Tired of taking blurred and overexposed photos in sunlight?
The sunny f/16 rule is based on the quantity of light falling on the scene and or subject, negating background tonal influence, and subject size relative to the image frame. It is because on a clear cloudless day the sunlight will peek consistently in intensity depending on latitude from mid morning to mid afternoon that we are able to use this rule consistently and accurately to set the midtone.
The Sunny 16 Rule provides a great starting point for outdoor photography on a sunny day, and cloudy days too. The rule is simple; set your f-stop to 16, and your ISO should be a reciprocal of the shutter speed. Thus, if the ISO is set to 100, the shutter speed should be set to 1/100 (or something close to 1/100, 1/125).
| Sunny Distinct Shadows |
Hazy Sun Soft Shadows |
Cloudy Barely Visible Shadows |
Overcast No Shadows |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F-Stop | f / 16 | f / 11 | f / 8 | f / 5.6 |
| ISO 100 | 1/125 | 1/125 | 1/125 | 1/125 |
| ISO 200 | 1/250 | 1/250 | 1/250 | 1/250 |
| ISO 400 | 1/500 | 1/500 | 1/500 | 1/500 |
| ISO 800 | 1/1000 | 1/1000 | 1/1000 | 1/1000 |
