Help with Fred Picker books - evolves to a discussion on Zone System and other matters

Hi all,

Some time ago I ran into a long time retired photography teacher (taught on the high school level in the 70's - 80's).

He mentioned a Fred Picker book he used for his beginning photography students. I can't remember the title and can't get a hold of this gentleman any longer.

Anybody know what the title of this Picker book might be? Which Fred Picker book would be appropriate for new students?

--This teacher was old school and was all about the basics and establishing a solid foundation.

Thanks!

 

Mod Note: this was originally posted in Beginner Forum - now moved to Casual Photo Conversations

Edited November 1, 2018 by William Michael

It might be "Zone VI Workshop." That's the only Fred Picker book that I know of that could be used for teaching a course.

I second the vote for "Zone VI Workshop." It was the textbook for my college course in b&w photography in the 1970s. It revolutionized my photography. When I learned the Zone System, I was finally able to make properly exposed winter photos and proof sheets. And when I bought a cold-light head for my enlarger, I was finally able to make prints whose tonality matched the contacts on my proof sheets. Also, the book is short and quickly gets to the point. Fred Picker was an opinionated writer, but he supports his opinions with good explanations and examples.

Does that Fred Picker book cover custom white balance settings, RAW conversion, interpreting histograms and the technique of expose-to-the-right?

When and when not to use image stabilisation?

The advantages of single versus continuous AF?

How long to wash your SD card after it's been in the developer?

The translation of Fred Picker's exposure and development process to digital techniques is left as an exercise for the student ;-). +1 on Tom's comment on how Fred's approach helped me get it right for B&W film work.

The Zone VI Workshop. A good introduction to the zone system. I lent mine to someone years ago and never got it back. Have always meant to get another one.

Unfortunately, we can no longer post pdf files here since the new interface, so

 

It may be hard to find. but Ansel Adams had a nice short summation of the Zone system in Popular Photography, November, 1981. There is a similar chapter in the Leica Manual

 

Of course, there are the revisions of his Basic Photography books that are well worth reading. There are some differences translating to 'digital' from film, but you don't have to be a photo scientist to figure it out.

 

Here are some comments from The Print

Edited October 27, 2018 by JDMvW

FINE PRINT {SUMMARY}

I have described a number of procedures for subtle print control (and

will discuss several more in the next chapter), without attempting

to describe verbally what a fine print looks like........

 

- A very nebulous waffle that tells a beginner what, exactly?

 

Beginners need explicit instruction and logical methods. To be shown cause and effect, and how to avoid or rectify mistakes.

 

If you do this, or alter that; then this is the effect, or that will happen.

 

Not some semi-philosophical musing that has no concrete practical advice to give.

 

Sure, confuse beginners or new students with the Zone system before they've learned what an aperture is and what effect it has on the picture. Way to go!

A little harsh on old Ansel, don't you think?

 

The books are the lesson and have plenty of hard direction on even the simplest basics, and I cited rather simpler short summaries of zone system in any case.

 

A beginner, by nature, does not have to be clueless. Being fed pablum and sugar water too long can stunt development..

Beginners need many things. Best practice Teaching and Learning is both multifaceted and fluid.

 

It's good that the point has been made that the mentioned text and the Zone System might be useless and/or confusing to this OP and to future beginners who might read this conversation, especially if the only objective is to learn the Digital Medium.

 

However, to present that advice as fait accompli (more importantly) for the OP to take that advice as fait accompli, is silly.

 

The OP has asked about a specific book and referenced old Photography Teacher. Apart from any extrapolation about the teacher being old school and liking solid foundations, neither specific reason nor rationale for finding this particular book has been given. For example the OP might be researching film photography, wet lab work, or just be interested in the history.

 

The specific purpose for identifying this book is unknown.

 

WW

One important point that Fred Picker makes in "Zone VI Workshop" is that beginners often learn the Zone System more easily than do photographers who already have some experience. Beginners have no misguided experience to unlearn! I think he's right, at least in my case. I had already been shooting pictures, developing film, and making enlargements for years before taking the college course in which his book was our textbook. Picker writes that experienced photographers are often skeptical that the Zone System really works, and I was too.

