The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System [Paperback]

Bahman Farzad (Author), Linda Voychehovski (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2007

Contrary to popular belief, when you buy an expensive camera the exposure skills DO NOT COME with it!

When you buy an expensive GUITAR, you KNOW that playing skills DO NOT COME with it! When you buy an expensive CAR, you KNOW that driving skills DO NOT COME with it! When you buy an expensive CAMERA, why, then, do you NOT KNOW that exposure skills DO NOT COME with it?

This book teaches the beginning Digital/35mm photographer (9th grade level) the simple and practical methods of correctly exposing a subject. This is also the world's first Digital Zone System book that addresses the application of the Zone System of exposure using current manual digital cameras including many of today's D-Slrs. The book covers in detail the applications of a camera's meter, an off-camera spot meter, an off-camera incident meter, and easy-to-remember techniques for exposing sunlit to moonlit subjects without a meter. The book uses Farzad's simplified 5-stop technique using 100 ISO color slide or Digital Film as its base, but the same techniques can be applied to Black and White, as well as color negative film with different ISOs. Since all the thinking is done before the photographer takes the picture, the book is ideal for this millennium's 35mm photographers that use one-hour processing labs. Since all the exposure decisions are made ahead of time (before the picture is taken), the technique saves the digital photographer many hours that he or she would waste behind the computer trying to figure out what he/she wanted to capture in the first place. The highest level of math required from the reader to understand this book, is to be able to multiply and divide a number by two. Also in the fourth edition (with the Lotus flower on the cover), a special calibration section is added to the end of the book for all those photographers who have spent a few thousand dollars on their D-Slr and are consistently getting underexposed and unacceptable images.

The fourth edition also includes Digital footnotes and assignments for photographers using manual digital cameras. The book also includes Digital as well as 35mm exposure cheat sheets for Canon EOS 5D, Canon EOS 10D, Canon EOS 20D, Canon EOS 30D, Canon EOS A2/A2e, Canon EOS Rebel TI, Canon EOS Rebel XT, Canon EOS Rebel Xti, Canon PowerShot G5, FujiFilm FinePix S7000, Minolta Maxxum 5, Minolta Maxxum 7, Minolta Maxxum 9, Minolta Maxxum STSi, Nikon Coolpix 990, Nikon Coolpix 5700, Nikon Coolpix 8700, Nikon D50, Nikon D70, Nikon D80, Nikon D200, Nikon F4, Nikon F5, Nikon F100, Nikon N70, Nikon N90, Nikon N6006, Nikon N8008s, Pentax *ist-D, Pentax 645N, Pentax MZS, Pentax PZ1P, and Sony DSC-F717.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"..to help teach light measurement without the students needing a math or science degree" -- Petersen's Photographic Magazine

"..written for the photographer who is interested in the understanding of light" -- Today's Photographer Magazine

"One of the easiest-to-understand books on exposure and the Zone System that we've ever seen" -- Outdoor Photographer Magazine

From the Author

The reality of life is that there is not a single metering system in the world that can give you a correctly exposed image for a given subject every time. If you do not believe this, set your expensive Digital Camera to its most advanced exposure mode and take pictures of a black surface and a white surface. When you look at the resulting Digital Image, negative, or slide you will be disappointed. Cameras of today, very much like the cameras of fifty years ago, are incapable of recognizing and recording extreme tones such as a black and a white surface. What you are going to get from this crude experiment is a medium gray image tone. To add insult to injury, you will have absolutely no clue which one of these resulting images is for the original black or white subjects. As this experiment demonstrates, there is not a single metering system that, without your help and intervention, can capture what your eye sees and what your mind wants to capture. Of all metering systems available to the photographer, the Zone System of exposure with the help of your on-camera or off-camera spot meter is the only one can give a consistent and predictable reading to the photographer EVERY TIME! Once equipped with this knowledge, the photographer can use his or her skill to determine the correct exposure for a desired subject. The major difference between a skilled photographer and an unskilled one is that the latter never questions the camera's readings. The skilled photographer has the knowledge to interpret the spot meter's reading according to the subject tone, and to capture desired image or capture it as the eye sees or desires it. The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System is the first book ever published that deals with the new millennium's Digital Cameras (5-stop Zone System). Unlike other reflective metering systems (including average, center-weighted, and matrix, and others), in which the unskilled photographer is at the mercy of the camera's vision (?), with the applications of spot metering and the Zone System of interpretation, the skilled photographer is in control of the tones as well as the details in the final image. The book uses color slides or Digital Film as a training tool to get the point across.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: Confused Photographer's Guide Books.; 4th edition (January 11, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966081714
• ISBN-13: 978-0966081718
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (48 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #394,731 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for digital photography!, July 2, 2004

By 

Tony Hall "If the movie stinks, just don't go!" (the internet) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System (Paperback)

This guy isn't just trying to sell books or prove how talented he is. You can tell that the author is a teacher and has lots of experience helping people learn about exposure.

If you're a somewhat experienced photographer, you might find your eyes crossing for the first couple of chapters because of how boring and repetitious they are. The author doesn't want to leave anyone behind, so it's kind of a slow paced book. However, if you can make it through those chapters and read the whole book you will find yourself completely understanding photographic exposure. I've been taking pictures for years with some nice cameras and this is the first time I've ever felt comfortable and confident about the pictures I was taking.

