Shoot soccer with sun to your back or looking into it?

[draw4u]

I shot a game Saturday evening and the sun was brutal!! It was low and very bright so I put it to my back but that really made the faces of the kids and yellow jerseys VERY bright, and sometimes hard to see!! Should I have faced into the sun instead? I shot the entire game with the sun at my back and played with different settings and figured I would see how they turned out. Ended up with some decent shots but they are very bright with alot of shadows! Let me know what you typically do in this situation. Thanks!

[cwphoto]

Either is fine, just not at right angles if you can avoid it.

It is possible your pictures are over-exposed if they appear to bright. Try again with Manual exposure using sunny-16 and you have a better result.

Backlight can be nice though.

[brokenbones67]

cwphoto, what is sunny-16?

Thanks

[canonnoob]

hey abe do you have any shots that you can show us...? hopefully I can possibly give you some advice...

[brokenbones67]

I found the Sunny 16 rule. I am trying to understand it as we have a youth soccer tourney this weekend. Forecast is sunny.

Thanks

[clarence]

cwphoto, what is sunny-16?

Thanks

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunny_16_rule

The basic rule is, "On a sunny day set aperture to f/16 and shutter speed to the 1/ISO"

For example:
On a sunny day and with ISO 100 film in the camera, set the aperture to f/16 and the shutter speed to 1/100"

But for sports, you usually want wider apertures, so you start trading stops of aperture and double your shutter speed...
f/16 at SS=1/100"
os equivalent to f/11 at ss=1/200"
or f/8 at ss=1/400"
or f/5.6 at ss=1/800"
or f/4 at ss=1/1600"
or f/2.8 at ss=1/3200"

[clarence]

I found the Sunny 16 rule. I am trying to understand it as we have a youth soccer tourney this weekend. Forecast is sunny.

Sunny 16 was more useful back in the days of manual exposure on film.

IMHO, you're better off just bumping up Exposure Compensation a couple of clicks so your subjects' faces don't get lost in the harsh shadows.

[asysin2leads]

When shooting sports, especially football, I try to shoot w/ the sun at my back so that when the action comes my way, the sun is throwing some light under the helmet. Same is true with soccer. If you are shooting into the sun and the action is coming at you, the faces will be in the shadow. By bumping EC up +1/3 or +2/3, you can increase the exposure on the subject.

[DC Fan]

U.S. football facing into the sun.

http://www.kevinlillard.com/racing/20090926b0625.jpg

http://www.kevinlillard.com/racing/20090905b0784.jpg

On the XTi that generated these images, the camera was set to evaluative metering and aperture priority. With this kind of backlighting, the camera always comes up with the correct exposure with no elaborate settings.

[Big K]

U.S. football facing into the sun.

http://www.kevinlillard.com/racing/20090926b0625.jpg

http://www.kevinlillard.com/racing/20090905b0784.jpg

On the XTi that generated these images, the camera was set to evaluative metering and aperture priority. With this kind of backlighting, the camera always comes up with the correct exposure with no elaborate settings.

Hell, you should have said hello. I was the guy with the 400 around you most of the day on Saturday at Wabash. I think we laughed at that stupid sideline interference penalty call. :-)

[rovers_Andy]

if its really bright you want f/2.8 or f/4 set your Iso at 100 and see what shutter speeds your getting. you want 1/640 or 1/800 ideally but obviously if the suns really bright and overexposing at those shutter speeds you'll have to use a faste shutter speed

[DC Fan]

Hell, you should have said hello. I was the guy with the 400 around you most of the day on Saturday at Wabash. I think we laughed at that stupid sideline interference penalty call. :-)

Off topic: Wabash is a very good place for football photography, as long as it's not Monon Bell week. :)

On topic and referring to the main question in the thread: adverse and non-perfect lighting is just part of the game. Some of the trick is to let the camera do most of the metering work so you can concentrate on framing and action. Sometimes, Program AE, with judicious exposure compensation to handle lighting extremes, is the best choice.

And sometimes you can't do anything about the light and you need to improvise.

http://www.kevinlillard.com/racing/10112008a0312.jpg

From a 2008 game when the sun was setting and just above field level. No amount of exposure compensation would help. This was a matter of angle and technique: no way to be successful when a low sun was in your face.

http://www.kevinlillard.com/racing/10112008a0343.jpg

The trick was to move and choose an angle where the sun wasn't directly opposite the shooting location. It was still backlit, but the camera could handle this situation.

[PhotosGuy]

Gavin shoots a lot at high ISO with the sun behind the players, & provides EXIF & fun captions as well. A Cricketing Compendium... (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=510320)