Editing Ansel Adams (section)

===The Zone System===
{{Main|Zone System}}
[[File:Looking across lake toward mountains, "Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park," Montana., 1933 - 1942 - NARA - 519861.jpg|thumb|upright=1.75|alt=A black-and-white photograph shows a large, still lake extending horizontally off the frame and halfway up vertically, reflecting the rest of the scene. In the distance, a mountain range can be seen, with a gap in the center and one faint smaller mountain in between. The sky is cloudy and large dark clouds rest at the very top of the frame.|''[[Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park]]'' (1942)<ref>{{cite archive | first = Ansel | last = Adams | item = Looking across Lake toward Mountains, "Evening, McDonald Lake, Glacier National Park," Montana | item-url = https://catalog.archives.gov/id/519861 | item-id = 519861 | fonds =  | series = Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, 1941–1942 | file =  | box =  | collection = Record Group 79: Records of the National Park Service, 1785–2006 | collection-url = https://catalog.archives.gov/id/408 | repository =  | institution = National Archives at College Park | accession =}}</ref>]]

While Adams and portrait photographer Fred Archer were teaching at the Art Center School in Los Angeles, around 1939–1940, they developed the Zone System for managing the photographic process,<ref>{{Cite book | last1 = Dowdell | first1 = John J. | last2 = Zakia | first2 = Richard D. | title = Zone systemizer for creative photographic control, Part 1 | publisher = Morgan & Morgan | year = 1973 | page = [https://archive.org/details/zonesystemizerfo00dowd/page/6 6] | isbn = 978-0-87100-040-8 | url = https://archive.org/details/zonesystemizerfo00dowd/page/6 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book | last = Robinson | first = Edward M. | title = Crime scene photography | publisher = Academic Press | year = 2007 | page = 72 | isbn = 978-0-12-369383-9 | quote = ...Ansel Adams' zone system, formulated in 1939–1940.}}</ref> which was based on [[sensitometry]], the study of the light-sensitivity of photographic materials and the relationship between exposure time and the resulting density on a negative. The Zone System provides a calibrated scale of brightness, from Zone 0 (black) through shades of gray to Zone X (white). The photographer can take light readings of key elements in a scene and use the Zone System to determine how the film must be exposed, developed, and printed to achieve the desired brightness or darkness in the final image.<ref>{{cite book | last1 = Lambrecht | first1 = Ralph W. | last2 = Woodhouse | first2 = Chris | title = Way beyond monochrome : advanced techniques for traditional black & white photography including digital negatives and hybrid printing | date = 2010 | publisher = Taylor & Francis | isbn = 978-0-240-81625-8 | pages = 105–110 | edition = 2nd}}</ref> Although it originated for black-and-white sheet film, the Zone System can be applied to images captured on roll film, both black-and-white and color, negative and reversal, and to digital photography.<ref>{{cite news | last1 = Frye | first1 = Michael | title = Zone System for Landscape Photography | url = https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/tips-techniques/nature-landscapes/the-digital-zone-system/ | access-date = March 5, 2019 | work = Outdoor Photographer | date = February 9, 2010 | archive-date = March 11, 2023 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230311120745/https://www.outdoorphotographer.com/tips-techniques/nature-landscapes/the-digital-zone-system/ | url-status = dead }}</ref>