Sunny 16 Tips

[toby_broadhurst1]

The batteries are out and the meter is off.

 

I'm trying to get to grips with Sunny 16 - not the basics, but with

those tricky situations that don't quite fit into the rule.

 

The idea is for me to be able to meter instinctively and sufficiently

well to expose reversal film reasonably accurately.

 

I've read Fred Parker, unblinkingeye.com and many of the

threads on this site. And I'm aware that much of the "feel and

judgement" attached to instinctive metering comes with years of

experience, but what I'd be interested in nevertheless is

anyone's experience, tips, things to avoid, and anything else that

might be interesting or useful.

 

Toby

[lutz]

Toby, <P>You already mentioned it: Experience is all there is to replace a lightmeter. Sticking to one film, one ISO over an extended period helps progressing. The unblinkingeye.com site is helpful, yes, and there was another list of the good dozen of recurrent lighting situations that you may possibly encounter in the real world. I think Mani knew where to find it, haven't bookmarked it... And, yes, make sure to read (at waistlevel) what you finally found if you use your lightmeter at eyelevel, and try to guess exposures beforehand. Speeds up the learning, too.

[lutz]

Addendum:<P>Important part of gaining experience is to make "errors", i.e. - willingly under- and overexpose according to what the meter says! Only by that you will understand the whats and whys. Good light!

[doug_hagerman]

Reversal film (i.e. slide film) has a pretty narrow tolerance for over and underexposure. You will want to bracket your exposures.

 

Even with negative (i.e. print) film, it's hard to estimate exposure in areas of deep shadow and in artificial light. It gets dark in the shade faster than you think, so in that case you need to open things up pretty aggressively. Inside, there's a lot of guessing going on...

[dlegaspi]

<a href="http://www.fredparker.com/ultexp1.htm">You don't need no stinkin' light meter :-) </a>

[bob haight]

Stick to one shutter speed where possible of the reciprocal to the film speed. For 400 shoot at 500 and 100 at 125, etc. This allows you to only have to estimate the aperture setting. Start to vary your shutter speed and I thinks its gets real complicated quick. I spent Sat shooting with a IIIg and a "dead" meter and was very pleased with the sunny 16 rule and the results, albeit not by chioce.

[roger_michel]

for the past fifteen years or so, i have used a meter very seldom now for outdoor, handheld 35mm/mf photography. (however, for my LF work, i am fanatical about my spot metering technique). the key to success for me was ALWAYS thinking in terms of "how many stops down from full sun (i.e. shutter at 1/[film speed] and f16) is my subject??" the answer, as verified by my meter in the early going, was, of course, almost never more than five or six stops, and usually no more than three or four. this meant that i was basically trying to discern between three to five EVs (i was using a 501c/m at the time which made thinking in terms of EVs easy). fairly easy. if you are using a camera with an EV scale, you can easily tinker with both stop and speed -- the EV scale is all you have to concentrate on. however, if you do not have such a luxury, i definitely agree that choosing one speed is the way to start. then just click down the requisite number of stops from f16 to suit your subject. forget about memorizing charts with sample scenes. that's silly. just walk around, guess exposure, and then verify with a meter -- making sure that you take into account backlighting effects, subject tone, etc. gradually, your eye will become as accurate as the meter, and MUCH MUCH less prone to getting fooled. i find now that i am much faster using my eye than a meter -- and more accurate if i only have a short time to make a calculation. this is an easy skill. those who think it black magic have never tried it in a serious way. anybody can meter by eye with a small amount of practice.

[kaiblanke]

It is possible to master just about any situation w/o a light meter, but requires a bit, but not a lot of experience. Recently in my trekking holidays my light meter broke and in consequence I shot about 20 slide films w/o metering. About 10-20% of those pictures were over- or underexposed, a rate which I consider not too bad given the various situations I was in (from thunderstorms to bright sunshine, inside and outside, ...).

Just keep in mind that normal shadow is about 3 stops less than bright sun, and with this difference in mind you might guess fast which exposure you need for more tricky situations.

[rick_koo]

I've had pretty good luck by assessing each situation in two ways:

 

1) How many stops of exposure below bright sunlight is it? In my experience, indoors during the day is generally 6-8, indoors at night around 10-11, bars may run 13-15 stops below. No way getting around experience or educated guessing here.

