURUGAN says

    its may very advanced tutorial in the aspect of black and white photos

  15. Sergio Sotomayor Prat says

    Mark, I have very good experience with your videos and your cognitive quality, so I venture to consult you if you have a workflow suggestion for me to try to replicate the content of this video in Photoshop exclusively (without resorting to Camera Raw, whose operations are similar to Lightroom)

  16. Ilja Schoenheinz says

    But is sitting infront of a PC still photography? Just my opinion…

  17. broken rohit says

    Excellent tips, just entering in black and white photography.

  18. Sumit Aggarwal says

    Can you use this for color images?

  19. Kobe Harris says

    I just had flashbacks from when I went to Photo school in Daytona Beach Photography School.  We had to study The Zone System for 6 Mos. but of course when I went there we had to shoot using 4×5 view cameras

  20. Kobe Harris says

    this is cool

  21. MacClellandMan says

    I am glad to hear others applying the principals of Zone System to digital photography. The Zone System Ansel Adams explained was not about getting high contrast images. It was about control in order to serve creativity and to be able to anticipate how tools, light, film, paper, chemicals, temperature, and time could be manipulated to bring into the concrete what begins in the imagination. Adams wanted to take the guess work out photography. If he wanted to reduce contrast, hold shadow or highlight detail, etc., he used his system. He was brilliant technically as he was creatively.

  22. Sam Barnett says

    Awesome video! So much knowledge.

  23. Mark M says

    Adams' original prints were not very high contrast. Most of the high contrast stuff of his that you see now were reprinted by him in the 1960s and 1970s. He chose more contrast as he got older.

  24. Jim Blackie says

    This just transformed my B&W work from mediocre to outstanding. I can't thank you enough for helping me understand tones and the zone hack you devised!

  25. Chakib Abi-saab says

    Thank you for this video.. Brilliant. I am really going to practice this technique from now on.

  26. Ayke Gaze says

    Very interesting topic. Bravo

  27. coyote7106 says

    Thank you fot this video. It is what I really needed to go further. These are small tips extremely important end usefull but one cannot find easily and quickly alone.

  28. Chet Bowman says

    Great video, well explained and demonstrated. Very practical

  29. F.G. Kaye says

    In Truth, your 5 Zone system is best explained as the " Color Zone System ",

    Re-Invented by Sinar's own Hans Karl Koch… It became known as the Zone System

    for exposing Transparency Film, explained in Sinar's Bulletin # 40, ( I think it was 40 ).

    Unfortunately OOP, but the histograms on the backs of digital cameras were similar

    to the film H&D curves used to expose film.

  30. FrankATracy says

    For anyone looking for a great (in camera) B&W app for their iPhone or iPad, check out Hueless. You actually see the image as B&W as you take it. No conversion necessary.

  31. Mark Harris says

    I really like the photograph of the lock, that's the sort of shot I prefer to do on film.

  32. Dax Heke says

    Very interesting, thx

  33. EJAZ AHMED DARS says

    hello sir, how to make dslr pictures look like film??
    thank you.

  34. Gema Jimenez says

    where is the image of the old run down house for sale in spanish from? It looks incredibly familiar!

  35. Long Sha says

    Great skills. but to be honest, I don't think the super contrasty image is better than the original plain BW version.

  36. Kyle Cullen says

    I just re-edited my last shoot which I did black and white. I was feeling a bit deflated about my first edits but after watching this video I like my shots again. Thanks a lot for the great tips 🙂

  37. aidan mcknight says

    Thanks for this…fantastic

  38. eph elle says

    o_O

  39. Erin Golloher says

    Just seeing this now, and I am LOVING all the tips! Makes so much sense and I'm putting it to use as we speak!

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