This assignment can be considered a follow-on to our previous "High Key" assignment. In that assignment, I described how the term "high key" describes an image with predominately light tones, and stated that high key images are often used to produce a dreamy or ethereal mood. Scenes that lend themselves to high-key treatment are low contrast and evenly illuminated, for example a snow scene under flat light, or a landscape enveloped in fog. For the high key assignment, I mentioned that the photographer would probably need to over-expose slightly from their camera's recommended exposure reading, taking care not to "blow out" or clip significant areas of the scene. (Our goal was to attempt to keep the tonal ranges in the image primarily in the upper half of the RGB values.)
By contrast, “low key” images emphasize the dark tones, and impart an ominous or mysterious feeling and are used to convey drama or tension. When exposing a low key image we should attempt to keep the bulk of the tonal ranges in the lower half of the histogram; however, there should be detail visible in the dark tones. While this is not intended to be a "Zone III" assignment, you can see from referencing the attached Zone System diagram that Zone III (typically two stops below "mid-tone") is the darkest zone where we can reasonably expect to see clearly visible detail in the image. Therefore, our "low key" image should primarily be composed of tonalities in Zones III and IV.
(http://spiritofphotography.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10001/image001.jpg)
Zone I Black without any texture
Zone II Black with slight suggestion of tonality
Zone III Darkest areas that still retains visible detail
Zone IV Average shadows in landscapes/portraits
Zone V Middle Gray - 18% gray card
Zone VI Average Caucasian skin
Zone VII Lightest areas that retain visible detail
Zone VIII White areas with slightly visible textures
Zone IX Glaring white surfaces - Highlights
Zone X A light source (maximum white)
Sheila Ancheta's Looming Storm image was a great example of a low key image:
(http://spiritofphotography.com/coppermine/albums/userpics/10153/Looming_Storm_in_Color.jpg)
Looming Storm
Photographed by Sheila Ancheta
Please upload your images to the "Low Key" album in the Weekly Assignments category of the Gallery no-later-than midnight, Mountain Time (GMT -07:00) on Sunday, 28 March 2010.