Post by lerma on Sept 5, 2006 10:17:13 GMT 7
Just copied this from photoworld manila tutorials...this might help in our next (afternoon) shoot at the hangar... 
Mind Over Meter
The meter in your headLike depending on pocket calculators, entrusting everything to automatic exposure programs can make you overdependent on machines and occasionally result in wrong exposures.
PART 1 OF THREE PARTS
Look Ma, No Meter
CAMERAS TODAY are so technologically advanced that you’d wonder why they still have metered manual mode at all. (Even the name by which the mode is known, “Manual Override,” is a sneaky way of saying, “Automatic is the natural scheme of things; manual exposure is seditious.”)
So why bother going manual, anyway? Let’s look at a couple of reasons, both perfectly sensible.
1. You’re shooting a series under the same lighting (heck, last time I looked the sun was still 93 million miles away, so there’s no light falloff from Marikina Valley to the Banaue) and want to keep the tonal values the same across your images. An automatic meter reading would change slightly as it reads differently toned scenes.
2. You’re shooting scenes with either specular highlights such as shimmering lakes or dark holes such as shaded forests.
3. (Oops, did I say a couple of reasons?) Due to humidity or errant electromagnetic charges in the atmosphere, your trusted meter starts behaving strangely.
So what do you do in these situations? Use the exposure meter in your head, otherwise known as the “Sunny-16” rule, which is applicable from midmorning till mid-afternoon, around 9:30–10:00 a.m. to 3:30–4:00 p.m.
To make this rule work, you determine the intensity of sunlight by looking not at the sun or the sky but at the ground.
PART 2 OF THREE PARTS
Batteries Not Included
LET ME JUST repeat that: To make this rule work, you determine the intensity of sunlight by looking not at the sun or the sky but at the ground—specifically the shadows on the ground.
Set your shutter speed to 1/ISO, where ISO is the shutter speed number closest to the ISO sensitivity rating of your film or image sensor.
For example:1/250 sec. for ISO 200
1/500 sec. for ISO 400
1.Bright sun, distinct shadows
If the shadows have distinct, well-defined edges, usef/16 at 1/ISO sec.
2. Hazy sun, soft shadowsIf your shadow on the ground has fuzzy edges—visible but with soft, feathery edges, usef/11 at 1/ISO sec.
3. Cloudy bright, no shadows
On a bright day, when shadows are invisible or barely visible, it means the sun is hiding behind clouds, and your scene is being lit by sunlight bouncing off the sky, like a studio umbrella, and filtered through the clouds, like a studio softbox.f/8 at 1/ISO sec.
4. Heavy overcast, dark clouds, no shadows
This is like Scene 3 above, except the clouds are dark not white.f/5.6 at 1/ISO sec.
5. Bright sun, open shade
When your subject is in the shade of a tall vertical structure such as a building, with the bright sunlight or sunny skies of Scene 1 overhead, this is called open shade. The subject is in shade but is receiving light coming in from three directions, if not four (top, front, left, right). Notice that this last qualification excludes enclosed shades, such as inside garages, or in alleys between buildings.f/5.6 at 1/ISO sec.
6. Bright sun, distinct shadows, beach or snow
This is exactly like Scene 1 above, except you’re shooting on a beach or snow. There is additional light bouncing off the beach/sea or snow, therefore you need to close down one stop from Scene 1,f/22 at 1/ISO sec.If your lens does not have f/22, then stop down the shutter speed:f/16 at 1/(ISO × 2) sec.
For example, for ISO 100 you will set eitherf/22 at 1/125 sec.or f/16 at 1/250 sec. (ISO × 2)
PART 3 OF THREE PARTS
The Shadow Side of the Sun
The "Sunny-16" rule explained in Part 2 works largely:
between the hours of 9:30-10:00 a.m. and 3:30-4:00 p.m.
for the so-called "master shots" and "wide shots" which take in much of the scene, rather than closeups of particular subjects.
What if you wish to pick out (zoom in on or come close to) a subject such as a person or tree or flower? There are some tweaks you need to be aware of to capture the subject properly.
7. Bright sun, distinct shadows, sidelighting
This is the same as Scene 1 in Part 2, where you learned to use f/16 at 1/ISO sec. But when you zoom in on a subject which is sidelit, your concern is not a wide-shot scenery, where shadows are left as shadows and highlights are left as highlights, but an isolated subject, part of which is in shadow. To keep detail in the shadow side of a sidelit subject, add one stop to Sunny 16:
f/16 + 1 stop = f/11 at 1/ISO sec
8. Bright sun, distinct shadows, backlighting
As you go around your subject to the side opposite the sun, you need to add two stops to Sunny 16 to avoid underexposing your subject. The sky or scenery in the background will overexpose, of course, but that is typical of the exposure adjustment given backlit subjects in bright sunlight.
f/16 + 2 stops = f/8 at 1/ISO sec.
Caveat for digital camera users
For the “Sunny-16” technique to work, you must make sure to turn off the auto ISO function and set your camera ISO manually. Remember that the shutter speed setting for “Sunny-16” exposures is the reciprocal of your ISO, expressed as 1/ISO, and you’d get wrong exposures if the camera automatically switched ISO sensitivities without your knowledge.
refer to www.photoworldmanila.com/6_rtcl_sunnymeter2.html
Mind Over Meter
The meter in your headLike depending on pocket calculators, entrusting everything to automatic exposure programs can make you overdependent on machines and occasionally result in wrong exposures.
