This the helpfile for the second level of the Zone System Simulator (intermediate level). This level of emulation allows you to 'meter' on one of five subject areas and expose according to that 'meter reading' or over-expose or under-expose by up to five f-stops relative to the meter reading..

To use the emulator:

1. Click one of the five listed subject area s listed in the control panel (lower left frame of your screen)
2. Click one of the 11 exposure modification buttons (-5 thru normal thru +5 stops of exposure)
3. Click the 'Submit' button in the same frame to see the effect of yur actions.

Using the emulator at this level is still easy. Let's walk through a few possible combinations and the thought process that caused us to choose the settigns that we chose.

Let's start with the 5 subject areas and their brightness relative to each other. In order of darkest to lightest:

All meter readings are assumed to be at a shuuter speed of 1/125 sec and using a filmspeed that remains constant. Therefore, comparing the difference in f-stop reading is suitable for our purpose of determining relative brightness of the subject areas.

Subject Area	Meter Reading	Note
Pants	F-2.8	Darkest part of subject
Outfield	F-8	Dark area, but close to middle
Shirt	F-11	Closest to middle of meter readings
Infield	F-22	Light area
Base	F-32	Lightest part of the subject

Let's use the emulator

Starting with a simple case around the middle of the scale, let's assume that you want to put a certain subject area on middle gray (Zone V). One approach you might try is to pick a subject area in the middle part of the scale, let's say, ummm, the shirt (which metered F-11).

In real life you would set your f-stop at F-11 using the same shutter speed and film speed that you used while metering. You would expose at F-11. On the Emulator you take the following steps:

1. Click the 'Shirt' subject area
2. Click the 'Normal' subject placement button
3. Click the submit button to see the result.

The image that you get:

is exactly the same image you got at the basic level of the emulator. It is exactly the same calculation too. But suppose your perception of the shirt is that it is brighter than Zone V. You could try putting something darker than the shirt on Zone V, and getting the side effect that everything lighter than the Zone V subject would be reproduced higher on the scale. This might or might not have the effect that you want. What you need to be able to do, is to control the subject area that you see clearly in your mind; in this case, that subject area is the shirt -- which you have decided needs to be reproduced brighter than Zone V.

If you wanted the shirt to be on Zone VI (one f-stop brighter than Zone V) you already have the means to do that. In real life you would meter on the shirt (still getting F-11) and then open up one F-stop to place the subject on Zone VI. You would select the F-stop that is one f-stop open from F-11 -- that is F-8. By metering on any subject area, using one stop more light than the meter recommends, developing an dprinting normally, you place the subject area you metered on Zone VI (which prints lighter than Zone V). Using the emulator, you would take the following steps to place the shirt on Zone VI:

1. Click the 'Shirt' subject area
2. Click the '+1' subject placement button
3. Click the submit button to see the result.

Let's compare this result with the previous Zone V placement:

Comparing Zone VI to Zone V placement of shirt subject area

Shirt placed on Zone V (Normal exposure)	Shirt placed on Zone V1 (+1 exposure)

Use the example above as a starting point. Try various combinations of any subject area with over-exposure and under-exposure. Try to anticipate what each drawing will look like when displayed.

Related chapters:

• Chapter 3
• Chapter 4

note

About metering by middlepoint between lightest and darkest areas.

Using the spot meter to find the middle of a range of subject values then exposing for that middle point is one way determining exposure, but it bears little or no relationship to the Zone System. Even though that method works under some circumstance, it still does not put you, the photographer, in a position to create the photograph you see in your head. Instead, that method leaves the rendering of the picture to the mercy of a mathmatical formula. We are going to use mathmatical relationships when it serves our purposes, not vice versa. Speaking generally, metering in that fashion is what the built-in light meter does in-camera.