Twelve Essential Photographic Rules

From Sunny 16 to Moony 11, 8, and 5.6, these facts, formulas, and photographic rules can get you out of a jam and help you get good shots when nothing else will.

What happens when your systems go belly-up, when all of that cutting-edge technology dies and you must rely on (gasp!) your own knowledge? It pays to have these basics in your head. They can get you out of a jam and help you get good shots when nothing else will.

1. Sunny 16 Rule

The basic exposure for an average scene taken on a bright, sunny day is f/16 at a shutter speed equivalent to one over the ISO setting—that is, f/16 at 1/100 sec at ISO 100. From this you can interpolate, and try f/22 at the beach, f/11 on a cloudy-bright day, etc.

2. Moony 11, 8, and 5.6 Rules

There are many different rules that work well when shooting the moon. One favorite for a proper exposure of a full moon is f/11 at one over the ISO setting. For pictures of a half moon, use the same shutter speed at f/8, and for a quarter moon, use the same shutter speed at f/5.6.

3. Camera Shake Rule

The slowest shutter speed at which you can safely handhold a camera is one over the focal length of the lens in use. As shutter speeds get slower, camera shake is likely to result in an increasing loss of sharpness. So, if you're using a 50mm lens, shoot at 1/60 sec or faster. Not enough light? Use a flash, tripod, or brace your camera against a solid object.

4. Anatomical Gray Card

Metering off an 18-percent neutral gray card is a good way to get a midtone reading that will give you a good overall exposure of a scene. Forgot your gray card? Hold your open hand up so it's facing the light, take a reading off your palm, open up one stop, and shoot. (Various skin tones rarely account for even a full-stop difference.)

5. Depth of Field Rules

When focusing on a deep subject, focus on a point about a third of the way into the picture to maximize depth of field, because the depth-of-field zone behind that point is about twice as deep as the depth-of-field zone in front of it. This works for all apertures and focal lengths, but the smaller the aperture and the shorter the focal length, and the greater the distance you shoot at, the greater the depth of field.

6. Largest Digital Print Rule

To calculate in inches the largest photo-quality print you can make with a digital camera, divide the vertical and horizontal pixel counts (see your manual) by 200. For critical applications, or if you want exhibition-quality prints, divide the pixel counts by 250.

7. Exposure Rules

The classic advice is, "Expose for the highlights, and let the shadows take care of themselves." This works with slide film and digital. But with negative film, especially color negative, you're better off overexposing by one stop.

8. Quick Flash-fill Rule

When using an automatic flash unit that doesn't provide auto flash-fill ratios, set the flash's ISO dial to twice the ISO you're using. Meter the scene, select an f-stop, set the autoflash aperture to the same f-stop, and shoot. The resulting 2:1 flash-fill ratio will produce filled shadows one stop darker than the main subject.

9. Flash Range Rule

Want to know how much extra flash range you get by going to a faster ISO? The rule is, "Double the distance, four times the speed." For example: If your flash is good to 20 feet at ISO 100 (film or digital), it will be good to 40 feet at ISO 400.

10. Megapixel Multiplier Rule

To double the resolution in a digital camera, you must increase the number of megapixels by a factor of four—not two. Why? The number of pixels in both the vertical and horizontal dimensions must be doubled to double the pixel density across the image sensor.

11. Action-stopping Rules

To stop action moving across the frame that's perpendicular to the lens axis, you need shutter speeds two stops faster than action moving toward or away from you. For action moving at a 45-degree angle to the lens axis, you can use a shutter speed one stop slower. For example: If a person running toward you at moderate speed can be stopped at 1/125 sec, you'll need a shutter speed of 1/500 sec to stop the subject moving across the frame, and a shutter speed of 1/250 sec to stop him if moving obliquely with respect to the camera.

12. Sunset Rule

To get a properly exposed sunset, meter the area directly above the sun (without including the sun). If you want the scene to look like it's a half-hour later, stop down by one f-stop, or set exposure compensation to minus one.