PART 1 OF THREE PARTS
Look Ma, No Meter
CAMERAS TODAY are so technologically advanced that you’d wonder why they still have metered manual mode at all. (Even the name by which the mode is known, “Manual Override,” is a sneaky way of saying, “Automatic is the natural scheme of things; manual exposure is seditious.”)
So why bother going manual, anyway? Let’s look at a couple of reasons, both perfectly sensible.
1. You’re shooting a series under the same lighting (heck, last time I looked the sun was still 93 million miles away, so there’s no light falloff from Marikina Valley to the Banaue) and want to keep the tonal values the same across your images. An automatic meter reading would change slightly as it reads differently toned scenes.
2. You’re shooting scenes with either specular highlights such as shimmering lakes or dark holes such as shaded forests.
3. (Oops, did I say a couple of reasons?) Due to humidity or errant electromagnetic charges in the atmosphere, your trusted meter starts behaving strangely.
So what do you do in these situations? Use the exposure meter in your head, otherwise known as the “Sunny-16” rule, which is applicable from midmorning till mid-afternoon, around 9:30–10:00 a.m. to 3:30–4:00 p.m.
To make this rule work, you determine the intensity of sunlight by looking not at the sun or the sky but at the ground.
PART 2 OF THREE PARTS
Batteries Not Included
LET ME JUST repeat that: To make this rule work, you determine the intensity of sunlight by looking not at the sun or the sky but at the ground—specifically the shadows on the ground.
Set your shutter speed to 1/ISO, where ISO is the shutter speed number closest to the ISO sensitivity rating of your film or image sensor.
For example:1/250 sec. for ISO 200
1/500 sec. for ISO 400
1.Bright sun, distinct shadows
If the shadows have distinct, well-defined edges, usef/16 at 1/ISO sec.
2. Hazy sun, soft shadowsIf your shadow on the ground has fuzzy edges—visible but with soft, feathery edges, usef/11 at 1/ISO sec.
3. Cloudy bright, no shadows
On a bright day, when shadows are invisible or barely visible, it means the sun is hiding behind clouds, and your scene is being lit by sunlight bouncing off the sky, like a studio umbrella, and filtered through the clouds, like a studio softbox.f/8 at 1/ISO sec.
4. Heavy overcast, dark clouds, no shadows
This is like Scene 3 above, except the clouds are dark not white.f/5.6 at 1/ISO sec.
5. Bright sun, open shade
When your subject is in the shade of a tall vertical structure such as a building, with the bright sunlight or sunny skies of Scene 1 overhead, this is called open shade. The subject is in shade but is receiving light coming in from three directions, if not four (top, front, left, right). Notice that this last qualification excludes enclosed shades, such as inside garages, or in alleys between buildings.f/5.6 at 1/ISO sec.
6. Bright sun, distinct shadows, beach or snow
This is exactly like Scene 1 above, except you’re shooting on a beach or snow. There is additional light bouncing off the beach/sea or snow, therefore you need to close down one stop from Scene 1,f/22 at 1/ISO sec.If your lens does not have f/22, then stop down the shutter speed:f/16 at 1/(ISO × 2) sec.
For example, for ISO 100 you will set eitherf/22 at 1/125 sec.or f/16 at 1/250 sec. (ISO × 2)
PART 3 OF THREE PARTS
The Shadow Side of the Sun
The "Sunny-16" rule explained in Part 2 works largely:
between the hours of 9:30-10:00 a.m. and 3:30-4:00 p.m.
for the so-called "master shots" and "wide shots" which take in much of the scene, rather than closeups of particular subjects.
What if you wish to pick out (zoom in on or come close to) a subject such as a person or tree or flower? There are some tweaks you need to be aware of to capture the subject properly.
7. Bright sun, distinct shadows, sidelighting
This is the same as Scene 1 in Part 2, where you learned to use f/16 at 1/ISO sec. But when you zoom in on a subject which is sidelit, your concern is not a wide-shot scenery, where shadows are left as shadows and highlights are left as highlights, but an isolated subject, part of which is in shadow. To keep detail in the shadow side of a sidelit subject, add one stop to Sunny 16:
f/16 + 1 stop = f/11 at 1/ISO sec
8. Bright sun, distinct shadows, backlighting
As you go around your subject to the side opposite the sun, you need to add two stops to Sunny 16 to avoid underexposing your subject. The sky or scenery in the background will overexpose, of course, but that is typical of the exposure adjustment given backlit subjects in bright sunlight.
f/16 + 2 stops = f/8 at 1/ISO sec.
Caveat for digital camera users
For the “Sunny-16” technique to work, you must make sure to turn off the auto ISO function and set your camera ISO manually. Remember that the shutter speed setting for “Sunny-16” exposures is the reciprocal of your ISO, expressed as 1/ISO, and you’d get wrong exposures if the camera automatically switched ISO sensitivities without your knowledge.
refer to www.photoworldmanila.com/6_rtcl_sunnymeter2.html