Digital BW, The Print

Ansel? Didn't he die awhile back?



--- In DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com, hogarth@s... wrote:
> But what's your point? Are you trying to start a discussion about 
> something? Are you trying to ask a question? Just pontificating? What?
> --
> Bruce Watson
> 
> djon43 wrote:
> 
> >
> > http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/zone_system.shtml
> >
> > Ansel's system centered on TRAINING THE EYE to previsualize and
> > control B&W from color scenes. It only SECONDARILY utilized
densitometry.
> >
> > Slightly knowing the man (a customer) and better knowing some of his
> > disciples, it was obvious that he attracted attracted anal retentive
> > types, some of whom became fine scenic photographers (as opposed to
> > portrait, journalistic, or illustrative), many of whom became
> > merchants in tourist galleries (as in Carmel, Moab, NYC).
> >
> > AA's B&W gospel was not the ultimate and his densitometry was just a
> > particular spin.
> >
> > Ansel's particular spin on Zone System was, in addition to his own
> > obsessive mindset, substantially due to the fact that films and papers
> > were not as predictable in his early days as they became in the
> > Sixties (the B&W materials...critical color still required testing,
> > batch-by-batch, but skilled color photographers worked VISUALLY,
> > developed advanced VISUAL skills, just as Ansel taught in B&W) .
> >
> > Ansel elected to use densitometry when it became available. His early
> > prints weren't technically as wonderful by modern standards as were
> > the early images themselves, due to his aspirations, not to early lack
> > of densitometer...if you've seen his life's work in hundreds of
> > original prints you see that.
> >
> > Ansel's primary technical gift to us (facilitated by Minor White, the
> > better teacher) was PREVISUALIZION of zones: Learning reliably to see
> > specific zones of grey in color scenes, controlling them in exposure,
> > processing, and printing. 
> >
> > The beginning and center of that process was learning to identify Zone
> > Five...which EVERYBODY in the 60s and 70s had to learn visually,
> > whether or not they ever heard of Zone System or Ansel: Basic proper
> > use the TTL meters in the various FTNs, F1s and Spotmatics...which are
> > designed specifically for Zone Five (same as Kodak's grey card).
> >