Chapter 8Printing in the Digital Zone System
According to Ansel Adams’ Zone System, printing is yet another area where you can exert control over the finished result. The goal of film exposure and development is to get what Adams called a “printable” negative. That did not necessarily mean a negative that would print well as a straight print. What it meant was a negative that contained the brightness range he wanted to reproduce in the print but left work to be done on the enlarger.
The printable negative Adams ended up with after making exposure and development decisions, if printed straight, would often render a flat, lifeless print. The reason is that the negative itself would have very low contrast. But Adams knew a few things about printing ...
Get The Digital Zone System now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
