Zone VI Workshop

This is one of the best books on photography and black/white processing I have ever read. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in photography.

I went to the Zone VI workshop in 1989 and this was "required" reading before attending,for good reason, the instructions really work. This book removes the technical barriers to making a good negative and then a good print. He starts you out by showing you how to establish your proper film speed (ISO). Next, he explains how to expose a negative and properly develop it. And then, he explains how to make a proof sheet (proper proof) so you know if what you saw in the field is what you get in your final print. Finally, he tells you how to make a good print. All very logical. Fred knows how to take the mystery out of what is a fairly technical process and frees you so you can concentrate on making beautiful pictures (the only reason to do all this). In a little over 100 pages, you will learn what must have taken years for Ansel Adams, et al to find out by trial and error. Final point, Fred used to have a rubber stamp in his office that read "TRY IT". He would stamp it on letters that asked questions like "What happens when...?" His philosophy is simple - reading the book does you no good unless you actually do what it says. I learned a lot from this book and found it to be the most simple and clear set of instructions on the subject. But it wasn't until I made my first negatives and proof sheets and then prints that it all really made sense so "Try it!"

All the technical information in the world won't do you any good if you don't understand how to apply it. Fred Picker's Zone VI Workshop was the fourth book I'd tried to read about the zone system. It's also the last. This book clearly and simply explains the zone system. After reading this book I was able to understand Ansel Adams' books "The Negative" and "The Print". Highly recommended!

I learned how to do B & W darkroom techniques from a friend in high school who had taken a course at a local junior college. My pictures (and his pictures) looked horrible (flat, washed out, gray). I bought this book several years later (the edition from the mid 1970's), and it corrected every last bad habit and technique I had been using. It is a must-have for any serious B & W photographer, particularly useful in the areas of accurate exposure readings, and darkroom techniques to maximize correct contrast and create truly BLACK blacks on the prints.

For those interested in a quick practical way to assimilate the famed "Zone System" method of exposure control this is an excellent start. Though some of the material is dated, this book is a quick way to start making pictures that work- it teaches you the 80% you need immediately - the rest you can learn later as your technique improves. Even if you do not process your own film, there is still value in studying this text. There are more complete treatments of this area - the Ansel Adams "Negative" and "Print" books as well as Phil Davis' "Beyond The Zone System" spring to mind. However, having read them all, I continue to recommend this little treasure by Picker as a great starting point. The reader should note that Picker is rather controversial in photographic circles because of his simplified approach to this topic. The purists argue that this books is, at best, incomplete (true) and, at worst, wrong (debatable). Like any work that tries to provide a practical application of something which is grounded in a pretty rich mathematical theory, the high priests of the discipline will always find legitimate fault with the text. However, the book is a lot more right than it is wrong, and a serious reading of this stuff is bound to make your pictures come out much better. In summary, it is concise, easy to approach, and a good start for the photographer who wants to develop a consistent approach to exposure control and image making.