Rick Baker
07-10-2005, 10:31 PM
http://www.rickbakerimages.com/photography_advice/sunny_f16_rule.html
There are some things every good photographer should know and "The Sunny f/16 Rule" is one of them. It is pretty simple, but it will help you get the right exposure on a sunny day. The basic idea is that on a sunny day, set your camera's aperture to f/16 and set the shutter speed to 1/ISO of the film you are using. For example, you are out taking pictures of "The Mittens" and there's not a cloud in the sky and you are using 100 ISO film. You can get a good exposure without any automatic settings by using an aperture of f/16 and a shutter speed of 1/100 or 1/125, whatever is the closest on your camera. This rule only applies to front lit subjects on a fully sunny day. If there are a few clouds and the sunlight is hazy then up the aperture to f/11. If there are many clouds, use f/8. If it is heavily overcast and there are no shadows, use f/5.6. This rule applies to both positive and negative film, but remember that negative film has a wider range of film latitude and is more lenient than slide film, where the right stop is more necessary.
Article by Rick and Jeremy Baker
There are some things every good photographer should know and "The Sunny f/16 Rule" is one of them. It is pretty simple, but it will help you get the right exposure on a sunny day. The basic idea is that on a sunny day, set your camera's aperture to f/16 and set the shutter speed to 1/ISO of the film you are using. For example, you are out taking pictures of "The Mittens" and there's not a cloud in the sky and you are using 100 ISO film. You can get a good exposure without any automatic settings by using an aperture of f/16 and a shutter speed of 1/100 or 1/125, whatever is the closest on your camera. This rule only applies to front lit subjects on a fully sunny day. If there are a few clouds and the sunlight is hazy then up the aperture to f/11. If there are many clouds, use f/8. If it is heavily overcast and there are no shadows, use f/5.6. This rule applies to both positive and negative film, but remember that negative film has a wider range of film latitude and is more lenient than slide film, where the right stop is more necessary.
Article by Rick and Jeremy Baker