Another thing that's awesome about this book is that it is perfect for digital camera users. Let me say this:

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK IF YOU USE A DIGITAL CAMERA. OTHER BOOKS LIKE "THE NEGATIVE" WHILE INFORMATIVE WILL JUST LEAVE YOU CONFUSED WHEN IT COMES TO SHOOTING DIGITAL.

As far as I know this is the only book on photographic exposure that's very well suited for digital photography.

Another thing that I really like about this book is that the author is a teacher and has a lot of experience teaching the subject matter to his students. He probably knows from teaching what people find confusing and how to best explain it to them. You'll be reading along and something may seem a little confusing. Well, before you have a chance to rack your brain about it, the author addresses it and puts it into laymen's terms. Sometimes he explains the same concept two or three different ways.

One last comment on the book. I also appreciated the fact that he threw in lots of extra stuff that wasn't really necessary like different ways to figure out exposure under different circumstances without an exposure meter or a spot meter. He covers lighting, moonlight, and even fireworks. He even helped me understand why the Ansel Adams approach to the Zone System didn't really work with my digital camera. I've used my camera like ten times as much since reading this book.

I noticed a couple of poor reviews right before I started writing this one. It seems that some people find it to be a little too simple. Remember, this is not an advanced book. The words "simplified" and "confused" in the title might have tipped you off! If you already understand the zone system, how to use your cameras spot meter, and how to use a light meter to get good exposures, then this book is definitely not for you. However, if you're afraid to put your camera on manual mode and aren't quite sure how to get a good exposure with your camera, then this is the book for you.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars First read the title, then complain., June 20, 2006

By 

Rafa Azofeifa "R.A." (Costa Rica) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System (Paperback)

I read the reveiws here, and I was a little worried about the ones that say this book is confusing.
If you're looking for a simple cook-book that tells you how to use aperture to blur the background and that 'composition is very important' so yes, this is not the book you're looking for.
BUT, if you are looking for a book to help you take good pictures, this is a must have.

First understand what you're looking for:
If you bought your digital camera and want to take better pictures and you don't know about aperture or exposure or you feel more confortable using it in "Auto mode", you should buy "Understanding Exposure", really good book.
If you want to really understand how to take better pictures, you're willing to make excercises, and go over 200 pages without looking at a color photograph of a sunset or an old man, this is a VERY good book.
Everyone wants to be an astronaut and see the earth from space, but nobody wants to study mathematics and physics.
If you want better pictures, there's a thousand books out there, some of them very good.

But if you really want to study photography and achieve the best pictures, and really take the time to do it, begin by buying this book, it's not complicated. You may want to see it this way: it's no more complicated than learning what you must know in order to take a really good picture.

My advice is: First read then buy. If you understand you're not buying a book of 100 colorfull sunsets and girls with soap bubbles, you'll learn a lot. If you don't, please don't post a message saying the book is confusing.

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars These are must read books!, August 16, 2004

By 

Shannon Matteson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Confused Photographer's Guide to Photographic Exposure and the Simplified Zone System (Paperback)

If you rely on the camera to find the exposure for you, or you tend to use the automatic modes, or if you have a feeling there's something the photographers you admire do that you're not doing... you NEED read Mr. Farzad's books!

I started off trying to figure out what it was that the photographers I admire were doing that I was missing, and discovered his website. Immediately, I knew that here was an example of a photographer whose work I really admired.

When the box of books arrived, I was surprised how heavy it was. I kind of expected the books to be of a lot less substance than they were. These aren't booklets, as has been the case when I bought some "books" on photography in the past. These are full sized and well made books, and they are full of exactly the information you need to figure out how to expose pretty much anything correctly.

When I first learned what the technique was and began to understand it, I must say it was a little scary to disregard the camera's reccomendations. Then, after a bit of experimentation, I started realizing that I actually could get the same sort of gorgeous exposures that Mr. Farzad was getting. Now, I feel confident that I can expose correctly for pretty much anything. I almost never use the exposures recommended by the camera, and I almost never use automatic modes anymore. I'm also getting some very positive comments since I started applying these techniques. And after a little practice, I know exactly what adjustments to make simply at a glance at the subject!

Mr. Farzad is very obviously a teacher. The books do not assume you know anything about the subject, so they begin at the beginning. That, coupled with the proper teaching techniques (repetition, approaching the concept from multiple directions, and working to get people with different learning styles to understand) can make the books a bit slow to read if you are already familiar with some of the basics. However if you stick with it, you'll end up like me, confident and achieving much better photographic results! I truely believe that nobody can be a top notch photographer without applying this knowledge.

There have been other reviews that said that if you buy one book, you shouldn't buy the other. I disagree. While the spotmetering book does share some information with the zone system book, there is enough different information that I personally was glad to have them both. Also, I disagree with the reviewer who said that these techniques do not apply to other films besides slide film. On the contrary, there are explanations for all films, color negative, bw negative, slide and digital! Remember, there is sometimes a difference between "correct exposure" and "desired exposure".

After learning this, I have achieved a whole new dimension of skill. With these books, a decent lens and some practice, you too can be producing fantastic photography!