Evaluative vs spot/partial metering

cmkultradome

I'm not sure if I should post this here or in the Sports section so feel free to move it. Hockey season has started again and I've been trying to shoot my son's Bantam team. Right now I'm shooting with a 70-300mm IS lens that I know is not fast enough but its all I have (until later this week when my new "used" 70-200mm 2.8L arrives - YEAH!!). Anyway, I shoot in shutter priority and use a custom white balance that I take from the ice. This seems to be working, because I don't have to do much editing afterwards to change the color of the ice in the px. The player's jerseys are very dark and my pictures always seem underexposed, even though I bump up the exposure compensation quite a bit. I've been using evaluative metering but was wondering if I should use spot or partial metering instead since my exposure is usually locked to my focus and my focus is usually set on the players- I think all the white ice and white boards is throwing it off. Does this make any sense or am I way off base. Any suggestions please. Thanks.

Stephanie

pathfinder

If you are metering off the ice, you do need to add + exposure compensation of 1 - 1.5 stops( minimum) or your shots will be under exposed as the meter will try to make the ice a medium tone. Kind of like shooting snow, and there have been dozens of threads here on dgrin about shooting snow. A quick search should find bunches ( some that rutt and I posted quite a bit about about 2 years ago ) Correct exposure is critical for shooting jpgs with a custom white balance.

May I ask, why are you shooting in Tv? Why not give Manual Mode a try? Does the lighting change that much from frame to frame? It seems like the lighting should be rather consistent,, since it is overhead, and does not vary that much? Ramp your ISO up to 800 or 1600, get a good histogram and then dial those settings into the camera in Manual mode. I think you will have much less frame to frame variation than with Tv mode - whether you shoot with Evaluative or partial or spot metering. Get a good exposure with whatever method works, and then drop those shutter speed, aperture and ISO settings into Manual Mode and see if that doesn't help some. Check your exposure with your histogram to make sure your are not under exposed.

I have not shot hockey so I may be all wet about the consistency of the light, but it is indoors, and the lights do not rise or fall, do they? Is there that much variation between lighted, and shaded areas on the players, with that nice, bright, white reflector they skate around on top of?

cmkultradome

Pathfinder-
Thanks for the advice. The reason I am shooting in Tv mode is because I am relatively new to the SLR world and I just recently got up the courage to switch from the Sports mode to the Tv mode. I think I'll take the plunge tonight and try the Manual mode. I just found out my new "used" lens was delivered this morning so this will be extra fun. Thanks for all the advice with shooting in the manual mode.

Stephanie

pathfinder

Glad to be of help. Lots of sports shooter do shoot in Tv to be certain they have a fast enough shutter speed. Shooting in Manual, your shutter speed will be fixed at your choice, and you MAY need to vary the aperture 1 or 2 stops if faces are backlit rather than front lit. Let us know how it goes, please.

cmkultradome

I shot in Manual Mode tonight with my new "used" 70-200mm 2.8L and had a blast. I was pretty happy with my pictures. I still did some post processing but not nearly as much as my usual fixes. I shot at 2.8 1/640. The lighting in one corner of the rink was much different than the rest and my pictures taken from that corner didn't come out so well. I was shooting with a borrowed Canon 40D (I own a Rebel xTi and am considering upgrading to a 50D) and noticed a significant difference in the autofocus time with the 40D. I guess I'll be going shopping next weekend. Thanks again for your help.

Stephanie

pathfinder

Looks like you did pretty good, too! Do you think you will prefer to shoot in Manual, or in Av with +/- EC to deal with?

The 40D AFs noticeably faster than Canon's previous APS based cameras.

If you notice one corner is darker than another, in Manual, you can just open up the aperture one stop or so for that corner ( well, you can if you shoot one stop less than wide open anyway. Changing the ISO is not quite as fast or easy )