 

For example, the film instruction sheets in those days advised closing down one stop when taking pictures of bright sand or snow. But my snow pictures were always underexposed. Picker's book explains that brightly lit sand or snow will be rendered as middle gray (18% gray) when the exposure is based on a typical reflective light meter, either handheld or in-camera. To get properly exposed white snow, you should *add* about three stops to the meter reading instead of *subtracting* one stop. This brighter exposure will place the snow on Zone VIII (almost but not quite paper-base white) instead of Zone V (middle gray). It seemed insane, but when I tried it, what a revelation. It worked! Finally my snow pictures were properly exposed and much easier to print. I had to unlearn before I could learn, whereas a beginner wouldn't have been prejudiced by previous experience.

 

I agree, though, that a rank beginner should learn the basic interaction of film speed, f/stops, and shutter speeds before trying to learn the Zone System.

 

One more point: Fred Picker's flavor of the Zone System in his book is simplified for 35mm and roll-film users. He boils it down to the basics. For instance, he downplays the differential development of different exposures that's easy when shooting sheet film but impractical when shooting roll film. "Zone VI Workshop" is a better introduction to the system than the Ansel Adams books, which are more advanced.

Picker's book explains that brightly lit sand or snow will be rendered as middle gray (18% gray) when the exposure is based on a typical reflective light meter, either handheld or in-camera. To get properly exposed white snow, you should *add* about three stops to the meter reading instead of *subtracting* one stop.

 

- But that's just basic sensitometry, and has nothing to do with the Zone system. In fact using the Zone system would lead to a half stop overexposure. The difference, according to Ansel, is between zone 5 (mid 18% grey) and zone 8 (white with texture). That's 3 whole stops. While proper science tells us that powder snow has a near-perfect Lambertian reflectance of close to 100%, which is only 2.5 stops away from 18% reflectance.

 

Is it easier to explain physically measurable quantities of light to a beginner, or to confuse them with Roman numerals and a system seemingly based on inaccurate guesswork?

Zone VIII is white with texture unless the film has narrower dynamic range. My results were good when metering directly on the brightly lit snow and opening three stops. But as Fred Picker also points out in his book, not all light meters are perfectly calibrated to meter at 18% gray. He notes that some meters are calibrated for 36% gray. And there's always some variability from one meter or camera to another, which is why he emphasizes the importance of conducting your own film-speed tests using your own camera, meter, film, developer, enlarger, and paper -- which I did. Years later I wrote a two-part series on this process that was published in Shutterbug magazine and is still posted on my personal website. Individual testing is vital to correct for these variables. The Zone System is indeed based on sensitometry, not on inaccurate guesswork. Roman numerals are traditional but not mandatory.

 

The Zone System doesn't require anyone to place bright snow or light sand on Zone VIII. As Picker notes, the power of the system is that we can place any subject tone on any zone we want. Depending on the scene, you might want more detail in the snow, so placement on Zone VII is perfectly OK. If the snow dominates the scene, more detail might be preferable. But you will sacrifice some detail further down the scale, so it's a judgment call. Picker emphasized that the Zone System is a flexible tool, not a rigid dogma.

so it's a judgment call.

 

- In other words, guesswork.

 

Informed guesswork maybe, but still guesswork.

 

I defy anyone to pick out by eye a surface in a natural scene that has a reflectance of 18% and be within a few percent of correct. Especially if that surface isn't close to neutral grey.

 

"He notes that some meters are calibrated for 36% gray."

 

- That's not 'calibrated', that's faulty!

And name me any modern meter that disagrees with another by one full stop.

 

FWIW, I have no criticism of Ansel Adams as a maker of extremely fine landscape pictures, nor with the powerful concept of pre-visualisation. But to spend a lifetime preaching an obscure, illogical and self-contradictory system that turns simple light metering into a song-and-dance act is just OCD behaviour in the extreme.

 

The whole Zone system could be summed up with the old adage - 'Expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights". A brief epithet that I'm fairly sure pre-dated St. Ansel, and is pretty much all that's ever needed.

