Night sports metering with a 40D

StarrToDowler

Hello, all...

I need some advice on the metering mode for shooting in a relatively poorly lit high school football stadium at night.

Using my 40D I've been shooting with evaluative metering, but it seems that the pix are usually pretty dark, especially the faces inside the helmets. I've read that some people use the center-weighted average metering mode and I've tried it, but the results haven't been much better.

Any sports shooters out there with 40D's, do you have a mode that you feel comfortable with the consistency?

Thanks for any advice. I appreciate it!

Erbeman

StarrToDowler wrote:

Hello, all...

I need some advice on the metering mode for shooting in a relatively poorly lit high school football stadium at night.

Using my 40D I've been shooting with evaluative metering, but it seems that the pix are usually pretty dark, especially the faces inside the helmets. I've read that some people use the center-weighted average metering mode and I've tried it, but the results haven't been much better.

Any sports shooters out there with 40D's, do you have a mode that you feel comfortable with the consistency?

Thanks for any advice. I appreciate it!

I shoot with Nikon, so I don't know anything about your camera, what I can tell you though is just pick a mode, learn how your camera reacts, then you counteract. If you think it is metering too dark, then simply over expose your shots by what your meter is telling you. Nobody is ever going to know or care if your meter was right at 0 when you took a particular shot. I never shoot right at what my camera meters as perfect. I underexpose 99% of the time. I did a little experimenting this weekend at a football game by not underexposing so I could get more faces in the helmets. I've yet to look at them on my computer yet, so I don't know if I'm going to like it or not. Either way, I believe being a good photographer is not about knowing secret settings which yield good pics. It's about knowing your camera like the back of you hand and being able to adjust settings on the fly when you need to. That's my 2 cents.

johng

Metering mode is irrelevant. Shoot a manual exposure. Set that exposure so you're exposing FACES correctly. Now, you'll usually have 2-4 'zones' of light. So as you move up/down the sidelines you'll have to adjust your exposure accordingly. For example, endzone is dark - maybe 2 stops darker than mid field. The reality is - leaving the metering up to the camera will almost always result in poor results. Even if you use partial metering (which gives most emphasis to center of the frame) the jerseys in the frame will skew the metering. That's why you shoot manual.

A quick look at the light towers will give you an indication of where on the field you'll likely have to adjust your exposure as you move. Once you move, simply make an adjsutment and take some test shots before the first play. When you find the correct exposure, make a mental note of it. Since it's dark now before kick-off those values really don't change throughout the game.

Nwestrnr

John gave some good advice . I'll second that you will want to shoot in manual.

Typically For high school football the lighting is pretty dark and I shoot with at least f2.8 iso really depends on how bad the lighting is for me I try to stay at iso 200 lens as wide as it will go as a rule ~ then make my adjustments with the shutter speed most of the time if the shutter speed are falling to slow then I may want to bump up the shutter and stop the lens down instead causing a darker image then lighten them up 2 stops in p/p if I have too. Also at least where I am flash is aslo an option for most shots May give that a try as well. Good luck and hope you get some great shots !

nipprdog

Nwestrnr wrote:

John gave some good advice . I'll second that you will want to shoot in manual.

Agreed. Shooting at night, or indoors, shoot manual.

nipprdog

Nwestrnr wrote:

Typically For high school football the lighting is pretty dark and I shoot with at least f2.8 iso really depends on how bad the lighting is for me I try to stay at iso 200 lens as wide as it will go as a rule ~ then make my adjustments with the shutter speed most of the time if the shutter speed are falling to slow then I may want to bump up the shutter and stop the lens down instead causing a darker image then lighten them up 2 stops in p/p if I have too. Also at least where I am flash is aslo an option for most shots May give that a try as well.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say in that really long sentence, but I assume you meant to say ISO 2000, and not ISO 200.

Nwestrnr

What it says "iso200" sorry to confuse you

David Evertsen

Nwestrnr wrote:

What it says "iso200" sorry to confuse you

Okay I will say it .. ISO 200 ?? I can't shoot below ISO 2500 after Sunset at 1/400 2.8F to get a decent shot on any of the fields I shoot HS Football, Soccer, Lacrosse at night. Daytime is another story, even with a flash 4 stops is really hard to make up for using at least 1/400 2.8 ..

StarrToDowler

It's been a while since I actually played the game, but I remember a guy shooting on our sidelines years ago (WAY back in the film era) who used a flash, and a teammate said he was blinded by the flash and missed a pass. Since I've been shooting I never forgot that and have never used flash at any athletic event. Has anyone ever had a problem with flash when shooting sports?

Nwestrnr

You know I have always worried about it myself for one I would never want to interfere with a sport. The sport I have often worried most about was motocross and in the last 6 years of shooting it the worst Comment I have gotten thus far is "Man I've seen flashes going off all over me so I know you have pics"

My flash setups can range from on camera to standing within 10 feet or so of racers and figure that the wireless flash set ups are even closer at times and never had a complaint yet So I'm pretty confident its never been a problem as far as blinding or fouling up a sport I have shot at , but I'm sure there are exceptions, just be considerate as possible if using flash. With that said if your in doubt of using flash maybe ask officials before hand and see if they allow the use of it at there event.


Heres just an example: Hope you don't mind ! of close range flash near full power even when asked they never seem to mind us using it.

nipprdog

David Evertsen wrote:

Okay I will say it .. ISO 200 ??

OK, I'll repeat it. Nwestrnr, did you actually try to shoot night sports at ISO 200?

Nwestrnr

I have yes decent lighting flash at iso 200 that last photo of the racer is iso 100 .

[Edit] make that 320 sorry had to look it up

Nwestrnr

nipprdog wrote:

OK, I'll repeat it. Nwestrnr, did you actually try to shoot night sports at ISO 200?

I must say Jim, My post never said to use those settings literally it was merely an example any way.

johng

OK, the OP is shooting football. I would NOT recommend going to ISO 200 for football for several reasons:
1. Requires too much power from the flash. You'd basically be using full power so you'd only get one shot per charge. That also will heat up the flash faster.

2. Too much of a flash-burned look. Anytime you use flash and you can't bounce/diffuse it you want to have some ambient light to soften the flash effect.

3. Want a more natural looking photo - you'll get plenty of light fall off shooting at ISO 800 (which gives you your isolation) while still getting some of the field around the player. Having that starkly lit player in total darkness just looks out of place.

Again, different sports have different requirements. And for a sport like football I think using exposures that are too low has too much of a downside. The technique might work perfectly well in other sports but I wouldn't recommend for football.

StarrToDowler

Just wanted to say thanks for some GREAT advice! I really appreciate it.