But what do film photographers do when they face this same situation?\u00a0 After all, film may not be able to capture the dynamic range of the scene any better than digital can.\u00a0 And with film there is not the option of taking multiple shots at different exposures and blending the negatives together.<\/p>\n
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The technique black and white film photographers use is called \u2018water bath development.\u2019\u00a0 This is best explained in terms of the Zone System that Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and others used.\u00a0 In the Zone System the dynamic range is divided into \u2018zones\u2019 numbered 0 though 10.\u00a0 Zone 0 is pure black and zone 10 is pure white.\u00a0 Zone 5 is right in the middle, neither dark nor light.\u00a0 In other words, zone 5 is neutral gray, just like the 18% reflectance neutral gray cards that we used to used.<\/p>\n
The change in exposure from one zone to the next is one stop.\u00a0 So if part of the scene is exposed for zone 5 than those parts of the scene that fall into zone 6 will be one stop brighter than the zone 5 areas.\u00a0 Zone 7 areas will be two stops brighter than zone 5 areas.\u00a0 Likewise, zone 4 areas will be one stop darker than zone 5 areas and zone 3 areas, two stops darker than zone 5 areas.<\/p>\n
The water bath development technique begins with the exposure.\u00a0\u00a0 The exposures is set so the brightest parts of the scene fall in zone 7 or 8.\u00a0 (Spot meters are used to measure the luminance of separate areas of the scene.)\u00a0 This will make them look bright while still preserving detail.\u00a0 But this places the shadows well below zone 2.\u00a0 That\u2019s where the actual water bath development technique comes into play.<\/p>\n The negative is developed but the development is interrupted several times by removing it from the developer solution and placing it in a bath of water where it will rest for a minute or two.\u00a0 This is repeated several times.\u00a0 The chemistry here is fascinating.<\/p>\n When the negative is in the developer the solution is agitated so that the film emulsion is always exposed to fresh developer.\u00a0 But when the negative is placed in a water bath it sits quietly without any agitation whatsoever.\u00a0 The emulsion will still be saturated with developer which becomes quickly exhausted in the heavily exposed areas where development stops.\u00a0 But in the lightly exposed areas, the shadows, it will not be quickly exhausted and will continue to develop these areas.\u00a0 As this goes on, more and more detail will be brought out.<\/p>\n After a couple of minutes the negative is returned to the developer where normal development resumes.\u00a0 Then it is returned to the water bath where just the shadows will continue to develop.\u00a0 The photographer must determine ahead of time how many times this must be repeated since they do not know how this will turn out until they can examine the negative after it has been completely developed.<\/p>\n Early Morning, Merced River, Autumn (1950) This photograph is just one of may for which Ansel Adams used the water bath development technique.\u00a0 Often times it was trial and error.\u00a0 So his practice was to expose two sheets of film identically for a scene he anticipated would be significant.\u00a0\u00a0 If, after developing the first he concluded it needed a different development treatment he developed the second as was the case with this negative.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth pointing out that water bath development is a technique that can only be used with black and white film because this medium allows for wide variations in the way the negatives are developed.\u00a0 Color film requires such precise temperature, timing and developer strength controls that any deviation from a very narrow range produces unpredictable and generally unacceptable results.\u00a0 Galen Rowell in his instructional video makes the point that with color film in these challenging situations you have no other choice but to pass up the shot no matter how beautiful it is or how strongly you respond to it.\u00a0 Galen was in to seeing the world the way\u00a0 film seeks it.<\/p>\n So the problem is the same for film and digital photographers – scenes that the film or our camera sensors can\u2019t capture.\u00a0 Nothing has changed here.\u00a0 What has changed is the way we compensate for each medium\u2019s shortcomings.\u00a0 The advantage digital photographers have is that the HDR technique can be applied to not only black and white but also color photographs.\u00a0 But with either technique the result is photographs that can capture the full tonal range that we perceive with our eyes.<\/p>\n HDR is a dirty word in some circles because it can be pushed beyond simply controlling excessive dynamic ranges.\u00a0 It is often the painterly or grunge effect that many people associated with the term \u2018HDR.\u2019\u00a0 My own opinion is that there are some photographs where this works well to communicate the artist\u2019s intent but many where it is just a gimmick.\u00a0 In my own work I prefer the more conservative approach where HDR allows me to create natural looking images that could not otherwise be captured.<\/p>\n Bristlecone Moon (2008) The thought I\u2019d like to leave with you is that problems with dynamic range are not new.\u00a0 They have challenged serious photographers from the beginning.\u00a0 We are fortunate to be photographing in a time when we have powerful techniques and tools such as Photomatix Pro<\/a> to capture images and make photographs that were not possible in the days of film.<\/p>\n WordPress Tags: Ansel<\/a>,Adams<\/a>,High<\/a>,sensor<\/a>,words<\/a>,highlights<\/a>,image<\/a>,shadows<\/a>,photography<\/a>,PhotoMatix<\/a>,result<\/a>,situation<\/a>,option<\/a>,technique<\/a>,development<\/a>,System<\/a>,Edward<\/a>,Weston<\/a>,exposure<\/a>,Likewise<\/a>,places<\/a>,times<\/a>,solution<\/a>,emulsion<\/a>,agitation<\/a>,River<\/a>,Autumn<\/a>,Often<\/a>,error<\/a>,treatment<\/a>,worth<\/a>,Color<\/a>,temperature<\/a>,strength<\/a>,deviation<\/a>,results<\/a>,Galen<\/a>,Rowell<\/a>,advantage<\/a>,word<\/a>,grunge<\/a>,opinion<\/a>,artist<\/a>,gimmick<\/a>,images<\/a>,Moon<\/a>,Ralph<\/a>,Nordstrom<\/a>,problems<\/a>,tools<\/a>,areas<\/a>,options<\/a>,techniques<\/a>,exposures<\/a>,variations<\/a>,situations<\/a>,photographers<\/a>,digital<\/a>,camera<\/a>,black<\/a>,brighter<\/a>,developer<\/a><\/p>\n If you found this post informative, please Like it.\u00a0 Also, if you know of others who may also enjoy it please feel free to share it.\u00a0 Links can be found at the top of the post.<\/p>\n And feel free to join the conversation and share your thoughts and experiences by leaving a comment.<\/p>\n Join me on an upcoming workshop.\u00a0 Click here for more details.<\/a><\/p>\n![\"zone_system\"](\"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/zone_system_thumb.jpg\" "\\"zone_system\\"")
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\nAnsel Adams<\/p>\n![\"bristlecone_moon_2008\"](\"http:\/\/ralphnordstromphotography.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/bristlecone_moon_2008_thumb.jpg\" "\\"bristlecone_moon_2008\\"")
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\nRalph Nordstrom<\/p>\n
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