Product Description

The Negativeis the second volume in the acclaimed and highly influential The Ansel Adams Photography Series.This second volume is anchored by a detailed discussion of Adams' Zone System and his seminal concept of visualization. It presents detailed discussion ofartificial and natural light, film and exposure, and darkroom equipment and techniques. Numerous examples of Adams' work clarify the principles discussed. Handsomely illustrated with photographs by Adams as well as instructive line drawings, this classic manual can dramatically improve your photography.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16512 in Books
• Published on: 1995-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

About the Author
Ansel Adams (1902-1984) was one of the great artists and environmentalists of the twentieth century. In a remarkable career spanning more than sixty years, he made over 40,000 photographs. Adams was a master teacher as well as a master photographer, believing that his approach to photography was universally applicable. From 1955 until 1984 he conducted annual photography workshops, first in Yosemite and later in Carmel. But his most important and lasting contribution to the artistic, practical, and technical aspects of black-and-white photography was through his legendary technical series (revised several times since the initial publication in the early 1950s):The Camera, The Negative, and The Print.

Customer Reviews

An excellent technical reference
Concisely written in Adams' own scholarly style, "The Negative" is a valuable resource for photographers learning the foundation of technically correct (as opposed to generally good) base exposure in a variety of scenes, both pedestrian and those that are more conflicting. One must, however, consider that more than 4 decades have passed since the techniques were founded and the technology described can be viewed, in many cases, with a quaint tug at nostalgia. Today's evaluative and matrix metering systems, programmed along the Zone System, do a remarkable job where once exposure was tedious and error prone, and this is where learning the Zone System to competently handle difficult scenes is a useful addition to a photographer's "book of tricks". But despite the clarity of explanation and steps, Adams' Zone System remains a complex, intertwining system to understand (theory) and apply (field application); it never was and never will be a five-minute task. For B&W fine art photographers, "The Negative" holds a timeless reference quality with many techniques remaining the solid benchmarks for fine art production. In summary, a tremendously good read and a most valuable addition to any learned photographer's library.

The Negative (Ansel Adams Photography, Book 2)

Excellent information
I am new to large format photography. This book is extremly informative and focuses just on negative construction, manipulation and b&w processing. An excellent and timeless resource! Excellent for all formats!

A Must!!!
If film shooting is interesting to you (and you should; I'm 26 and grew up with cameras, then I move to digital, and recentlly, I discovered the wonders of a darkroom and BW prints) then this book is a MUST Well, the whole series)!!! there aren't enough words to emphasize my feelings over the 3 books of Ansel Adams (camera, negative & print)

If you don't believe me, then please take a deep look at Ansel's master BW work... that should convince you!!!