Customer Reviews

New Photo Series 2: Negative:: The Ansel Adams Photography Series 2

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
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If you want to creat true masterpieces, regardless of whether you shoot large format, medium format, 35mm or digital, the method explained (and developed infact) by Adams in this book is essential.
Some people have accused this (and the two sister books) as being out of date. This is misleading because the main thrust of the whole trilogy (but especially The Negative) is the concept of visualisation of the final print and the techniques can be carried over into all formats and are analagous. The Negative concentrates on the importance of visualising the desired end result at the time of exposure. This is so important, whether you shoot film or digitlly. You can't make a silk purse from a sows ear. You have to start with the best exposure you can possibly achieve.
I would highly recommend any aspiring (and experienced!) photographers to study this book, it certainly helped me an enourmous amount.

My first point is in response to other review writers: to call this book "out of date" is disingenious. Whilst it does make references to some specific, no longer produced, emulsions (i.e. makes of film), the impact of what is being said is not lost because of this. In fact, even if he had written this today, he could have picked emulsions that you as a specific photographer didn't like or have access to; the fact that some of the products he talks about are no longer produced, is quite frankly irrelevant.

Whilst, of course, the book is centred on producing a negative, the principles outlined in the text, especially those concerning exposure, not only can, but SHOULD be applied to digital photography as well.

The text is clearly written, does not waste words and is not (in my opinion) particularly difficult to read; I read this book in the same way that I would read a novel, sitting on the sofa with a mug of tea or a glass of wine- NOT studying it like an academic text at a desk!

Adams' discussion of the Zone System is complete, clear and accurate. It is illustrated with beautifully printed examples of the author's own work and includes chapters on how to use filters within the ZS as well as more "advanced" techniques, such as painting with light. (I use speech marks, since the concept is not difficult to understand, but is awkward to put into practise).

Adams' explanation of density-exposure graphs and spectral responsivity graphs is clear and useful, not only to film photographers, but also to those who manipulate their images digitally; the same graphs are used in photo-editing software, as they show the same thing!

Anywho, this is a great book, and don't be put off reading it. If you're interested in photography, just buy it or ask for it for Christmas when you don't know what else to ask for! I really think you won't regret it, and that it will contribute greatly to your ability and desire to make beautiful pictures.

Many people talk about this book but few have ever read it and even less have put what they learned into practice. Some people think that this book isn't relative to modern photography but they could not be further from the truth. The methodology laid out in these pages from meatering, exposure to consideration of the final print are fundamental to image creation. I use these techniques successfully with my half plate cammera, my 35 Nikon, and even when scanning into Adobe Photophop. This book should be read with the others from this trilogy, The Cammera and The Print, in order to gain the most for Ansel Adams techings. I particular, after reading this book start immediatly on the phrint wich, alothough no slightly out dated, in an invaluable referance gide to any photographer. I do not keep this book in a bookshelf. My copy is in my darkroom or cammera bag and so should yours.

I purchased the trilogy of these books, The Camera, The Negative and The Print as I wished to reintroduce myself to the magic of film based photography. Ansel Adams was a formative photographer, he was also methodical, systematic and philosophical. If you enjoy detailed, clear and concise information combined with art then I think you will enjoy his approach. Yes, these books were written before the mass introduction of digital media, but knowing the roots of any subject is bound to produce insights and connections. Photography is about images, emotions and interpretation. You may consider little value in understanding something of different film types, papers and developers, but digital manipulation seeks to replicate these same effects with filters and settings and understanding the origins of the processes involved may enhance your understanding of where we are now. You never know you may even try using film again, you just need to slow down a bit, but that may not be a bad thing for any us, after all photography is about looking, really looking and seeing things others can't see.

This is an excellent book on the technical side of photography. This is probably the best introduction to the zone system I have ever seen. This book teaches a lot about previsualisation of photographs, appropriate metering and the zone system. Good introduction into developing film as well. Highly recommended.

This book, together with its' two companion volumes, shows how the craftmanship required to produce magnificent photography may be gained. 'Fashionable' photographers, many of whom are incapable of carrying out their own printing, should examine Adams' work and despair! Every photographer must have these invaluable books.

Excellent content,good reproduction of pictures,Sparkling paper and print makes it easy to read and this book is a joy to handle

This is one of a series of books that has been reprinted several times and will probably continue to be reprinted for many years to come. It is one that I bought many years ago, probably on a second or third reprint.

When Ansel Adams wrote this, he was attempting to be able to expose and process his negatives in such a way as to be able to get the absolute best from each and every exposure. In order to do that he needed to use cut film, which few would have used for some time. He tried various means until he had found what he considered to be a consistent and repeatable system. He called it the 'Zone System' and it is that around which this series was woven.

As most will these days use digital cameras for their photography, and only some continue with film, Adams' ideas cannot be wholly employed. As his technique was best employed on a per-image basis, it is not normally possible to apply it to multiple exposures on a single roll of film unless they are of a single scene and taken using identical exposures. Digital cameras have specific limitations in that any processing has to be applied in software or in camera and their exposure is actually more critical than with film if 'blown' pixels, gross under- or over-exposure of parts of any image, are to be avoided.

HDR techniques now commonly used, where multiple exposures are taken exposing one or two for the shadows, another one or two for the highlights and one for the mid-tones are combined into a single exposure where the best of all worlds are contained in a final image. These largely reflect the 'Zone System' but in a digital world. There is also pseudo-HDR software that can use a single image, analyse it and modify various portions of it to produce a result with HDR-like effects. The end result of both methods can be directly compared with and related to Adams' system.

The book is worth reading even now although many of his recommendations are now difficult to apply. There was, and may still be, a version where three of the series was combined into one book and that may save a little money.

I got the book really fast ( I live in Norway) and in perfect shape! :)

Well, if you really want to spend all those hours in the dark, you should really buy this one - the main lesson of Adams' "The Negative" is experiment, experimennt, experiment.

Even if you don't have time for that, there's always a good piece of advice in this one.