What if Ansel Adams used Photoshop and Lightroom?

nikos79 · Mar 11, 2025

I think Ansel would probably become a programmer or a manager and join Adobe meetings giving them instructions on what to implement
Just imagine:

He’d Have ZERO Tolerance for Instagram Filters
"What do you mean 'Vintage Film Look'? I spent my entire career mastering tonal contrast, and you want to slap on a ‘1970s Sunset’ filter? You're fired."

"Dodge & Burn" renamed to "Zone System Controls"
"Vibrance" slider permanently disabled

Forget JPEG, PNG, or even TIFF. Ansel Adams would introduce the .ZONE64 format—where every image is automatically analyzed for proper tonal balance

Every file would take five minutes to load, and you’d have to manually dodge and burn with a stylus the size of a darkroom tongs. No UNDO button—just "live with your mistakes and be better."

There are only TWO tiers:

$9.99/month – “I Pre-Visualize” Plan (Full access, but with mandatory lessons on tonal contrast.)
$99.99/month – “I Just Click Auto” Plan (Every time you adjust highlights, you get a passive-aggressive pop-up that says, "Ansel would be disappointed.")

AI Features Would Be… Unacceptable

AI Sky Replacement? Banned.
Generative Fill? Deleted.
Content-Aware Fill? Rebranded to “Go Back and Reshoot It” Mode.
Exposure sliders disabled
White balance? Nope, use your eyes.
Histogram? Only visible if you pass a 10-question test on tonal range.

The New "Auto" Button?

Under Ansel’s regime, it’s now called “The Button of Shame.”

The Lightroom Preset Store Would Be… Different
Instead of trendy filters named Moody Sunset or Cinematic Blues, you’d get things like:

Zone III Mastery
Weston’s Pepper Noir
Moonrise Over Your Mediocre Composition

nikos79 · Mar 11, 2025

Some more Ansel Adams inspired Lightroom Presets:

"F/64 Forever"

This preset automatically applies razor-sharp clarity to everything in the image, because "bokeh is for the weak."

If Lightroom detects any blur at all, it adds a notification:
"Your depth of field disappoints Ansel."

Trying to shoot wide open? Lightroom responds with:
"Not in my landscape, you don’t."

"AA Noise Reduction – Adams Approved"

Instead of removing noise, this preset adds realistic film grain and a note that says:
"Digital noise is ugly. Film grain is character."

If you try to remove grain, Lightroom adds even more, just to prove a point.

"No Lazy Landscapes"

If Lightroom detects lackluster composition, this preset automatically adds dramatic clouds, deep shadows, and a random mountain peak—because Ansel wouldn’t settle for anything less.

"Yosemite or Bust"

This preset scans your location data and if you're not in a national park, it lowers the image quality to teach you a lesson.

If you took your shot in an urban setting, Lightroom desaturates everything except for trees and sends you a warning:
"Nature is calling. You should go."
If Lightroom detects you took your photo in a national park, it applies perfect black-and-white tonal balance.

If your location data doesn’t match an iconic landscape, Lightroom sends you an email with hiking recommendations

"Zone V or Die Trying"

This preset automatically equalizes all tones to pure middle gray because, according to Ansel, you clearly didn’t pre-visualize your exposure correctly.

If you try to add contrast, Lightroom locks you out for 10 minutes with a pop-up that says: "Try again when you've learned the tonal scale.

“Dramatic Skies, Whether You Deserve Them or Not”

This preset automatically enhances clouds to Adams-approved dramatic levels.

If Lightroom detects a clear, boring sky, it applies a pop-up that says:
"Did you even check the weather forecast before heading out? Amateur."

If you used an ND filter, Lightroom boosts contrast even further as a reward for doing things properly.

“One Shot, One Masterpiece”

If Lightroom detects multiple photos of the same scene, it picks ONE image and deletes the rest from your catalog.

A message pops up:
"Ansel never needed burst mode. Why do you?"

albireo · Mar 11, 2025

nikos79 said:
Some more Ansel Adams inspired Lightroom Presets:

"F/64 Forever"
This preset automatically applies razor-sharp clarity to everything in the image, because "bokeh is for the weak."

If Lightroom detects any blur at all, it adds a notification:
"Your depth of field disappoints Ansel."

Trying to shoot wide open? Lightroom responds with:
"Not in my landscape, you don’t."

"AA Noise Reduction – Adams Approved"
Instead of removing noise, this preset adds realistic film grain and a note that says:
"Digital noise is ugly. Film grain is character."

If you try to remove grain, Lightroom adds even more, just to prove a point.

"No Lazy Landscapes"
If Lightroom detects lackluster composition, this preset automatically adds dramatic clouds, deep shadows, and a random mountain peak—because Ansel wouldn’t settle for anything less.

