For photography, on sunny days, is it best to use a large or small f stop number? Does it matter?

Question

Also...I'm noticicing some outdoor pictures I've taken with my Canon Rebel have overblown highlights and the details are washed out. Any tips to avoid this? Thanks!!!

Answer 1

Use a small one!! The larger stops mean that the lens will be open longer; they are used to INCREASE the amount of light that reaches the film. Be sure to choose a film such as a 100 as opposed to a 400 speed for bright light. Any photographer would agree that it is best NOT to shoot in bright light at all and they would select very early morning, late afternoon or cloudy/hazy days for outside photography. The "trick" is a QUICK SHUTTER SPEED. Try not to shoot directly into the light; get it behind the subject that you are shooting or right above or to either the left or right............if the light is really bright behind the subject you can use a "spot flash" to light the main subject so that the background doesn't wash it out.

Answer 2

You might find this useful. It's called the "sunny 16 rule". The guideline is, on a sunny day, your shutter speed will be 1/iso at f16. Translated...at 100 iso...f16...1/125 of a second. always round up. You can adjust aperture and shutter speed in equal increments. When shutter speeds get longer, stop down. As far as the Rebel is concerned, my question is, is it a DSLR or film? Digital works a lot like slide film but has even less latitude. It is very easy to overexpose and blow your hghlights. I suggest getting a light meter, or if you want to use your cameras meter, then meter off a persons hand. Camera meters will take a black or white subject and interperate it as a mid tone gray. Hope this helps!

Answer 3

A small aperature (large f-stop number, like F22) on a sunny day will give you great depth of field, but for maximum sharpness across the frame, use an intermediate stop like F8 or F11. you'll need a fast enough shutter speed to use the larger aperatures. If the details are washed out, the problem is not just F-stop, sounds like you have a backlighting or overexposure situation, try the next stop down. For overexposure, You can adjust the exposure to a higher stop, or fudge it, by programming a slightly higher film speed that indicated on the film. . For backlighting problem, you don't want the camera to choose the average exposure, but want to overexpose the background, so the foreground will come out, so in that case, adjust the exposure to a lower stop.

Answer 4

Go to the golden rule of at ISO 100 in bright sun, use f16 at 1/125, open shade f11 at 1/25, shade f8 at 1/125, heavy overcast f5.6 at 1/125. Your meter reading should be very close to this and make sure your ISO is at 100 on a bright sunny day.

Answer 5

the shutter speed should be high to prevent things from being washed out if it is very sunny. The higher the shutter the darker so it is good to be high for a lot of sunlight. It will also create a sharper image.