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In photography, the sunny f/16 rule is a method to obtain correct exposure without using a light meter.
The basis of the sunny f/16 rule are
1. Set your shutter speed equal to one over your film speed.
2. Set f stop according to the following table :
|
Aperture |
Lighting Conditions |
Shadow Detail |
|
f/16 |
Sunny |
Distinct |
|
f/11 |
Slight Overcast |
Soft around edges |
|
f/8 |
Overcast |
Barely visible |
|
f/5.6 |
Heavy Overcast |
No shadows |
For example, to shoot 100 ISO speed film in sunny conditions, set the shutter speed to 1/100th, and the f-stop to f/16. Slight adjustment may be needed. For example, many cameras do not have a 1/100th of a second shutter speed, so 1/125th can be used. As with other light readings, the shutter speed can be changed, as long as the f-stop is compensated. For example, 1/200th of a second at f/11 would be equivalent to 1/100th at f/16, because the exposure time was cut in half, and the next f-stop was used.
Similar rules exist for moonlight photography.
The rule works well for daylight outside phography. As the rule is based on incident light an experienced photographer could get better exposure than with any measure system based on reflected light.
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