bright sunny days

pope

pope

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john
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Just wondering how people handle bright sunny contrasty days.
Where you are getting dark shadows on one side of the face, and whiteness (overexposing) on the other? Also hatted/ helmeted players.
Is there anything you can do?
Get in to a better possie?
Lower the contrast settings in jpeg settings?
Play with levels in ps?
Cheers
 
find best position and lots of Post Processing.. I find the days you describe to be the hardest days to photogrpah... yet its the sort of weather that prompts non photogrpahers to says its perfect for taking pictures :(
 
On the D3S i will use the active D light and set to high to help lighten the shadows, works very nice and you can select a photo so the camera uses exactly the same level of settings as in the selected photo, no idea how it works but it does.
 
Gary Coyle said:
On the D3S i will use the active D light and set to high to help lighten the shadows, works very nice and you can select a photo so the camera uses exactly the same level of settings as in the selected photo, no idea how it works but it does.
Click to expand...

sounds simmilar to selecting white balance.. there are setting on the canon i just havent investigated them..
 
KIPAX said:
sounds simmilar to selecting white balance.. there are setting on the canon i just havent investigated them..
Click to expand...

There's also Highlight Tone Priority which I know some guys use on the mkIV for cricket...it helps get under the helmet somehow...not too sure why/how it works.
 
I have a blog post on this topic here: http://slikimages.com/2010/03/techniques/handling-a-sports-pitch-divided-by-sunshine-and-shadow/

Best to use Tv mode with auto ISO safety shift on, aperture limit set to f2.8 to f4, and centre weighted average metering (all this on a Canon). You can turn on highlight tone priority as well to protect blown out areas.

I also will use the "recovery" slider in light room if I've blown any highlights but this does restrict the ISO to a minimum of 200 which may still be too high at those wide apertures.
 
Tobers said:
I have a blog post on this topic here: http://slikimages.com/2010/03/techniques/handling-a-sports-pitch-divided-by-sunshine-and-shadow/

Best to use Tv mode with auto ISO safety shift on, aperture limit set to f2.8 to f4, and centre weighted average metering (all this on a Canon). You can turn on highlight tone priority as well to protect blown out areas.

I also will use the "recovery" slider in light room if I've blown any highlights but this does restrict the ISO to a minimum of 200 which may still be too high at those wide apertures.
Click to expand...

Its a good read that site of yours Tobers..Ive quoted it to a few shooters wanting guidance
 
Thanks, will have abit of a play this weekend.
Arr yep sony has a D-range optimizer too so will try that.

Your web site is a wee gem of information Tobers.
On a sony you can set shutter speed (S mode), and have auto iso on, spot or center weighted metering and this does sort of same thing.
I was more meaning, more like in your photo on that page, where the player has very dark and very light patches on there face/body.
 
Ah - well that shot of Delon Armitage was quite tricky to get. I think it was at Harlequins where in early and late winter the sun gets itself nice and low and a shaft of light come between two stands and onto the pitch. The shaft is about 4 feet wide. The rest of the pitch and background is in shadow. They didn't have the floodlights on.

I put the camera in manual mode and set it up to be very underexposed for the background, but just about right for someone who would be in that shaft of light. I then waited for players to come through the light and took a burst of 2 or 3 shots as they did so. In doing this I missed 2 tries and loads of other action, but I knew I had the shot when Armitage came through and passed at just the right time.

I have a series of such shots which I'm always adding to whenever there is a sun/shadow situation. Here's another done with the same method:

553639734_zGLMo-M.jpg
 
Actually that Armitage shot was at the Madjeski Stadium in Reading which has those blue seats. Similar thing to Quins ground - nice splodge of sunlight. I have some crackers of footballers that I can't post :-(
 
Hi John

I use the Sunny f/16 rule, Sunny 16 rule can also aid in achieving correct exposure of difficult subjects in landscape photography

Basic rule is, on a sunny day set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to the [reciprocal of the] ISO film speed [or ISO setting]."[1] For example:

  1. On a sunny day and with ISO 100 film / setting in the camera, one sets the aperture to f/16 and the shutter speed to 1/100 or 1/125 second (on most cameras 1/125 second is the available setting nearest to 1/100 second).
  2. On a sunny day with ISO 200 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/200 or 1/250.
  3. On a sunny day with ISO 400 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/400 or 1/500.
  4. On a sunny day with ISO 800 film / setting and aperture at f/16, set shutter speed to 1/800 or 1/1000 ish.

So suppose it #3 or 4 can be used in sports not sure as I dont shoot sports

Dave
 
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Wooh that biking shot is very cool Tobers. I see what your doing.

Thanks Dave, unsure if that will work for sports but will have a go.
 
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