Edited October 30, 2018 by rodeo_joe|1

Rodeo Joe, it's becoming clear that you haven't read Fred Picker's "Zone VI Workshop" or perhaps any other Zone System book. Your understanding of the system is completely wrong. It's not based on "informed guesswork." It's based on empirical principle, and it eliminates guesswork.

 

Your description of the system is exactly backward. Instead of finding a surface in the scene that's 18% gray, Zone System photographers find a surface they want to *render* as 18% gray -- or as any other gray tone. Point the meter at that surface and set exposure accordingly. The result of a metered exposure will be Zone V, an 18% middle-gray tone in the print. Alternatively, increase or decrease the exposure to place that surface on a higher or lower zone.

 

As Picker notes, once you've calibrated your equipment for the Zone System, you can point your meter at *anything* and guarantee your exposure will result in the *exact* gray tone you want in the final print. Some especially devoted practitioners even make small reference prints of each zone to carry with them as they photograph in order to previsualize the grayscale rendering of a scene. Guesswork is completely eliminated!

 

If you'd rather work backward, you can quickly and easily find an 18% gray surface in the scene by carrying an 18% gray card. Hold the card in the same light as your subject and point your meter at it. The indicated exposure will give you an 18% gray tone in your print (Zone V). Now you can previsualize the whole scene. If you point your meter at a subject surface that's one stop brighter, it will print on Zone VI (e.g., typical light skin tone). If you point your meter at a subject surface that's one stop darker, it will print on Zone IV (e.g., typical dark skin tone). You can point your meter at *any* surface and know how it will appear in the final print! Fred Picker demonstrates this technique with a photo of a woman and a Weston light meter pointed at different parts of the subject. Guesswork is completely eliminated.

 

By contrast, "expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights" is much too vague -- as Picker also says in his book. Expose for which shadow surface? Develop for which highlight surface? The difference can be one to three stops in either direction. That's guesswork.

 

It's not unusual for light meters (either handheld or in-camera) to vary by one stop or more. Today's digital meters are more accurate than the meters Fred Picker and Ansel Adams were using, but there's still variance, and it can change over time. Color temperature can cause variance, too. Two meters that agree in daylight may disagree in fluorescent or incandescent light. And there are many other variables. Lenses don't always stop down to precisely the correct aperture. Shutter speeds vary. Films and papers have different D-log-E curves. Different film and print developers act differently on shadows and highlights. That's why the Zone System requires individual calibration to your own camera, meter, film, developer, paper, enlarger, etc.

 

The whole point is to eliminate the guesswork that plagues other photographers so you can focus on the art instead of technique. Once you standardize and calibrate, you're done. It's freedom, not OCD behavior. And it's field proven. For decades it's been working for everyone who follows the instructions, which aren't as difficult as you imagine.

 

Inadvertently, you have confirmed Fred Picker's belief that experienced photographers find the Zone System more difficult than beginners do. As I did, you'll have to unlearn before you can learn.

Read up on Ansel's total misunderstanding of the K factor used in calibrating light meters.

 

FYI, I'm fully conversant with Adams' written works. I have all three of the trilogy Camera, Negative and Print. Closely reading those is how I uncovered the misalignment between Adams' Zone descriptions and real-life reflectance values.

 

If a half-stop error, or (to be generous) non-linearity goes entirely unnoticed, then what's the point of being obsessively meticulous with exposure measurement?

 

I also fully understand the principle of 'placing' tonal values. However, this can simply be done by using exposure compensation, in stops or EVs or fractions thereof, without inventing an entirely different system of notation other than what we already have marked on the camera controls. But since the human eye and brain are extremely poor at evaluating absolute, or even relative brightness values, it all comes down to an estimate, guided by one or more meter readings; and that's just another way of saying guesswork.

 

"Expose for which shadow surface? Develop for which highlight surface?"

 

- Durrr! The shadow(s) you want to retain detail in, and the highlight(s) likewise. It's not a difficult concept to grasp.