 

2) How much light gathering power do I have for my lens and film speed combination? I think in terms of the difference between maximum aperture and f/16 for the lens, and the difference between 1/ISO and the longest acceptable shutter speed for the film.

 

 

My 50 'cron gives me six stops wide open (the difference between f/2.0 and f/16) and Tri-X would provide another four stops of speed if I'm shooting at 1/30s (the difference between 1/500 and 1/30, estimating EI500). So indoors at night, I pretty much know with this combination I'd be somewhere around 1/30-1/15s wide open to get a proper exposure at 10-11 stops below full sun.

 

By extension I can, e.g., walk into a dimly lit bar with my 50 'cron and Delta 3200 rated at 6400 (don't laugh, it actually looks okay to me at 5x7) and know that I can shoot down to 14-15 stops below full sun. From there, I can just adjust aperture or shutter speed to adjust for different lighting, subject movement, state of inebriation, etc. Simple, eh?

 

Regards,

[albert_smith]

My success with the sunny 16 trick improved when I stopped looking at the light and started looking at the shadows. This precludes problems with variables like sun glasses or spotty light due to less than uniform cloud cover. Ignore the perceived light, and look at the quality (intensity) of the shadows. In time you will be able to judge the exposure from how sharp or diffused the shadows are. This is easier for me than trying to guess what "cloudy-bright" (film box lingo) means.

[douglas k.]

Try this site: http://www.pinkheadedbug.com/techniques/exposure.html

[lutz]

Thanks, Douglas,<P>That is the table I was vaguely remembering. Use it as a reference, but on location keep your eyes open and make the concious decisions no light meter can make for you: Do I want this lighting situation to be averaged? Or do I rather want to preserve it's blazing (or subdued) key? Do I need detailed shadows - or is their pitch darkness what really attracted me in the first place?

[andy_piper2]

Toby: Cloudy-bright is always the toughest - overcasts can thicken and thin again enough to make a 2-stop exposure change without being perceptible to the eye (since they change smoothly). I ALWAYS had to haul out the hand-held meter to check.

 

In sunlight:

 

1) pick a base exposure EQUIVALENT to "Sunny 16" but at a reasonable shutter speed - e.g. for Velvia (real EI 32-40) I use 1/250 @ f/6.8 instead of 1/60 @ f/11-16. Always starting from the same shutter/aperture settings makes the calculations more automatic and intuitive.

 

2) Shoot one bracketed test roll to 'dial in' corrections for - the shady side of the street; backlight; sidelight. I've found the following (but you may choose slightly different corrections): Open shade - open up 3.5 stops; backlight - open up 2 stops; side-light - open up 1 stop; low sun within 1 hour of dawn or sunset - open up 1 stop and add that to the other corrections.

 

Since getting M6s I've checked these estimates against the meter, and the camera confirms my guesses with a perfectly balanced red circle every time (so far).

[graham_line]

Andy Piper gave great advice. You need to learn what Sunny 16 is in your neighborhood; here in the Pacific NW it's more like Sunny 11 except for June, July and August. Another rule to keep in mind is that Sunny 16 works for front light, but you open a stop for every 90 degrees the main light source moves -- 1 stop for side light, 2 stops for back light. For years, my exposures were determined with the film data sheet to set exposure, later checked against a $25 Gossen Scout meter. There are few losers in the stack, as far as exposure.

[dpablo]

I have found that spending the time to take notes really helps you in

understanding exposure. Recently, I've taken the time to wright down

each exposure and some of the values around my subject -- in addition,

notes on time of day and what the sun was doing. I don't suggest this

as everyday use but if you have the time you'll really begin to see

what the difference is in shooting on the meter versus what your

intuition says. I've found that exposing one stop over the darkest

part of your frame usually produces beautiufl black and whites. I

print myself so I am more aware of what I can print "down" and

therefore tend to foucs on getting the dark areas exposed more

correctly. This sometimes seems like i'm overexposing my subject by

two and three stops but in the dark room with neg film you need to get

those shadow details (even on semi-overcast days) or you'll be hurting

in the darkroom. Try taking notes because it's often hard to picture

in your mind the difference in values if opening up a stop or closing

down a stop. And remember, meters simply give you a starting point

and it's up to you to determine what it is you exposing for and how

much you're willing to lose with regard to shadow and