Shooting in Bright (Back lit) sunshine ..

[monkeyleader]

Morning all,

Phew and I thought the conditions (Biblical rain) at QPR on Saturday evening were, ahem interesting .... Shooting the Spurs v Saints game yesterday and the low bright sunshine in the first half was quite challenging (to say the least) .. For those of you know who know the ground I'd positioned myself opposite side to managers where Spurs would shoot in the second half. the reasoning being that by that stage the Sun would have set behind the stand (which it had) and Spurs would be banging the goals in left, right and centre (which they ... oh who was I kidding !!!)

Very washed out look, made worse by the reflections from the hoarding .... you know the story ... So what are peoples strategies when you are forced into shooting into the bright sunlight ... More of the usable (ish) ones came with under exposing (both cameras setup with a range of under-exposure settings in the custom range) ...

Perhaps the washed out look, while being potentially reduced by camera settings, is mostly fixed in post .. but then again even that didn't seem to work for me yesterday ..

Oh well ... I guess this game wouldn't be as enjoyable if it was all plain sailing ...

Nige

 

[KIPAX]

the bright light is behind you? if you cant move then I do the oppsite of what i do when its a tad dark.... so i under expose by 1/3 I ahd it yesterday around 1.30 the sun was low.. too low to shoot into (which is the correct answer for me) and everyhting washed out of shooting wiht it behind so i positioned part was so sun coming in from an angle.. still a problem but i find it easier to work with in PS using shadow highlight tool.. i prefer too dark than too bright

 

[Tobers]

Shooting into the sun I think, right? You can get some fantastic results doing that, especially nicely rim lit players and headers with backlit sweat drops spraying everywhere.

I expose for the shade, which will be fairly constant unless the ambient light is dropping. Contrast will be very lens dependent. I found the Canon 200-400 F4 gives much less contrast than the 400 F2.8 prime for example. In this case I will usually add contrast and clarity in post processing, either manually or trigger a preset.

 

[GooGaBu]

As Tobers said, you can get some nice 'rim lit' stuff when the sun comes from behind the players - so expose for the shade.

What is annoying and I find more of a challenge is when the sun is from behind when players bring the ball up.. but when shooting goal mouth action, one side of the players face is in the sun and the other in shadow.
Now that I personally don't like at all - especially on harsh sunlight conditions. Just annoys the heck out of me
Luckily for me football is a summer time sport - although it does mean very harsh sunlight at the midday kick-off games.

 

[monkeyleader]

Actually in the case of the Tottenham game (where I've seen it worst) it's side lighting .. but having looked at the images from a number of games at Spurs (and Wembley for that matter) I think the problem is less about the sun (direct) but more about the wash out cast being generated by reflection .. and I think it's coming from the pitch itself ... I was reading the other about about some of the material they put in the grass these days and this could be causing some significant reflection / cast .... Anyways yup already expose for the shadows and clarity / contrast in post ... just frustrating to figure out what causes the cast .... in some cases at it's worst no amount of rescue is possible in post ..

@Tobers is that the new 200-400 with the extender ? Funny I thought I'd see more of those at games (especially during daytime matches) ... think I've only see one, once

 

[Tobers]

@Tobers is that the new 200-400 with the extender ? Funny I thought I'd see more of those at games (especially during daytime matches) ... think I've only see one, once

Yes that's the one. It's a very flexible lens, but very expensive. If you already had a 400 2.8 you wouldn't get a 200-400 as well, or instead of most likely. But if you had just smashed your 400 to bits or didn't have that focal length in the first place, the 200-400 would be high on the list I think. Lots of them in use in Brazil. The Canon loan guys said it was their most borrowed lens.