Blog readers Q&A

Juanita asks:

Hi,

I have a question about this. My camera’s lowest ISO speed is 200 so I took several pictures set at that. Can I still submit photos?

Thanks.

Thanks for your question, Juanita!  I’ve already emailed you, but I figured that others may have the same question, so I thought I’d post my reply here, as well.  We’d love to see everyone’s photos, provided they fall within the guidelines and are appropriate for the tutorial.  My camera’s lowest ISO is 200, as well - I just compensate the rule to work within that setting.  So, instead of the rule settings of f/16 and 1/125 sec. for ISO 100, I shoot at f/16 and 1/250 sec. for ISO 200.  Hope that is helpful!

Jennifer asks:

Hi there. If I want to set my aperture to F2, then my shutter speed should be 1/8000, not 1/4000, right? Also, if I am shooting with 400 iso film, then at f2 my shutter speed would be 1/3200?

Thanks!

Thanks for your question, Jennifer.  You are correct – when calculating for the Sunny f/16 rule, if you are shooting at ISO 100 and want to use an aperture of f/2, then your shutter speed would be 1/8000.  If you are using an ISO of 400, you may not be able to use such a wide aperture, unless it is a very overcast day.  Here’s why:

The following settings would be equivalent to f/16, 1/500 s.*, at ISO 400 :

f/11 > 1/1000
f/8 > 1/2000
f/5.6 > 1/4000
f/4 > 1/8000

To date, I haven’t heard of a consumer camera with a shutter speed faster than 1/8000 s., so according to this, if you are using ISO 400, in a bright, sunny location, your widest aperture may be f/4.  This, of course, can change with lighting, as I mentioned.  If it’s overcast, you may be able to open up your aperture two more stops to f/2 and use 1/8000 s. and achieve proper exposure.

(*Please note that I use 1/500 s. for my shutter speed as it is the closest speed to 1/400, not including 1/2 and 1/3 stops)

Hope that helps!  Please leave me a comment with your questions, or send an email to sue(AT)canadianscrapbooker(DOT)ca.

Cheers!

February submissions

I’m a few days behind in posting submissions, because I’m obsessed with the Olympics this year!  At this time, the Canadian Men’s ice hockey team has just beaten Slovakia and will play USA for the gold medal on Sunday afternoon – will you be watching? 

Lee-Anne Thorton, of AB, sent me this lovely shot of “The Big Rock”, which is just west of Okotoks:

Taken with Canon EOS 30 D at f/16, 1/100 sec., ISO 100

Lee-Anne used a 10-22mm lens and set her camera on the aperture priority setting with a polarizing filter and WB sunny.  Thanks for sharing, Lee-Anne!

Next, I received a few photos from Bethany Hoskins, of AB.  She first tried out the Sunny f/16 rule with a child’s toy on a bench:

Taken using Canon Rebel EOX T1i at f/16, 1/100 sec., ISO 100

She then moved the truck to a snowy background and took a few shots – first at f/22:

Taken with Canon Rebel EOS T1i at f/22, 1/100 sec., ISO 100

Even though the guidelines suggest using f/22 in snow conditions, you can see that the above photo is underexposed.  This could be because although she’s photographing her subject in snow, the surrounding trees provide enough shade to reduce the glare.  Bethany photographed the truck again – this time at f/16:

Taken with Canon Rebel EOS T1i at f/16, 1/100 sec., ISO 100

Bethany writes, “I struggled with this one - finding the correct exposure, even with these guidelines, seemed difficult.  I often find it difficult to find the right exposure to get good photos against the white snow.  It allowed me to practice the bracketing settings on my camera which is actually a really useful feature.  So thanks!” 

Bethany submitted one more, taken at the Dinosaurs Alive exhibit at the Calgary Zoo.   Because she was in the shade, she opened up her aperture two f/stops to achieve this exposure:

Taken with Canon Rebel EOS T1i at f/8, 1/125 sec., ISO 100

Thanks for your submissions, Bethany!

Melanie Smith, of NL, sent me this photo, complaining that the weather there is “for the birds”!  It’s not much better here, either, Melanie, if that makes you feel better!  

Taken with Canon Rebel EOS XT at f/7.1, 1/125 sec., ISO 100

Because of the overcast weather, Melanie opened up her aperture to f/7.1 to achieve this exposure – Perfect!  Thanks, Melanie!

