Lesson: Sunny 16 - Silver Gulls

[Mark Young]

I went back this morning to try the sunny 16 rule again. This time I went down when the light was much nicer. This was taken at around and hour after sunrise.
No blown out whites this time, and some detail in the whites and grey. Looking at it on the PC, I would've liked it to be a touch brighter, so next time I'll try adding in some exp comp and see how that goes.

I used a vert crop here as I wasn't able to seperate this bird from the surrounding birds in the field, so a vert crop was the only way I could isolate the birds without doing too much PP work.

Metering mode used was evaluative. Not sure if that was the right one to use in this situation as I'm still learning about metering.

Canon 7D 300f4+1.4tc, ISO400, 1/400, f16
PP: Cropped approx 40%, NR on bg and USM applied. Canvas added at top.

[Ákos Lumnitzer]

I feel that your crop is too tight for my taste or perhaps the ratio is a little odd. Otherwise, as far as exposure is concerned, the image is tops. Nice details in all the plumage Mark. :)

[Mark Young]

I think you're right about the crop. Normally I would have less on top and more on the right, but there's a bird there and adding water canvas can be a tad fiddly sometimes.

[James Shadle]

Mark,
The reason the exposure looks good is because it is was not sunny 16 bright out yet.
Unfortunately by the time sunny 16 kicks in the light is starting to get harsh.

On a sunny 16 day (cloudless, between the first and last 2.5 hours of the day) you would need to reduce the sunny 16 exposure by 1/3 -2/3 of a stop for white subjects.
That is why the Terns were over exposed. They were Sunny 16 with no compensation.

With sunny 16 you still need to compensate for the tonality of your subject.

Beautiful Gull!!

[Mark Young]

Thanks James for the info.
Are there instances when you wouldn't use the sunny 16 rule? It seems if it works fine on sunny and cloudy days, and all you need to do is add or remove exp comp, then why isn't it used more often?

[Lance Peters]

Thanks James for the info.
Are there instances when you wouldn't use the sunny 16 rule? It seems if it works fine on sunny and cloudy days, and all you need to do is add or remove exp comp, then why isn't it used more often?

Because us photographers are a lazy bunch :) Have to remember Sunny 16 was used eons ago when light meters were not built into your camera and you could not see the results of your experiments until a week later unless you were developing yourself.
:)

Like the gull - crop is a little tight for me also, nice detail and sharpness.
Looking forward to seeing more.

[Richard Stern]

Hi,

For me - I like the overall sharpness and exposure for most of the image, but the side of the neck looks a bit bright and lacks detail. Love the details of the eye and orbital ring. The head angle is rather odd, and almost looks as if the head has been attached to the neck wrongly! - but it's the way the bird was, and certainly a better head angle than looking away. I agree with the comments about a rather tight crop.

Richard

[Bill Dix]

What a gorgeous gull, and nicely captured. Useful info above re sunny 16. Exposure here looks good to me, as does the detail. Ditto the comments about the tight crop; might have been worth an experiment in PP by simply stretching a slivver of the image at the edge, since you're only talking about a very small increase in the borders. Hard to say if it would work without trying.