"Yosemite or Bust"
This preset scans your location data and if you're not in a national park, it lowers the image quality to teach you a lesson.

If you took your shot in an urban setting, Lightroom desaturates everything except for trees and sends you a warning:
"Nature is calling. You should go."
If Lightroom detects you took your photo in a national park, it applies perfect black-and-white tonal balance.

If your location data doesn’t match an iconic landscape, Lightroom sends you an email with hiking recommendations

"Zone V or Die Trying"
This preset automatically equalizes all tones to pure middle gray because, according to Ansel, you clearly didn’t pre-visualize your exposure correctly.

If you try to add contrast, Lightroom locks you out for 10 minutes with a pop-up that says: "Try again when you've learned the tonal scale.

“Dramatic Skies, Whether You Deserve Them or Not”
This preset automatically enhances clouds to Adams-approved dramatic levels.

If Lightroom detects a clear, boring sky, it applies a pop-up that says:
"Did you even check the weather forecast before heading out? Amateur."

If you used an ND filter, Lightroom boosts contrast even further as a reward for doing things properly.

“One Shot, One Masterpiece”
If Lightroom detects multiple photos of the same scene, it picks ONE image and deletes the rest from your catalog.

A message pops up:
"Ansel never needed burst mode. Why do you?"

You're on a roll!

slackercrurster · Mar 11, 2025

Photographica said:
I've always been a fan of Adams' work. As I studied how he created such stunning results, I greatly appreciated his work process. Adams is quoted as saying,
"The negative is the equivalent of the composer's score, and the print the performance."
Much of his artistry was created in the darkroom - after capturing the image.

It makes me wonder "What if Ansel Adams had used Photoshop/Lightroom or equivalent post processing digital tools?"

He was a master of dodging, burning, and tone control in all his prints. I can't help but wonder if the digital workspace would have taken his artistry further or would it have been pretty much the same.

What do you think?

From what I recall, he talked about being a fan of computers in photography. (But can't remember where I heard it. (YT? A DVD?) I think he would go for it as long as it improved things or did the same quality and he was not able to do the work he normally did due to age.

People...

You can't do this level of work with analog only...you need digital. Will you all admit that or are you going to fight me on it?

This is 2.5 hours of Lightroom + single image invisible HDR.

I started with film back in '69...I know the score, I never lie to you.

Analog print left/ digital file right. 2.5 hours of Lightroom + invisible HDR.

20 Ansel Adams could not do this. And it is not like I'm a great printer or anything. But at this time this is what I did. Maybe I could not even do this good anymore. I'm just saying this has been dodged and burned in hundreds of areas + single image HDR and you ain't going to do that in the darkroom.

Sunlit Slipper 1973 L.A.

Shot when I was 19. Camera, tripod and available light!

miha · Mar 11, 2025

@slackercrurster Great photograph, but the lighting looks unnatural after 2.5 hours of LR work, IMO.

Vaughn · Mar 11, 2025

slackercrurster said:
From what I recall, he talked about being a fan of computers in photography. (But can't remember where I heard it. (YT? A DVD?) I think he would go for it as long as it improved things or did the same quality and he was not able to do the work he normally did due to age.

People...

You can't do this level of work with analog only...you need digital. Will you all admit that or are you going to fight me on it?
...

20 Ansel Adams could not do this.

Shot when I was 19. Camera, tripod and available light!

#1 Twenty Ansels may not be interested in making an image similar to your LR image. It is a very striking. An interesting thing is that, over-all, it has an AI, or painted-with-light quality to it...via the LR alterations to the light perhaps. Yet the appearance of the skin tones and hair say (almost yell) old-school film. Sort of like the impact of a split-toned print. It works.

#2 Excellent printers exist, or did, that could handle that in an analog manner...possibly using masks. Laborious...get the good print and make a copy negative from it for further printing.

#3 Nineteen years old...very cool. Nice to have the tools now to discover more in older work.

Don_ih · Mar 11, 2025

slackercrurster said:
digital file right

I'm just curious what size negative and how you scanned it. You definitely did a good job with the adjustments.

MattKing · Mar 11, 2025

This thread makes me think of "How many Ansels could dance on a pin"?

retina_restoration · Mar 11, 2025

slackercrurster said:
From what I recall, he talked about being a fan of computers in photography. (But can't remember where I heard it. (YT? A DVD?) I think he would go for it as long as it improved things or did the same quality and he was not able to do the work he normally did due to age.

People...

You can't do this level of work with analog only...you need digital. Will you all admit that or are you going to fight me on it?

This is 2.5 hours of Lightroom + single image invisible HDR.

I started with film back in '69...I know the score, I never lie to you.

Analog print left/ digital file right. 2.5 hours of Lightroom + invisible HDR.