Another submission came from Maxine Lozinski, of AB – a photo of her pup, Maggie:

Taken with Canon Rebel SXi at f/11, 1/250, ISO 100

Notice how Maxine increased her aperture one stop to f/11, and in doing so, she increased her shutter speed a corresponding amount from 1/125 to 1/250 to compensate.  This is a perfect example of how the relationship of aperture and shutter speed works.  Thanks for sharing, Maxine!

One last submission tonight and it comes from Mindy Smith-Bernard, of ON:

Taken using a Canon Rebel XTi at f/16, 1/200 sec., ISO 200

I love the composition of this!  Thanks for your submission, Mindy!

Tomorrow’s the last day for submissions, so if you haven’t already, get outdoors and try our February tutorial – then send me your submission to be entered into a random draw for the February Prize Pack from Fancy Pants!

Cheers – and GO CANADA!!

February Prize Pack

Have you been playing with your camera, and trying the February assignment?  If so, don’t forget to send me your submissions because you will have a chance to win this awesome prize pack from the new Rough and Tumble line from Fancy Pants!

So what are you waiting for?  The Sunny f/16 tutorial is not limited to sunny days – just adjust your aperture to account for the weather conditions and start snapping!

Happy Clicking!

February tutorial: Sunny 16 Rule

This month’s tutorial is a fairly simple concept to grasp, but its’ application can be difficult to use if you don’t understand the correlation between shutter speed and aperture. I discussed this correlation in the Spring 2008 issue of Canadian Scrapbooker, and again back in October, in Part II of that month’s tutorial.  However, since it’s so important in understanding photography, we will delve into it again a bit later on.

First, however, let’s look at the Sunny f/16 rule.  This guideline in photography was developed as a rule of thumb to achieve correct exposures without a light meter, while outside or in direct sunlight.  It states that “on a sunny day, set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to the [reciprocal of the] ISO film speed.” (reference:  www.wikipedia.com).  So what does it mean?

Well, if you are shooting at an ISO of 100, the reciprocal of the ISO film speed would be 1/100, or the closest available shutter speed*  of 1/125 (*Note: many digital cameras deal in 1/3 increment values for shutter speed, but for this tutorial, I will deal with whole values only.  Thus 1/125 is the closest available shutter speed when considering this).   Therefore, the Sunny f/16 rule means that you can usually assume, when shooting with a film speed or digital ISO of 100, that an aperture of f/16 and shutter speed of 1/125 will give you the proper exposure on a sunny day.  This is also true for any equivalent setting.  This is where the understanding of the correlation between shutter speed and aperture kicks in!

To review:  Imagine that you have your kitchen faucet’s tap wide open, filling your sink to do a mountain of dishes.  At this speed, let’s say it takes a couple of  minutes to fill your sink with hot, sudsy water.  Now imagine that the tap is barely open, so that water is just trickling out.  It would take much, much longer to fill, right?  Aperture and shutter speed work the same way.  For example, per the Sunny f/16 rule, the following is a proper setting on a sunny day:

ISO 100 > f/16 > 1/125*

Now, as I described in the Spring 2008 issue, the following settings would be equivalent to f/16, 1/125 sec.,  at ISO 100:

f/22 > 1/60
f/11 > 1/250
f/8 > 1/500
f/5.6 > 1/1000
f/4 > 1/2000
f/2.8 > 1/4000

But what if I want to shoot our subject with a very short depth of field, as in our January assignment?  As per the above table, you would set your aperture to f/2 and your shutter speed to 1/4000, which is a very fast shutter speed.  You can also achieve the same exposure by changing your ISO, as we discussed in the October tutorial.  By using a less sensitive ISO speed, you can use a slower shutter speed.  Check your camera’s manual to see your minimum ISO speed.

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/16, 1/400 sec., ISO 400

But what if it’s not sunny?  Well, the following adjustments can be made to your aperture for variable lighting situations:

Sunny > use f/16
Slightly overcast > use f/11
Overcast > use f/8
Heavily Overcast > f/5.6
Dawn/Dusk > f/4

(Because of the reflective nature of sand or snow, you should DECREASE your aperture when following this rule to f/22)

The Sunny F/16 rule, like everything is not fool proof.  You may need to adjust your aperture a half-stop or more, if your subject is backlit.  It is best to use bracketing (see October tutorial: Part I) to ensure that you capture to best exposure.  Consider this example:

Taken with Nikon D70 at f/8, 1/250 sec., ISO 100

When applied to this setting, the Sunny f/16 rule dictates that the optimum exposure should be f/16 > 1/125th sec., or the equivalent of f/11 > 1/250th sec.  However, in noticing that my daughter’s hat cast a slight shadow on her face, I decided to open up my aperture one more full stop to f/8.  While there is still a slight shadow, her features are visible and her skin tone is not overexposed.

