Whole Stops and Sunny f/16

Considering that photographs do not exist without light....this is one fundamental you want to master.  Of course, if all else fails (and you merely want a good photograph for yourself and your family) you can always set your camera to "Auto."  But as a photographer, that’s an appalling suggestion since most of us are control freaks - and the fact that we are in control of the final result is part of what we love about photography.

In learning how to use light, I first recommend learning the full stops of your Shutter Speed and Aperture.  Cameras these days offer wonderful control over the final image.  Where we used to only have full stops now you can use half and 1/3 stops to adjust the lighting of your picture!  But, if you are not familiar with stops, they can become confusing.  Learning the stops will help you take better images because once you’ve found the lighting you want but decide there is something else about the image you want to change you will be able to maintain the lighting.

Shutter Speed refers to the length of time the shutters remain open.  Each stop is double the light of the stop after it and half the light of the stop before it.  So, 1/15 lets in twice as much light as 1/30.  1/30 lets in half a much light as 1/15.  “As you change shutter speeds, you change the way in which motion is recorded on film.  The faster the shutter speed, the more an image will be a recording of a moment frozen in time.  Conversely, the slower the shutter speed, the longer the time the film is recording and, therefore, the blurrier the image.” (~John Shaw’s Nature Photography Field Guide p13 ©2000)  Moving water is a fantastic example of this.  If you set your shutter speed to a fast setting, you will “stop” the water in your image.  But if you set your shutter speed to a slow setting, you will capture an image that gives the impression of moving water as it will not be a clear image of the water.

Full Stops                    The actual length
as displayed                  of exposure

1                                      1 second
2                                      1/2 second
4                                      1/4 second
8                                      1/8 second
15                                    1/15 second
30                                    1/30 second
60                                    1/60 second
125                                  1/125 second
250                                  1/250 second
500                                  1/500 second
1000                                1/1000 second
*BE AWARE - "15" displayed on your camera does not mean 15 seconds, it means 1/15th of a second. "60" is not one minute, it is 1/60th of a second.  So, as you can see, the larger the number on the display, the less time light is allowed into your camera.

F-Stop refers to how wide open the shutters are while your film or computer chip is being exposed to light.  Like the shutter speeds, each stop allows double or half the exposure as the stop after or before it, respectively.

Apertures in full stops are:
f/1
f/1.4
f/2
f/2.8
f/4
f/5.6
f/8
f/11
f/16
f/22
*The larger the number the smaller the opening. A smaller number will indicate a lager opening.  It is helpful to remember that these numbers are actually fractions.

In class, my teacher used the analogy found on page 28 in Photography: Eighth Edition to help explain how shutter speed and aperture (f-stop) work together to allow light to work its magic. A water faucet is the example.  A water faucet opened up all the way for two seconds will yield the same amount of water as a water faucet opened up half way for four seconds.  The aperture controls how open the lens ("faucet") is while the shutter speed controls how long the water runs (shutters are open).  So, if you increase the size of the opening (aperture) by one stop and decrease the length of time the shutters remain open (f/stop or shutter speed) by one stop then you will maintain your lighting.  Alternatively, if you increase the size of the opening by one stop but leave the shutter speed the same, you will produce a lighter image than the original setting.  If you decrease the size of the opening by one stop and leave the shutter speed the same, your image will be darker than the original image.

He also taught us what is known as "Sunny f/16" and it is what I generally go by to determine what I will set my camera to for an image. I recently stumbled upon this article by Ron Day, a well published nature photographer, who explained the rule well, better than I can (believe me, I have rewritten this thing several times trying to find the best way to say it so you can understand it).  Here is a link to that article: * NOTE* for those who may not know, “ISO” references your film speed, which are still used by digital cameras (despite the fact that digital cameras do not use film).
Exposure without a Meter - The Sunny f/16 Rule

But, if you don't know your stops, the Sunny f/16 Rule won't be much use to you.  Hence, my first recommendation: Learn your whole stops.  “Once again, let me state that the more you learn to think in stop values, the easier it is to understand exposure” (~John Shaw’s Nature Photography Field Guide p13 ©2000) 

Purpose

"You learn the rules so you can Break the rules the right way." 
"If you are not making mistakes, you are not trying hard enough."
~Tres Elliot

These are two quotes frequently repeated by my photography teacher at Nossi College of Art in Nashville, TN.  He's right.  You learn how to take good pictures with the correct lighting, framing, etc.....SO you can develop an eye for how to take a GREAT picture by adjusting the rules to your preferences for that picture.  But in order to learn, you have to practice, practice, practice and then, you have to practice some more, and taking notes along the way isn't a bad idea.

Ultimately, that is why I am doing this blog.  My intent is to have a new blog up each week.  The goal is two fold: Obviously, I want to take better photographs myself, but I also want to provide tips to help you take better photographs at home. 

So I hope you will be looking for the "first" installment to come out about this time next week and that you think it's so good and helpful that you will share it with all your friends!

I'll be looking forward to your comments