Exposing Black and White Photographs ‘Correctly’

I put ‘correctly’ in quotes because everyone has their taste. So what does ‘correctly’ mean here?

What it means here is the way to get the maximum information out of the scene. Put simply, if the shot is underexposed then some of the dark areas may not show detail. Or if overexposed then the highlights might be blown and not show detail.

The Zone System is a method of getting an optimal exposure of black and white photographs. It was created by Ansel Adams. a landscape photographer, and Fred Archer, a portrait photographer.

The method divides the tonal range of a scene into eleven zones from pure black to pure white. Notice that the range starts with Zone zero.

Zone 0: Pure black (no detail)
Zone 1: Near black (minimal detail)
Zone 2: Very dark shadow
Zone 3: Dark shadow with visible texture
Zone 4: Slightly darker shadow with good detail
Zone 5: Middle gray (18% gray), average light meter reading
Zone 6: Light gray (skin tone, sunlit grass)
Zone 7: Bright highlights (texture still visible)
Zone 8: Very bright highlights (minimal detail)
Zone 9: Near white (no detail)
Zone 10: Pure white (no detail)

To use it you measure light in your chosen part of the scene with your light meter. That may be a hand-held meter or the meter built into your camera. Whichever it is, all light meters are built to ‘assume’ that all scenes are Zone 5, middle grey. That is of course not true. A black cat in the snow for example.

And before we go any further you should know that while it is true the meters in cameras are based on middle grey, modern cameras are also computers. They look at the scene and measure it against a bank of similar scenes in their built-in database. If a camera stores 90,000 scenes then the chances are it has a black cat in the snow in there. So even assuming the light meter works on 18% grey Zone 5 and is wrong, it will correct itself if it recognises the scene.

And even if a camera does not have a built-in database of scenes, it will have metering that can cover most of the scene and then average out the brightness.

At the other end of evaluative metering, cameras now have AI or machine learning so they learn more scenes the more photographs the photographer takes.

In 2024 with built-in scene recognition and intelligent exposure adjustments we are a long way from Kansas.

So for the rest of this article I am talking about the zone system used with a hand-held light meter,

The Method

Put your camera on manual exposure. Point the light meter at the part of the scene you want to measure. The part you want to measure is the part in the scene that is important to you. Everything else in the scene will be measured by reference to that.

The meter will always give you an exposure (shutter speed and aperture) for Zone 5. Decide what Zone your chosen area should actually be in. Yes, that means you have to put your brain’s evaluative input into the calculation. Adjust the exposure. If you think the part of the scene you measured is Zone 3, then reduce exposure by two stops. In other words you are saying the following.

My starting point was to meter the brightness of the part of the scene I think is important. Now I want to expose darker than the meter is telling me because in my opinion the bit of the scene I want to measure is not mid grey, It is two stops darker than mid grey. So I reduce exposure by two stops.

That’s it. That’s the Zone system.

Meanwhile, with digital photography it is just a ‘flick of switch’ as it were to make a black and white version of a full colour image. Click on the image to see a large version.

By the way this is a crop of about one seventh of the full frame of a photo I took of this couple, from across the street with a 50mm lens on a Nikon D750.

Nikon DSLRs With Year Introduced

Nikon D1 – 1999
Nikon D1H – 2001
Nikon D1X – 2001
Nikon D100 – 2002
Nikon D2H – 2003
Nikon D70 – 2004
Nikon D2X – 2004
Nikon D2Hs – 2005
Nikon D50 – 2005
Nikon D200 – 2005
Nikon D70s – 2005
Nikon D80 – 2006
Nikon D40 – 2006
Nikon D2Xs – 2006
Nikon D40x – 2007
Nikon D300 – 2007
Nikon D3 – 2007
Nikon D60 – 2008
Nikon D700 – 2008
Nikon D90 – 2008
Nikon D3X – 2008
Nikon D5000 – 2009
Nikon D300s – 2009
Nikon D3s – 2009
Nikon D3100 – 2010
Nikon D7000 – 2010
Nikon D5100 – 2011
Nikon D4 – 2012
Nikon D800 – 2012
Nikon D800E – 2012
Nikon D600 – 2012
Nikon D5200 – 2012
Nikon D7100 – 2013
Nikon Df – 2013
Nikon D610 – 2013
Nikon D5300 – 2013
Nikon D3300 – 2014
Nikon D810 – 2014
Nikon D750 – 2014
Nikon D5500 – 2015
Nikon D7200 – 2015
Nikon D5 – 2016
Nikon D500 – 2016
Nikon D3400 – 2016
Nikon D5600 – 2016
Nikon D850 – 2017
Nikon D7500 – 2017
Nikon D3500 – 2018

Digital Cameras That Shoot Panoramic Photos Natively

1. Stitching Photos In-Camera

Several digital cameras can shoot panoramic still photos natively by automatically stitching images together in-camera. Here’s a list of some cameras that include a built-in panoramic mode:

Sony

Sony Alpha Series (A7, A9, A6000, A6400, A6600) – Many Sony mirrorless cameras in the Alpha series include a “Sweep Panorama” mode, allowing users to sweep across a scene to capture a panoramic image.

Sony RX100 Series – The RX100 series, especially models like the RX100 VI and VII, feature the “Sweep Panorama” mode for creating panoramic shots.

    Fujifilm

    Fujifilm X-T Series (X-T30, X-T4, X-T5) – Many of Fujifilm’s X-T cameras offer panoramic features with their in-camera stitching capabilities.

    Fujifilm X100V – This compact, fixed-lens camera supports panoramic shooting with seamless stitching within the camera.

      Canon

      Canon PowerShot Series – Some compact cameras like the PowerShot G7 X Mark III or G5 X Mark II have a built-in panoramic mode.

      Canon EOS M Series – Some EOS M-series mirrorless cameras also offer a panoramic sweep function, depending on the model.

        Nikon

        Nikon Z Series (Z6, Z7, Z9) – Nikon’s mirrorless Z-series cameras often have an in-camera panorama mode, though it varies slightly depending on the model and firmware.

        Nikon Coolpix Series – The Coolpix cameras, like the P1000, offer dedicated panoramic modes.

          Panasonic

          Panasonic Lumix G Series (G85, G95, G9) – Several Lumix G-series mirrorless cameras feature a “Panorama” mode for capturing wide-angle shots natively.

            Olympus

            Olympus OM-D Series (E-M10, E-M5) – Olympus offers a panoramic function built into many of their OM-D mirrorless cameras.

              2. Shooting With A Wide Aspect Ratio Without Stitching

              Then there are digital cameras that can shoot 16:9, either natively supporting wide aspect ratios (like 16:9) or have crop modes in wide format:

              1. Sony

              Sony Alpha Series (A7 III, A7R IV, A7S III, A1)
              Sony RX100 Series
              Sony RX10 IV

              2. Fujifilm

              Fujifilm X-T Series (X-T4, X-T5)
              Fujifilm GFX Series (GFX 50S, GFX 100S)

              3. Panasonic

              Panasonic Lumix G Series (G9, GH5, GH6)
              Panasonic Lumix LX100 II

              4. Canon

              Canon EOS R Series (R5, R6, R7)
              Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III

              5. Nikon

              Nikon Z Series (Z6 II, Z7 II, Z9)
              Nikon Coolpix P1000

              6. Olympus

              Olympus OM-D E-M1 Mark III
              Olympus PEN-F

              7. Leica

              Leica Q2
              Leica SL2
              Leica D-Lux 8

              8. GoPro

              GoPro HERO 11 Black

              9. Ricoh

              Ricoh GR III