The Sunny 16 (or Sunny f/16) is a method of estimated proper exposure when you don't have a light meter and are in direct sunlight. In this day and age most photographers have a light meter and this rule dates back to the film days, so, is it still relevant?
The short answer is yes. The proper way to use the Sunny 16 rule is to set your aperture to 16, your ISO to 100, and the shutter speed to the reciprocal of your focal length. (think, I am using a 200mm lens so my shutter speed would be at least 1/200). With todays cameras we are given the light meter so we can see exactly what our exposure is going to be without have to estimate our settings, but this rule is still a good way to judge your setting and to learn what each setting does.
It's a bright sunny day and you want to go and get some amazing landscape images. The sun is bright, the sky is a perfect blue, and you would like that to show up on the photography without overexposing the sky. (Yes, there are other ways to go about this such as an ND filter, and we will get to that in an later post.) Starting your settings off by using the Sunny 16 rule gives you a base for your exposure.
Now, remember, just because this is a so called 'rule' does not make it set in stone. These settings are for ideal conditions and as a photographer, you know that ideal rarely happens. The best practice is just to go out and shoot, try out all the settings, and see what each one does in different conditions.
Until next time, Keep Shooting!
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