ANSEL ADAMSPhotographer, Conservationist

(February 20, 1902 in San Francisco, California.-April 22, 1984 in

Monterey, California)

By: Alia Adel Ahmed

Presented to : Dr. Ahmed Belal

• Famous for his black & white landscape photographs of the

national parks (Yosemite National Park among others).

• An author of numerous books about photography, including his

trilogy of technical instruction manuals (The Camera, The

Negative and The Print).

• Adams was an environmentalist, and his photographs are

a record of what many of these national parks were like

before human intervention and travel. His work has

promoted many of the goals of the Sierra Club and

brought environmental issues to light.

STYLE OF PHOTOGRAPHY

• Moved from “pictorial” style of

photography to “Straight Photography“.

• Straight Photography : Instead of soft focus

or hand treatments, the photographs were

clear, sharply focused, and an attempt to

show what the artist saw at the actual

scene.

• Adams was part of a group called "F64"

including Edward Weston and Imogen

Cunningham, where they believed in

everything in the image being in focus. They

acheived this by using small apertures (thus

the name) thus providing a lot of depth of

field in focus.

ANSEL ADAM’S GEAR

• Adams used the typical photographic

equipment of his day: view cameras

with large-format negatives at 4x5

inches, 5x7 inches, 8x10 inches or even

11x14 images.

• Even though photographic equipment

evolved to be smaller, lighter and easier

to use with the 35mm cameras

beginning in the late 1930s, Adams

stayed mostly with large-format view

cameras throughout his life

• He pioneered the use of a Red Filter to darken blue skies in his

photos, giving contrast between the sky and the clouds, for

instance.

• Along with this, he adopted the technique for exposure,

development, and printing known as the "Zone System" which is a

way of carefully controlling tonal values to achieve the widest range

of light and dark in his prints, despite the very limited range available

in printing paper.

• Finally, he was very patient and deliberate in his selection of

subjects and the timing with which he used to take the pictures.

• He did not photograph landscapes as much as he photographed

the weather.

• His "C learning Storm, Yosemite Valley" photo, for instance, would

not be nearly as dramatic without the clearing fog with the snow on

the ground.

THE ZONE SYSTEM

When a scene contains too much

bright, however, the camera tries to

render it as average so it darkens it

causing under-exposure. On the other

hand, when a scene contains too

much dark, the camera tries to render

it as average so it lightens it causing

over-exposure.

• The zone system divides a scene into 10 zones on the tonal

scale (though there are variations of 9 and 11 zones). Every

tonal range is assigned a zone. Every zone differs from the one

before it by 1 stop, and from the one following it by 1 stop. So

every zone change equals 1 stop difference. Zones are

identified by roman numbers, with the middle tone (with 18%

reflectance) being a zone V which is zone 5.

• For us digital photographers, we are only concerned with

zones III through VII (zones 3 through 7).

To correctly expose an average scene, spot an average

color or tone. Adjust your camera settings till you get the light

meter's hash mark on zero for that color, make sure you're not

over exposing your highlights and take the shot.

• Notice that the dog's left eye is

becoming just a tiny bit under-

exposed which is OK.

• Shadow clipping is more tolerated

than highlight clipping.

• Rule of thumb is, with average scenes you just point your

camera to an average color, place it into zone V and then

recompose. With high dynamic range scenes, unless you're

planing on taking multiple exposures, throwing in some fill

flash, or using a neutral density filter you have to make a

choice.

BEST OF ANSEL ADAMS

MERCED RIVER, CLIFFS OF CATHEDRAL ROCKS, AUTUMN

GRASS AND POOL

WATER AND FOAM

GEYSER POOL, YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, WYOMING

BANNER PEAK AND THOUSAND ISLAND LAKE, 1923

ANSEL ADAMS - FARM WORKERS AND MT. WILLIAMSON

AUTUMN MOON

THUNDER CLOUDS

JEFFERY PINE

JEFFERY PINE

TREES AND SNOW

BRANCHES IN SNOW

THE HALF DOME

WATERFALL

ASPENS

ROSE AND DRIFTWOOD

HOOVER DAM