Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

The Sunny 16 rule also applies to digital. I used it often when I was shooing film and still use it today but not as often as I did during the film era. As you very well describe, other combinations of shutter speed and apertures can be used with the same results. An example is for someone using ISO 200 a base exposure of f16-1/200 sec. or using instead of f16 an aperture of f5.6 let's say to slightly blur the background. Now the new exposure based on the rule will be f5.6-1/1600 sec. The lens was opened 3 stops so the shutter speed will increase by 3 stops to comply with reciprocity.

It is an easy rule to use and saves time under sunny conditions.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Another complicated presentation for the Rule of 16, here is a better presentation.

The Rule of 16 is F16 were the shutter speed is 1/ISO (this is what ever your digital camera is set for as the speed or ISO).

There are TWO (2) critical modifiers you need to remember, ELIVATION and TIME OF YEAR.

Elevation: The Sunny 16 rule assumes you are at SEA LEVEL, IF you go up 5,000 feet you gain one stop of light (F16 becomes F22). If you go up to 10,000 feet you better be on oxygen (about where Mt. Everist height is.

Time of year: When it is winter, you loose one stop of light, So, F16 drops to F11.

I would explain this to students with a simple story. I take my camera (film), and do a photo of my parents in San Antonio on the 4th of July at their house (San Antonio is about 600 feet above sea level, close enough to sea level). So the exposure is F16 at 1/ISO, works for a digital camera as well.

For Christmas we are visiting my older brother in Santa Fe New Mexico, Well it is winter, so I loose one stop of light, BUT it is Santa Fe, and we are about at an elevation of 5,000 feet, so I gain back that stop of light!

The appearance of the Rule of 16 seems to hold. BUT, that is because I understand why I gained and lost an F stop in opposite directions.

So THREE things to keep in mind always. The Rule of 16 (which holds at sea level in summer time), your elevation (5,000 feet you gain one stop of light*) and the time of year (is it summer or winter).

*Elevation detail: If you are in a plane flying and decide to go 'clouding' out the window, ask the piolet what elevation the plane (and you and your camera are), at 10,000 feet you will get one stop of light. Beyond this elevation (10,000 feet) be advised that there are all sorts of atmospheric issues that are too detailed to go into, so just stick to two (2) stops of exposure increase.

A great advisory, ignore The Rule of 16 and look into BDE, BDE is Basic Daylight Exposure. This was created by the instructors at Brooks Institute. These directions were worked out by practical exercises for years by the students and faculty of Brooks. They began with the Rule of 16, but expanded it into a comprehensive exposure guide. Over the years I have found that this is better than an information available to photographers. When expensive meters fail, when back in the day where Polaroid test shots never produced reliable results, the BDE chart of Brooks always got you results.

Example: Fireworks, what is the exposure? BDE says BDE minus 6 stops. So using creativity, one finds that an ISO 100 film or digital setting works great. The camera lens is at infinity (no focus needed) and one finds that if you have your polarizer filter you can use that to drop your ISO by about two stops so you can do long exposures of 2 and 4 seconds by bracing the camera on the hood or roof of the car instead of the clunky tripod and the lens stopped down. The practical photographer!

At the beach in bright sand your exposure in summer at of course sea level (you're on a beach!) will actually be BDE PLUS one stop (F22 at 1/ISO).

Thanks Brooks for BDE!

Specialty historic note: Mist all makers of film use a standard reference for both B&W and color film that was established by the Eastman Kodak film company. It is important to know and most workers have no clue. Unless other wise noted, film has a reciprocity factor of 1/50 second at 'normal' temperature (room temperature, 68F).

If you vary from this 'standard**' reciprocity factor, then exposure adjustments should be made.

** what are the reference variables for the 1/50 second? You will find these under something in science called Schwarzschild effect and reverse Schwarzschild effect.

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Oh yeah, that’s much less complicated.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

I hope your no making fun.

Some want the detail, so I give it.


The critical thing is to remember three things, The short and simple:
"THREE things to keep in mind always.
The Rule of F16 (which holds at sea level in summertime only); your elevation (5,000 feet you gain one stop of light*); and the time of year (is it summer, or in winter you lose one stop of light)."

Simple, with no details.

BebuLamar

Sunny 16? EV14.7@ISO100. That's all.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Yes.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

And this is a simplification?

BebuLamar

And that's simple. With that one should be able to figure out any combination of aperture, shutter speed and ISO that meet that condition in one's head.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

I tried the EV system and found that it did not simplify my thinking. It distracted my thinking with math, being dyslexic my mind does not do well with numbers. Long ago I had developed some simple techniques for numbers. ISO is simple, double and half-ing the number in use and that it was used with the shutter speed, it is why for me, "The Exposure Triangle" is a total failure, it tries to complicate the simplistic reality that ISO is just shutter speed.

The f stops are simple, one f stop is related to double or half of the next one two f stops away.
So one just needs to know the string of two adjacent f stops, but because in the old days with film these are clearly displayed of the lens ring. I know that digital has failures in this regard, but then I use the focus ring and the f stop ring on the lens to control depth of field and focus.

This is why I'm a mirrorless camera user. I don't need auto focus for my work, have never liked it. Example, I'm in a studio shooting and I set the lens so that no matter where I am in that room I will be in focus with the aperture at a setting from 20 feet to a foot. So why bother to focus? The image is in focus in that room with in a foot of my subject.

In my work I want simplicity of technology, not distractions from visualizing my subject. Out in the world the same applies. If a tree is out of focus beyond 20 feet what do I care? In most images they appear sharp.

So that is why I do not use EV as an exposure system, I perfectly comfortable with f stops and shutter speeds. Or, as I learned, KISS, Keep It Simple Stupid.

BebuLamar

f stop and shutter speed are the same as an EV number. Only that the EV number can represent a lot of combination of shutter speed and aperture that give he same exposure. I can do the conversion between f stop and shutter speed to EV or vice versa in my head and in 1/3 stop increment.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

The secret here is as stated, "Your Head", not my head, that is the difference. Besides, what I do works just fine for me. Have fun making images, that is what matters to me.

RodeoMan Loc: St Joseph, Missouri

I think the Sunny Sixteen would great to use if you're operating without an exposure meter, but with the price of film and developing these days I'd be inclined to rely on a good meter.

BebuLamar

The sunny 16 is very reliable but... it's only sunny 16 and even if you only shoot outdoor it's not always sunny. Could be overcast or sunny but in shaded area it could be cloudy or even rain or snow. You need to know the brightness of those conditions too not just the sunny 16.

Timmers Loc: San Antonio Texas.

Sunny 16 is great and light meters are great tools BUT, there is nothing like knowledge and common sense augmented by school house smarts.

People who shoot plants should be reminded regarding photolysis. Plants and trees eat light, they don't reflect back that light and they don't consume bands of the spectrum evenly.

Using natural light be aware of the conditions for rain. Rain will tell you how much light is lost in a scene. Before the rain there is a certain spectrum of light, after a good soaking there is a different spectrum of light. So, one might want to understand that to secure light that is dominant for areas of the spectrum.

Great information about sunlight can be gotten from Ansel Adams book Natural Light Photography in his classic series on Basic Photography.