Mid-Day sun problem

[mfr301]

Hello,

Ok... so I shoot a football game and here are my dilemas. Mid Day, BRIGHT daytime sun light. Shooting from my hosting team sideline (kinda into the sun direction just a little), TURF field with bad reflection, polarizer or dropping exposure gives me face shadows, .

Here is a link to that day's game: http://www.publicsafetypictures.exposuremanager.com/g/11-11-07_-_fairfield_falcons_vs_caldwell_chiefs_a_team_playo ffs


Please let me know what I could be doing wrong as I kinda think they came out crappy.

Mike

[namasste]

Hello,

Ok... so I shoot a football game and here are my dilemas. Mid Day, BRIGHT daytime sun light. Shooting from my hosting team sideline (kinda into the sun direction just a little), TURF field with bad reflection, polarizer or dropping exposure gives me face shadows, .

Here is a link to that day's game: http://www.publicsafetypictures.exposuremanager.com/g/11-11-07_-_fairfield_falcons_vs_caldwell_chiefs_a_team_playo ffs


Please let me know what I could be doing wrong as I kinda think they came out crappy.

Mike

I think a polarizer with some fill flash might have worked here. Mid day sun is always a challenge man, there's just not a ton that can always be done about it other than moving around as much as you're allowed to get the best angles.

[SwingBopper]

I'd rig up 2 speedlights on either side of camera for fill with reach.

[fslshooter]

Mike - I shoot baseball in Florida where harsh sunlight and dark cap shadows are the norm rather than exception. Under these conditions I shoot RAW, into the sun so that faces are in shadow as much as possible, manual exposure and expose for faces which blows highlights out. Here's an example using this technique shot in very harsh Florida mid day sunlight.

#1 - Cropped to a full body 5x7 baseball trading card aspect ratio and resized for posting here.
http://www.jerryhalephotography.com//potn/1116a.jpg

#2 - 100% crop
http://www.jerryhalephotography.com//potn/1116b.jpg

[JVolz]

Mike,
I think considering the conditions they are good. You certainly captured the action well and I think parents would definitely find them more than acceptable for purchase.

[In2Photos]

Mike - I shoot baseball in Florida where harsh sunlight and dark cap shadows are the norm rather than exception. Under these conditions I shoot RAW, into the sun so that faces are in shadow as much as possible, manual exposure and expose for faces which blows highlights out. Here's an example using this technique shot in very harsh Florida mid day sunlight.

#1 - Cropped to a full body 5x7 baseball trading card aspect ratio and resized for posting here.


#2 - 100% crop

I have nowhere near as much experience as Jerry, but I try, and I stress try, to do something similar. In my case though I haven't shot much with hats/helmets other than some softball (not everyone wears a hat). Otherwise soccer and flag football only pose problems if the subject is sidelit. But in mid day sun I typically try to shoot into the sun and overexpose my ambient reading by about one stop (I don't have spot metering on my XT). In processing (using LR) I then reduce brightness and add some recovery and fill light to even things out. Here are some examples.

1. Backlit - I overexposed based on my ambient by one stop which blew out some hoghlights on the goalie's back but allowed me to properly expose his face.

http://www.mdsportsphoto.com/photos/221632702-L-1.jpg

2. Sidelit - As you can see half of her face is lit while the other half is in shadow. Here I have setup my camera to overexpose by 2/3 stop and then a little PP work (like 30 seconds) to bring back the highlights and add a little to the shadow areas.

http://www.mdsportsphoto.com/photos/221633358-L-1.jpg

[mfr301]

Very good responses thank you guys very much. I guess 2 of my big issues with those photos I referred to were this. 1 it seems that I lost a lot of true color or contrast. The 2nd thing is they look very grainy to me. I was thinking that this is because I jacked them up a little in LightRoom thus pulling out the grain.

I have 3 more games this coming Sunday so I'll see how I make out with what you guys told me.

Thanks again guys ! This is exactly why I like this website.

[marcus769]

Nice football pics! Whatever lens you used was very sharp!

[mfr301]

Thank you Marc.