shooting wide open on sunny days?

Hi all... perhaps a dumb question, but I'm going to ask it anyways.

I was out taking some pictures yesterday and it was a bright sunny day. Not a cloud in the sky and quite a bit of snow on the ground (it was bright!) I was using my 50mm and my XSi was down at 100 ISO. From chimping my shots I was seeing that I really couldn't get down below the f6 range, and most shots were done up at f8. Otherwise things were getting way blown out.

What if I really wanted that narrow dof that I get around f2? Out of luck on a bright day outdoors? Is this a good reason to have GND filters? If so, do you all use them when shooting pictures of people? Or are they primarily for landscapes and such.

Any insight would be most appreciated!

You would need a straight ND filter rather than a gradient type.

You don't have to use ND filters (in this case, straight ND) for landscapes. There are a multitude of potential uses for them and one of them is for your particular scenario where there is too much light for your desired aperture.

Mike

I have had to shoot at f2.8, 1/8000 and ISO 50 on a bright day. But that's been pretty rare, and I'm not shooting on snow. I suppose that would make it even worse. Past that, yes I guess you'd need a GND filter to get rid of some light.

Dave

Whoops, yes ND, not GND.

If you were at f/5.6, 1/4000 and ISO 100 then you were at the limits of your gear, though this doesn't really make sense. Snow or not, the sunny 16 rule should represent the brightest outdoor light. That places the 'correct' shutter speed for ISO and f/5.6 at about 1/800 and you were a solid 2 and 1/3 stops beyond that.

Are you sure the snow wasn't fooling the meter and you were underexposing? Underexposure is to be expected from a reflective meter in snow.

Anyway....at some point if you do run into a situation where you have a shutter speed limit (fill flash is the most common due to synch speeds) then use of ND filters is the cheapest route.

Higher end Canon bodies also allow ISO 50, which gets you one more stop, and they also go to 1/8000 shutter limit (without flash) which gets you another.

Maybe also try diffusing the light with some sort of modifier.

Travis

I have a bunch of nd filters in my bag i use for situations just like this, or when i use flash outdoors on a sunny day. I have a friend who sometimes stacks 3 or 4 nd filters to get a totally blurred background using flash.

Sunny 16 rule for sunny day at ISO 100 is 1/100 f/16. If you wanted f/2.8 you need aperture +6EV, which then requires shutter speed -6EV away, or 1/3200

In any brighter circumstance (sandy beach, showy scene) you need ND filter(not a GND)

ThePerfectPose wrote in post #9110859
Maybe also try diffusing the light with some sort of modifier.

Travis

Are you sure this is the right thread for that reply?

If it is, what modifier did you have in mind? An instant canopy? Clouds?

int2str wrote in post #9111158
Are you sure this is the right thread for that reply?

If it is, what modifier did you have in mind? An instant canopy? Clouds?

+1

Good question. My answer: Need an exposure crutch?
Why?
Post #47

Besides using a ND filter or light modifier, a CP (circular polarizer) would give you 2 more stops to play with.

int2str wrote in post #9111158
Are you sure this is the right thread for that reply?

If it is, what modifier did you have in mind? An instant canopy? Clouds?

You mean you don't carry some clouds in your camera bag?

No one mentioned that buying a XXD body (or better) gives you an extra stop with the 1/8000s shutter speed.

I think people were trying to suggest cheaper options than a new camera!

Thanks you guys! All the info is much apprecieated.

Buy a couple of ND8 filters. Worked wonders for me.