Technique
I use a mix of digital, 35mm and medium format cameras to capture the raw image. I am loosely following Ansel Adams' Zone system to record a compromised exposure with the best mix of highlight, midtone, and shadow information without losing highlights (too bright) or shadows (too dark). When looking for imagery I generally am looking for a whole composition that tells a story, has good abstract lines for the eye to follow and a fluid mix of highlights and shadows. Lighting is critical. For each image I use a digital darkroom to adjust the tones and tonal range much in the way Ansel Adams, Weston or Michael Kenna might do in the traditional darkroom.
I use the techniques they taught and convert them to the digital darkroom to capture the spirit of what I felt। This may include expanding the tonal range for any given area of the picture, pulling up highlights, pushing back mid-tones or shadows etc... 95% of what I do in the darkroom is tonal. The expanded tonal ranges are what gives the colors their vivid appearance. This style is pretty new to photography, it's only recently that the digital darkroom made this kind of photography possible. Traditionally this kind of tonal manipulation was only possible in black and white photography and even now there are technical limits.
Ansel Adams' description of zones (geared towards black and white printing)
| Low values Zone | Complete lack of density in the negative image, other than film base density plus fog. Total black in the print. |
| Zone 1 | Effective threshold. First step above complete black in the print. Slight tonality, but no texture. |
| Zone 2 | First suggestion of texture. Deep tonalities, representing the darkest part of the image in which some detail is required. |
| Zone 3 3 | Average dark materials. Low values showing adequate texture. |
| Middle values Zone 4 | Average dark foliage. Dark stone. Landscape shadow. Recommended shadow value for portraits in sunlight. |
| Zone 5 | Clear north sky (panchromatic rendering). Dark skin. Gray stone. Average weathered wood. Middle gray (18% reflectance). |
| Zone 6 | Average Caucasian skin value. Light stone. Shadows in snow in sunlit snowscapes. |
| High values Zone 7 | Very light skin. Light gray objects. Average snow with acute side lighting. |
| Zone 8 | Whites with textures and delicate values (not blank whites). Snow in full shade. Highlights on Caucasian skin. |
| Zone 9 | Glaring white surfaces. Snow in flat sunlight. White without texture. (The only subjects higher than Zone 9 would be light sources; they would be rendered as the maximum white value of the paper surface. |
