beach photos, overexposed

tzalman wrote in post #7897390
Sunny 16 at the beach needs adjusting. The sand is an excellent reflector and you have a lot more light coming from below than with a subject on grass. Sunny 16 minus one stop would be better.

sunny 16 doesn't need adjustment at the beach since it's starting point is for seashore and snow: f16 1/125 for iso100

tdodd wrote in post #7900753
This was shot using Av mode before I knew of things such as Sunny 16. Exposure compensation was set to zero and I used evaluative metering. I picked f/8 and 100 ISO and the camera picked a shutter speed of 1/800. That exposure is equivalent to Sunny 16 minus 1 stop. This has had no edits and I think the exposure looks a tiny bit dark, but very useable. That said, it can take another 1/2 stop added to the exposure in Lightroom without blowing anything (even the white teeshirt) or looking overexposed.

IMHO your first photo there is under exposed by about 1 stop, and it isn't just a "tiny bit dark". So again sunny 16 at the beach would have been the right call to use since you under exposed it by about 1 stop.

Sunny 16 applies to distinct sun, average scen...snow/beach in the sun is f/22.

tdodd wrote in post #7900753
I am actually surprised that you get overexposure for a beach scene. Normally you would be more likely to get underexposure. There are a number of reasons that spring to mind which explain why you might get overexposure.... .

Yup, a meter reading a beach/snow scene could read even brighter than 'sunny 22' because it sees the brightness of the snow itself, not merely the higher brightness falling onto an average subject

HappySnapper90 wrote in post #7901033
IMHO your first photo there is under exposed by about 1 stop, and it isn't just a "tiny bit dark". So again sunny 16 at the beach would have been the right call to use since you under exposed it by about 1 stop.

Well I did say it could take a +0.5 stop boost in Lightroom and that had I shot this with manual exposure it would have been brighter by 2/3 stop. Here is the image processed in DPP as shot and with +1 added to the exposure. IMO +1 is too much. At +1 the red channel is completely blown in the orange top, some of the skin and the sunlit sand. The blue channel is blown in the white teeshirt. Even at +2/3 it is touch and go for the red channel in several places and there are signs of those channels still blowing a little at +1/3.

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Wilt wrote in post #7901161
Sunny 16 applies to distinct sun, average scen...snow/beach in the sun is f/22.

Well as I read the pictures in that scan, the f/16 looks like it's by the water, but you say it's f/22 for the water/snow.

And Fuji shows f/16 for beach/snow here:
http://www.fujifilmusa​.com/shared/bin/Sup_Re​ala.pdf

And kodak's Ektar datasheet, top of page 2 shows f/16 for sea/snow:
http://www.kodak.com …d=0.2.26.14.5.1​4.16&lc=en

HappySnapper90 wrote in post #7901272
Well as I read the pictures in that scan, the f/16 looks like it's by the water, but you say it's f/22 for the water/snow.

And Fuji shows f/16 for beach/snow here:
http://www.fujifilmusa​.com/shared/bin/Sup_Re​ala.pdf

And kodak's Ektar datasheet, top of page 2 shows f/16 for sea/snow:
http://www.kodak.com …d=0.2.26.14.5.1​4.16&lc=en

Ektar is ISO 100, yet Kodak listed 1/125 f/16 on the same sheet...a bit less ( -1/3 EV) than 1/100 f/16. Obviously, from comparing that Ektar sheet and the Kodak box end, they are not perfectly consistent with the rule of thumb!

Some confusion might also arise because some tables refer to EV16 amount of light, like the one that this is taken from http://www.fredparker.​com/ultexp1.htm:

EV15 =Subjects in bright or hazy sun (Sunny f/16 rule).

EV16= Subjects in bright daylight on sand or snow.



Vast majority of references on the web talk about about 'distinct sun' associated with Sunny 16, and not the additional reflectance of snow or sand filled scenes.

I think people should do what works for them and their equipment

Firstly, the "Rule" is only a guideline after all. (and how many versions/variations of the rule are there?)

Secondly, is it correct to assume that what is good for colour negative film is also good for modern digital sensors?

Thirdly, is it true that what is good for JPEG is also good for raw? (and what about shooting with HTP enabled?)

Fourthly, there seems to be some wiggle room when the quoted guides include "bright sun and hazy sun" within the same exposure grouping. Hardly definitive, is it?

Fifthly, the true ISO sensitivities are not all the same for all cameras. e.g. it is generally recognised that the 100 ISO setting on the 30D is actually equivalent to a true ISO value of 125.

Sixthly, the film oriented references seem to keep harping on about shutter speeds of 1/125 rather than 1/100 for 100 ISO at f/16, which makes a bit of a mockery of the easy to remember reciprocal of ISO that seems to work perfectly well for digital gear with 1/3 stop exposure adjustments available. So which is correct - 1/100 or 1/125?

Seventhly, is there much variation in the intensity (brightness) of the sun across substantial changes in latitude, or season? Is a winter midday sun in Scotland going to be as strong (bright) as a midday sun at the equator in March/September (or even a sun 2 hours after sunrise)?

So rather than argue the toss about what various contradictory reference sources say, why not just get out there and shoot? Then you can decide what works for you and your gear. Sunny 16 (f/16, 100 ISO, 1/100) works really well for me, as a starting point, on a bright sunny day. Beyond that I am quite happy to fine tune as conditions dictate, be they sun, sea, snow, haze or whatever. Of course, metering off my palm at +1 1/3 works equally well and automatically factors in adjustments for all these additional variables.

Wilt wrote in post #7901360
Ektar is ISO 100, yet Kodak listed 1/125 f/16 on the same sheet...a bit less ( -1/3 EV) than 1/100 f/16. Obviously, from comparing that Ektar sheet and the Kodak box end, they are not perfectly consistent with the rule of thumb!

It shows 1/125 because the rule was developed when there were only full stop film cameras. That's the only reason. Plus film as wide exposure latitude where 1/3 a stop difference of exposure will hardly be noticed (unlike digital)

OK, one last try...the Bright Sunny Day is the EV15 value of exposure, where EV0 is f/1.0 at 1 sec at ISO 100....EV15 works out to 1/100 f/16 at ISO 100.