Re: Stouffer step tablets

Risa S. Horowitz (babbleon@terraport.net)
Tue, 15 Oct 1996 20:03:22 -0400

Half full or half empty?

I'm no step tablet wiz, and I certainly haven't got extensive experience
applying the zone system, but I think I have a basic understanding of the
concepts. I'd be just as content using one or the other, knowing that when I
know things, I tend to relate them to the other things i know.

for example: I just shot off a really contrasty roll of ilford's new
infrared film. I shot it at the rated speed, and developed it normally, in
the developer most highly recommended by the ilford literature. Driving home
from work I had a great discussion with myself about how creating contrast
with light differs/relates to creating contrast thru development. They
played back on themselves. I know, not a direct analogy, but close enough
given the point i'm trying to make...

Judy: do you ever relate the information you gather from step tablets to
what you know about the zone system?

Carson: do you ever relate what you gather from the zone system to what you
know about d.r. and step tablets?

Is it not possible for a knowledge of both to play back on eachother (and
then throw both out the window, as some on the technique vs. creativity
thread might recommend :))?

my beloved cow lady might say semantics is just semantics is just semantics
(or she'd just tell me to sit on a crown of thorns)

yours, all of you..
Risa
currently attempting to stop hiding behind technique (tho i've not mastered
it by any means), in order to let my creativity "soar freely" (not throw
technique away, just find a balance)
no matter the means...
among endless qualifying parenthetics