20 Ansel Adams could not do this. And it is not like I'm a great printer or anything. But at this time this is what I did. Maybe I could not even do this good anymore. I'm just saying this has been dodged and burned in hundreds of areas + single image HDR and you ain't going to do that in the darkroom.

Sunlit Slipper 1973 L.A.

Shot when I was 19. Camera, tripod and available light!

The first image conveys a sense of the light environment. The second one does not. I'll take a photo that delivers a believable sense of light any day, over one that has had every drop of information squeezed out of it by a digital tool. JMO, of course.

albireo · Mar 11, 2025

retina_restoration said:
The first image conveys a sense of the light environment. The second one does not. I'll take a photo that delivers a believable sense of light any day, over one that has had every drop of information squeezed out of it by a digital tool. JMO, of course.

very well put, +1

GregY · Mar 11, 2025

retina_restoration said:
The first image conveys a sense of the light environment. The second one does not. I'll take a photo that delivers a believable sense of light any day, over one that has had every drop of information squeezed out of it by a digital tool. JMO, of course.

Yes!

MurrayMinchin · Mar 11, 2025

retina_restoration said:
The first image conveys a sense of the light environment. The second one does not. I'll take a photo that delivers a believable sense of light any day, over one that has had every drop of information squeezed out of it by a digital tool. JMO, of course.

Try looking at it as a demonstration of how much detail can be teased out.

I think AA would have gotten into pin registered sharp and unsharp masking techniques for enlarging negatives. Gives incredible control, and if used with a 'light hand' is imperceptible to the viewer.

nikos79 · Mar 11, 2025

I see editing as the interpretation of a musical piece—the core artistic value of a photograph lies in its raw essence. The foundation is already there. That said, I appreciate this photograph in both versions but I tend a bit towards the first due to its abstraction. It actually reminds me of a nude photograph André Kertész took on a couch.

Sirius Glass · Mar 11, 2025

Hassasin said:
AA did use Photoshop of his day. Final print typically had little to do with the negative used.

Correct. Why speculate about something we will never know?

Harry Callahan · Mar 11, 2025

retina_restoration said:
The first image conveys a sense of the light environment. The second one does not. I'll take a photo that delivers a believable sense of light any day, over one that has had every drop of information squeezed out of it by a digital tool. JMO, of course.

One problem of digital. You can manipulate (much) more than in analog. Truth content with digital is problematic.

Kilgallb · Mar 31, 2025

I asked my brother, a professional musician, a similar question, what would Beethoven have done with modern recording equipment.

His answer was, Beethoven wrote 32 part harmonies, everyone else wrote 2 and 3 parts. It would be different, but fantastic.

Great artists, are great no matter the tools.

What if Ansel Adams used Photoshop and Lightroom?

nikos79

The New "Auto" Button?

nikos79

"F/64 Forever"

"AA Noise Reduction – Adams Approved"

"No Lazy Landscapes"

"Yosemite or Bust"

"Zone V or Die Trying"

“Dramatic Skies, Whether You Deserve Them or Not”

“One Shot, One Masterpiece”

albireo

"F/64 Forever"

"AA Noise Reduction – Adams Approved"

"No Lazy Landscapes"

"Yosemite or Bust"

"Zone V or Die Trying"

“Dramatic Skies, Whether You Deserve Them or Not”

“One Shot, One Masterpiece”

slackercrurster

miha

Vaughn

Don_ih

MattKing

Moderator

retina_restoration

albireo

GregY

MurrayMinchin

Membership Council

nikos79

Sirius Glass

Harry Callahan

Kilgallb

What if Ansel Adams used Photoshop and Lightroom?

The New "Auto" Button?​

"F/64 Forever"​

"AA Noise Reduction – Adams Approved"​

"No Lazy Landscapes"​

"Yosemite or Bust"​

"Zone V or Die Trying"​

“Dramatic Skies, Whether You Deserve Them or Not”​

“One Shot, One Masterpiece”​

"F/64 Forever"​

"AA Noise Reduction – Adams Approved"​

"No Lazy Landscapes"​

"Yosemite or Bust"​

"Zone V or Die Trying"​

“Dramatic Skies, Whether You Deserve Them or Not”​

“One Shot, One Masterpiece”​

Moderator

Membership Council

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency

The New "Auto" Button?

"F/64 Forever"

"AA Noise Reduction – Adams Approved"

"No Lazy Landscapes"

"Yosemite or Bust"

"Zone V or Die Trying"

“Dramatic Skies, Whether You Deserve Them or Not”

“One Shot, One Masterpiece”

"F/64 Forever"

"AA Noise Reduction – Adams Approved"

"No Lazy Landscapes"

"Yosemite or Bust"

"Zone V or Die Trying"

“Dramatic Skies, Whether You Deserve Them or Not”

“One Shot, One Masterpiece”