Five Advanced Flash Techniques

1. ONE: BOUNCE FLASH

Bounce is a great alternative to direct flash, especially for people pictures made under low ceilings or near white walls. As its name implies, you bounce the flash off a nearby surface rather than blasting it directly at your subjects. Bounce creates much softer light for highlights and shadows that better convey the shaping of a person's face. Also, when shooting groups two or three people deep, a ceiling bounce can provide much more even lighting front-to-back than direct. Further good news: bounce is an effective way to prevent redeye.

Why does it work so well? The broader the light source relative to the size of the subject, the softer, less harsh and more enveloping the light. Because bounce flash essentially turns a nearby wall or ceiling into your light source, it creates a much, much softer light than your flash's tiny flash tube. Also, when bouncing off a ceiling, your light will fall from above onto your subject to create the same shaping of the human face as a bright, cloudy day in nature.

Textbooks decree that you need a tilt-and-swivel shoe-mount flash to bounce, but we've done it with a popup SLR flash, too. Reflect the built-in's burst off a small mirror onto a nearby wall (and subject). That said, an articulated, tilt-and-swivel or off-camera flash is the best way to go, used preferably in your camera's TTL mode.

While bounced light is almost always more flattering than direct, it isn't right for all occasions. Obviously, when walls or ceilings are distant or not white, you can forget it. Also, if you're trying to conserve battery power, go direct; it requires much less juice. Understand, too, that bounce flash much more effectively lights the background beyond your subject than direct flash -- something you may not want in a cluttered location.

Bounce works well in tandem with some of the other techniques discussed here, particularly dragging the shutter and complementary flash filtration.

2. TWO: COMPLEMENTARY FLASH FILTRATION

This magic bullet can eliminate the ugly green backgrounds that often plague flash photos made under fluorescent lights. Put an acetate filter over your flash and then thread a second filter of the opposite (i.e., complementary) color over your lens. Get the colors right, and it's goodbye, pea-soup greens.

The trick is getting the right colors. A 30 CC green over the flash and 30 CC magenta in front of the lens often will do the trick, but Lee Filters makes it easier with its Fluorescent Correction system ($65). Everything you need is in one small box. Lee supplies a handful of magenta 4x4 filters customized for fluorescents of different color temps (white, cool white, warm white) and includes the Gel Snap filter holder that fits almost any lens with a 82mm or smaller diameter.

If you'd rather not spring for the Lee set, go back to a 30 CC green for the flash and any filter maker's fluorescent-balancing magenta for the lens. (Tiffen's FL-D filter is a good one.) While these filters cut about one stop of light, the lens filter alone is all you need when shooting under fluorescents without flash.

How does complementary filtration work? The green over the flash equalizes fore and background color temperatures, while the magenta on the lens absorbs the green from both light sources to neutralize the scene. Without the green filter, the subject would appear too magenta. Of course, for this trick to work, your subject must be within flash range.

3. THREE: SECOND-CURTAIN SYNC

It's about when the flash fires. With inexpensive cameras or flash units, you don't have a choice: The flash is synced to fire as soon as the shutter (i.e., "curtain") opens. With mid- and higher-level gear, however, it's your choice: You can trigger the flash as the shutter opens (first-curtain) or wait until just before it closes (second-, rear-, or trailing-curtain sync).

What difference does it make? For 90 percent of your flash photos, it won't make any difference. But for flash photos of moving subjects shot against dark backgrounds, such as cars at night or dancers flying across a darkened stage, choosing the correct syncing option can make the difference between an image that looks natural, and one that seems freakishly wrong.

The problem? If you use first-curtain sync with a moving subject, the blur that defines the movement can precede the object instead of trailing it. It gives the impression that the object is going backward, not forward. Second-curtain sync places the blur behind the object where it belongs.

Some systems set second-curtain sync in the camera, some in the flash, and some offer both. In most cases, the flash's settings override those of the camera. If the camera is set to first-curtain sync, for example, and the flash to second, you get the latter.

So if movement looks more natural with second-curtain sync, why is first the norm? One reason is portraiture. If you're shooting a child in low light, say, and you're trying to catch a fleeting smile, you don't want the flash to fire a fraction of a second late, do you?

