07 - Tones
A game of Tones
If you remove all the details from a photo (lines, shapes and textures) you will be left with tones, areas of dark and light and all shades in between. This is also referred to as contrast. An image that uses the full tonal range is said to have a high level of contrast and can be described as "punchy" whereas, an image lacking contrast may be described as faded and "dreamy".
The punchy advocate
It is impossible to talk about tones and contrast without discussing the famous photography pioneer Ansel Adams. He, along with Fred Archer, developed the zone system. A framework on what elements of a photograph should fall into each tonal range. A tone bible.
Ansel Adams was also an advocate of environmental conservation and his work helped with the protection and expansion of the national parks in the US. If you look at some of his photography work you will notice the high level of contrast and the full use of the tonal range. Consider this; do you think his photos would have been this famous had he not used the full tonal range? You could even argue that the US would have smaller and fewer national parks had his photography been less punchy.
For this week's assignment: compose a photo that covers the full range on the tonal scale. Try your best to follow the Ansel Adam zone system. Think; what would Ansel Adams do?
Before you shoot:
Read this article written by f-stoppers on the Ansel Adams zone.
https://fstoppers.com/education/how-use-ansel-adams-zone-system-digital-world-417047
Also, try and turn on your camera's histogram for this assignment. This will give you a live preview of the tonal scale of your photo.