U12 boys backlit soccer.

Mitchell

My son's team has finally started up while my daughter's takes her high school break. I was faced with the choice of harsh, direct Florida sun or backlighting.

My first inclination was to shoot with the sun at my back. This consistently yielded mediocre photos with strong shadows in the eyes.


I strolled around to the other end of the field and shot into the sun with some strong backlighting the rest of the game. All done manual after a quick spot metering.













Nothing great, but no need to fear the backlighting.
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Jacobovs

These are nice shots. I always debate this issue when shooting any sports. Did you spot meter the camera? The faces are nicely exposed, usually the faces in backlit shots like these, are a bit underexposed.

Mitchell

Jacobovs wrote:

These are nice shots. I always debate this issue when shooting any sports. Did you spot meter the camera? The faces are nicely exposed, usually the faces in backlit shots like these, are a bit underexposed.

I spot metered these on the facial skin and then shot the whole lot in manual mode. The grass is a bit hot, but by excluding the sky in the composition, I was able to get some usable shots.

Parents only care about seeing the eyes and well exposed faces. The fact that the grass is a bit hot doesn't seem to bother most viewers.