4. FOUR: DRAGGING THE SHUTTER

Have you ever been at a really cool party and wound up with uncool pictures with pitch-black backgrounds that lack the life and excitement you experienced? You were probably shooting in your camera's auto or program mode. That usually means shutter speeds in the 1/60–1/90-sec range -- too fast to record background detail for indoor flash photos taken at night.

Remedy: Make an end run around program, and set slower shutter speeds in manual or shutter-priority. Pros call it "dragging the shutter."

You can set slower shutter speeds (1/8–1/30 sec are the norm) in fairly dark scenes and not worry about blur, because, in situations where the flash is the primary light source, its burst lasts only a fraction of a second -- far too short for subject or camera motion to record. Result: sharp subjects. These slower shutter speeds, however, will record backgrounds with much more detail and ambiance than those made in the program mode.

Dragging the shutter can be very effective, but use it carefully in situations where the lighting is variable or the subjects are moving. Another caveat: you can set slower shutter speeds in your camera's manual exposure mode, but keep your flash in its TTL or auto mode. Setting the flash to manual too probably will lead to disaster!

Even if you own a relatively inexpensive camera -- one without manual or shutter-priority exposure controls -– you may still be able to drag the shutter. Just set your camera's "night" mode. It will automatically set the slower shutter speeds that can capture background detail. These speeds can dip below 1/8 sec, however, so a tripod may be required. (But be careful: some "night" exposure modes prevent the flash from firing.)

5. FIVE: OFF-CAMERA FLASH

What's the greatest problem shooting on-camera flash? Your main light is locked into a single location for every picture you take, regardless of lighting or subject conditions. Textbooks say, for example, that when shooting people pictures, the light should fall onto your subject at about a 45-degree angle relative to the lens axis. This creates great shaping in the forehead, cheeks, nose, and lips. It will also prevent that common portrait bugaboo, redeye, and it can help you "bury the shadows" (of your subjects) toward the floor behind them instead of creating black halos behind each head on a background wall. For 45-degree lighting, however, you must move the flash off-camera.

Other benefits of off-camera flash? You can direct bounce flash with much more freedom and precision. Also, as shown in the pictures here, it lets you aim the flash burst where it does the most good: at the most shadowed area of a scene. In our picture, the darkest skinned person in the group benefits from precise placement of off camera flash.

The good news? Almost all the major camera makers offer multiple wired or wireless solutions for TTL controlled, off-camera flash operation. Some for as little as $60!

How to Shoot Nightscapes

A cityscape at night with lights blazing away like stars in the sky can be a scintillating show, and when captured in a photo, it can dazzle the eye. To create this twinkling effect in your after-dark cityscapes, thread a star filter from B+W, Hoya, Lee, or Tiffen in front of your lens. The better ones are variable, and let you pick the size and direction of the exploding burst.

But what if you happen upon such a scene without a star filter? Don't worry. You'll find help in an always-available tool: the iris diaphragm of your lens.

You're well aware that changing the lens aperture can pay off in better exposure by controlling how much light reaches the film or image sensor. You also know that dialing down the aperture can increase the zone of sharpness (i.e., depth of field) in your pictures. While all this imaging power might seem like enough, the aperture has several other imaging tricks up its sleeve -- including the ability to increase the apparent sparkle of spectral highlights.

It's very simple: Setting smaller apertures will create and exaggerate the star-like radiating shafts of light that can appear to emanate from small points of light in a scene.

What you're seeing is the pentagonal, hexagonal, heptagonal, or octagonal shape of the actual lens opening as it's created by the five to eight leaves that make up the diaphragm of the lens. An eight-bladed diaphragm can create an eight-sided star shape. As you stop the aperture down, the tiny points of light in your photos come progressively into focus -- recreating, as they become sharper, the physical shape of the lens opening.

Will this work with any lens? No. As you might imagine, apertures formed from arc-shaped leaves produce round openings, so they don't reproduce spectral highlights as star shapes, regardless of how much you stop the lens down.

And here's a bonus tip: The more you magnify or enlarge these small points by increasing output (print) size, the more dramatic they'll appear.

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