Metering mode and Al Servo..

[EcoRick]

I rarely shoot moving subjects, but recently I've taken quite a few shots of my grandchildren outdoors. I use Al Servo and center weighted metering. The problem I'm having is we have tough lighting conditions with plenty of both shade and sun. What metering mode should I be using when you have moving subjects in lighting conditions that vary?

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[Rudeofus]

There is no perfect solution for high contrast fast moving situations, but here are a few pointers:
- Use a fill flash to bridge the gap between shades and bright spots. E-TTL works wonders and puts emphasis on the AF spot.
- If you use fill flash and overall lighting doesn't change significantly, you may get away with manual settings (for the regular exposure, flash stays in E-TTL, of course). Determine proper back ground expose beforehand and dial it into your camera, then use the E-TTL flash to properly light the main subjects (= your grand children)
- If you shoot raw, you can fix brightness and contrast later. In my experience faces almost ALWAYS end up underexposed in brightly lit situations :(

PS: Is there any particular reason why you use center weighted metering? In my experience evaluative metering works quite well.

[EcoRick]

Thnaks for the help. To clarify my question, I'm shooting multiple frames per second with a moving subject. I'm not sure that a flash will solve that issus.