Lighting formulas?

[kelsbeth]

Hello,

Iam new to photography and try to take all my photos in the manual mode (tedious, but I know it will be worth it once I get the hang of it). I realize that lighting is different in every situation, but I'm curious about what more experienced photographers do once they become familiar with their camera and various situations. For example, I keep a notebook and have started writing the "formulas" for various situations that I photograph on a regular basis. For example, I often take pictures of my dogs in my backyard - so in my notebook I have what ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture settings I have used on both a sunny day and a cloudy day. I do the same thing for photos I take inside my house. Do experienced photographers have general formulas for things like this? Or do they pretty much start fresh in every situation? Thank you in advance for your insights

[IABoomer]

I know photography classes used to teach what they called the "Sunny 16" rule, which was set the shutter speed to 1/ISO at an aperture of f/16 in bright sunlight. So, if you're shooting 400 speed film (or ISO 400 on a digital) you'd shoot at 1/400 sec f/16 ISO 400 and expect to get a reasonable exposure in bright sunlight.

Now, if you go indoors and it's 4 stops more dim, then you adjust settings according to the exposure triangle depending on your needs. If you can deal with the more shallow DoF, you could open the aperture 4 stops. If the camera has good low-light performance, you could bump the ISO up.

I think there was a "cloudy 8" rule which was similar, 1/ISO at f/8 on cloudy days.

[kelsbeth]

Awesome thanks! I'm reading up on it right now

[zona5101]

I'd just use the meter, understand what the meter is doing and adjust accordingly. Back in the day, you'd need to rely and understand the sunny 16 rule because your battery might go out and kill your meter but your camera would still work... now days if you have no meter, you also have no shutter or anything else. Rather than spend a lot of time jotting down settings, spend the time understanding the situations in which you need to override what your meter is telling you.

That said, understanding the sunny 16 rule is still valuable because the manipulations of equivalent exposure is good mental practice.

[Jim Bryant]

With the digital cameras, all you have to do is take test shots and preview them. Just keep changing setting until you get the desired results.

[JFSanders]

Russell MacDonald has a great blog. He is Nikon specific, but this post would work for any camera that has the same features as Nikon. Look at this post: Camera and Flash cookbook for any lighting situation.

Jim

[TheManny]

Hi!

Interesting question! I've never thought of it as a formula... but I guess I should.

When it comes to exposure and proper lighting... definitely get to know the exposure triangle and how each element directly affects the other.

It's generally good to have a starting point (you have to start some where )... and if you really need one, the "Sunny 16" is a good place. However, it is just a place to start. Depending on how you want your photos to turn out, you'll want to learn which settings to manipulate to get what you want.

What you're doing is great... Jumping straight into manual mode is THE best way to learn photography IMHO. Soon you'll find out the general ISO, Shutter speed, and Aperture settings for certain situations, and you'll be able to recognize a good starting point to go from when you're about to take a photo. (I have no idea if that made any sense. But basically know your equipment and practice practice practice.)

Have fun and happy shooting!

[kelsbeth]

Thanks all.

@JF Sanders - great site, thanks! @Jim Bryant - I do a lot of previewing shots, but sometimes I find that they look fine on my camera but then not as good once I get them on my computer. I suppose I should print a few out to see how they look. And of course my next step is to get comfortable with a post processing program!

I find that I still get overwhelmed by metering. I'm never quite sure what to meter off of, and often times, to get the dial in the middle, my SS would have to be so slow that I need a tripod. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. I plan on getting the "nifty fifty" soon, which I'm hoping will help since it has a faster lens than my kit lens.

If I'm taking basic shots (like of my dogs or candids at a BBQ where I don't care about shallow depth of field) I always feel the need to keep the aperture at f8 to get the sharpest picture. Perhaps this is hindering my metering since it's not really giving the shutter speed much wiggle room. Do smaller apertures/higher numbers really affect the sharpness that much? Should I not be so afraid to go to a higher number?

If anyone has some metering tips/tricks, I'm all ears