Alright – are you ready to play along?  The trick will be to find a sunny day in the middle of winter – but you can use the chart of equivalents above for overcast situations!  If you have any question, please leave me a comment on this post or email me! 

Your February assignment:

Using this tutorial as a guide, apply the Sunny f/16 rule to determine the proper exposure for your outdoor photo.  Please remember to include your camera settings to be eligible for the draw!

Deadline: 11:59 pm EST, February 28th, 2010

Please submit your photo(s), using our submission form, for a chance to be entered into our draw. A randomly chosen entry will be drawn after the deadline. Please click HERE to review the rules regarding this draw before submitting. Please note – submissions that are not relative to the tutorial and/or do not abide by these rules will NOT be posted on the blog, or entered into the drawing.

Our February prize pack will be revealed shortly!

Happy Clicking!

We have a Winner!

Two, actually!

First, thank you to everyone who participated in our contest!  We appreciate your help, spreading the good news of our blog – I’m having fun!  I hope that you’re learning more about your camera and how to use it – and more importantly, having fun in the process!

I’m sorry about the delay in posting – I had grand plans to photograph the huge bucket of entries and to video tape the draw, but we had a slight family emergency last night and those plans were hastily replaced with a decidedly unceremonious draw tonight just prior to writing this post!  But while I couldn’t share the process with you, the end result is the same!

The winner of our contest is…

Michelle K on January 27th, 2010  

added you to my blog… http://www.maybecreative.blogspot.com

Congratulations, Michelle K!  You have won the following prize from Just Cre8:

July Cre8ive Pack by Just Cre8

Please email your mailing info to sue (AT) canadianscrapbooker (DOT) com and we’ll get your prize sent out straightaway!

Now, for our January assignment winner!  Let me thank everyone for sending me their beautiful photos – it’s so fun to see everyone trying this technique and to see what subjects you chose!  And thanks to the same *high-tech* process as in the last draw, we have a winner!

Congratulations to Lee Anne Thorton, of AB and her photo:

Taken with Canon EOS 30D at f/4.5, 1/50 sec., ISO 800

And the winners…

will be announced later this evening!

Sorry, folks – I have an asthmatic daughter who came home struggling to breathe.  Just trying to get it under control before I tend to other things!

Will draw and post as soon as I can!

Cheers,

Final round of January submissions

Wow!  We had some fabulous submissions this month!  Here is the last batch for the January assignment:

Barb Riley, of SK, sent me this yummy looking photo of cookies at the ByWard Market in Ottawa, ON.  She writes, “[The cookies] were in the same bakery where Obama bought his maple leaf cookies when he visited in February – you can see them just below the shelf of cookies I photographed. They’re still advertising them as “Obama cookies”. I focused on the yellow ones as yellow is my favourite colour and I wanted them to stand out.”:

Taken with Canon EOS 20D at f/4.5, 1/250 sec., ISO 400

I love the mix of bright colours here – thanks for submitting!

This next photo was submitted by Julie Ballah, of ON:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XS at f/3.5, 1/60 sec., ISO 800

Great depth of field, Julie – and love your sunny, yellow scrap room!  Thanks for sending us your photo!

In keeping with the scrapbooking theme, Mindy Smith-Bernard, of ON, used the tutorial to photograph her American Craft ribbon collection:

Taken with Canon Rebel XTi at f/5.0, 1/30 sec., ISO 400

Love it – thanks for your submission!

Maxine Lozinski, of AB, submitted this photo:

Taken with Canon EOS Rebel XSi at f/4.5, 1/80 sec., ISO 400

I love the contrast of the orange with the brown – after all, orange is my favourite colour!  Thanks for your submission, Maxine!

Carla Ganske, of AB, submitted this next photo, saying, “I had to photograph my ATC Trading Cards that I created for a swap.  I thought I would use what I learned for this photo shoot.”:

Taken with Canon Rebel XSi at f/5, 1/15 sec., ISO 400

Turned out great, Carla – thanks for submitting!

And last but not least, Jamie Harder, of SK, sent us this beautiful photo of her daughter, Sienna:

Taken with Canon Rebl XT, f/1.8, 1/2500 sec., ISO 400

I love the pop of colour from the lollipop!  Thanks for submitting!

Well, now I am inspired to go out and photograph something!  But first, I will compile all of the submissions for both the January assignment and the contest and will report the winners later this evening!  Thanks to all who played along and be sure to check back later this week when I will post the February tutorial and assignment!