Edited October 30, 2018 by rodeo_joe|1

Camera controls indicate f/stops and shutter speeds but don't tell you which setting will produce a particular gray tone in a b&w print. The settings are relative abstractions that will produce completely different tones in different lighting situations. That's one reason why, before learning the Zone System, my snow pictures were always underexposed. Following the instruction sheets packaged with the film in those days, I adjusted the controls in the wrong direction!

 

Furthermore, until I calibrated my equipment, I didn't realize my film/developer combination was only about half as fast as the official ASA rating. So I was underexposing my snow pictures by a total of five stops: one stop by closing down the aperture as instructed by the film sheet, one stop of lost film speed, and three stops by ignorantly placing the snow on Zone V instead of Zone VIII. Even a normal series of bracketed exposures wouldn't have covered my gross five-stop error. Fred Picker illustrates this problem with snow pictures just like the ones I'd been making.

 

To address the problem of abstract camera controls, it was possible in those days to buy a sticker for the Weston light meter and a few other handheld meters. The sticker overlaid the meter's exposure scale with a stepped gray scale labeled with the matching zones. Now the photographer could visibly see which exposure setting would result in which gray tone in a given situation. I never bought a sticker because I usually relied on my camera meter, and because I understood the system well enough to visualize the zones without this aid. But others found it helpful.

 

What's irrefutable is that many thousands of photographers have learned the Zone System with no great effort and have found it liberating and productive. Fred Picker's thin little book made a huge difference in my b&w photography. I'm forever grateful to him for writing it and to my college professor who adopted it as our textbook in his "Basic Black & White Photography" course. I don't think anyone flunked that course, and all the prints I saw got better and better as the course progressed.

Tom,

 

(And anyone else who's interested) - I have two Weston meters (which agree !) - can you recall the name of this most useful item please - I would like to try to obtain some.

Tony, I don't know if the Zone System stickers for light meters are still available. Fred Picker used to run a business that advertised the stickers and other products in the back of his book ("Zone VI Workshop"). His little company was acquired by a large company (Calumet?) that continued to offer his products for a while. I used to get their mail-order catalogs, but I think they disappeared several years ago. Maybe an Internet search would turn up something.

 

If you're handy with Photoshop or another graphics program, you could probably make your own sticker. You would have to get the size and shape right and print on adhesive-backed paper. The gray tones needn't be exact. They're just a guide that helps you visualize the zones when you rotate the meter dial to match the needle. Finding a picture of a sticker would help you design one. Picker's book shows a few examples for Weston meters and Pentax spot meters.

I searched the Internet and found this discussion page where someone tried to make his own sticker for a Weston meter:

 

Bought a Weston Master II over the weekend

 

Scroll down the page to see a picture of it.

I am moving this to Casual Photo Conversations.

The OP was online until after Vincent Peri identified the book, but has not logged in after that time.

The conversation has shifted focus, and it is now more suited to the boundaries of the Casual Conversations Forum.

 

William

Edited November 1, 2018 by William Michael

Tony, I don't know if the Zone System stickers for light meters are still available. Fred Picker used to run a business that advertised the stickers and other products in the back of his book ("Zone VI Workshop"). Maybe an Internet search would turn up something.

 

If you're handy with Photoshop or another graphics program, you could probably make your own sticker. You would have to get the size and shape right and print on adhesive-backed paper. The gray tones needn't be exact. They're just a guide that helps you visualize the zones when you rotate the meter dial to match the needle. Finding a picture of a sticker would help you design one. Picker's book shows a few examples for Weston meters and Pentax spot meters.

 

Tom,

 

Thanks very much for this info - seems unlikely I'll find a copy of the book, but I'll certainly do the search. I do have some literature on the Zone System, so I'll have a look through that too, now I know about this handy accessory.

 

Tony

I searched the Internet and found this discussion page where someone tried to make his own sticker for a Weston meter:

 

Bought a Weston Master II over the weekend

 

Scroll down the page to see a picture of it.

 

Again, thank you - I'll see how much of a pig's ear I can make of it. Results (or otherwise !) to be posted.

 

Tony