Digital BW, The Print

"He couldn't find a light meter, so he guessed. "

Well if you consider knowing the luminance of the moon in candle feet off 
the top of your head,  also knowing off the top of your head that you can 
take the square root of the film speed and convert it to an exposure by 
using the reciprocal of the luminance expressed in candle feet, doing that 
calculation in your head and applying that knowledge to determine that the 
luminance of the moon fell on Zone VII, then from that calculating the Zone 
V luminance and the resulting exposure, and finally applying  a 3x filter 
factor to that calculated exposure to arrive at a final exposure of 1 second 
at f32, all while frantically setting up an 8x10 camera to make a photograph 
while the light was disappearing, to be "guessing," I guess you could say he 
guessed. : - )

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <hogarth@...>
To: <DigitalBlackandWhiteThePrint@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Saturday, June 03, 2006 10:47 AM
Subject: Re: [Digital BW] Re: Moonrise - was Signing prints question


Of all of Ansel's images, this is without doubt the worst to use to
judge the Zone System by.

Ansel's ideas for the zone system were to visualize what you wanted in
the final print, carefully consider what you had to have in the negative
to get that, then methodically go about exposing and developing the
negative to get the necessary tones on the negative.

Moonrise was the antithesis of how he used the Zone System. Ansel's own
account was that Moonrise was a "grab shot." He didn't have time to
visualize anything except sliding his vehicle to a stop and running like
mad. He couldn't find a light meter, so he guessed. He flipped the film
holder to try to make another exposure, but the light was gone.

By all accounts, he hated the negative. It represented everything he was
working to correct with the Zone System. That he could get a good print
at all from it is amazing. That he could pull his amazing Moonrise
prints is nearly miraculous and certainly a testament to his skills.

But of all his images, this is the last one to use to judge the Zone System.
--
Bruce Watson


Clayton Price wrote:

> Greetings,
> About 4 years ago I saw three original prints of "Moonrise" in a New
> York gallery. They were fascinating, and it gave
> a real insight into how Adam's worked in the darkroom.  The first
> print was straight from the negative - as I recall the
> the sky was almost white, and few of the details related to the
> values of the final piece.  The second print was somewhat
> corrected, but still a long way from what we usually see.  The third
> print was  what we've come to expect  --perfect !
>
> When I was a student, much longer ago than I want to think about, we
> learned and worked with Zone System, in the belief
> that if one follows it carefully, you could make a straight print
> from a negative with minimal dodging and burning.
>
> Well, seeing those three prints, 2 of which were in process, the Zone
> System bubble burst within me, and I realized
> Adam's fantastic darkroom skills, just as Weston, and Gene Smith, who
> I don't think worked in Zone System - at least
> not formally!
>
> Clayton Price




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