Need Advice with Exposure - Dive

[wyofizz]

Have a pesky diving board with 2 powerful spot light lighting the divers.
I've tried all kinds of settings to no avail. If I underexpose then the
sides of the dive beneath are way too dark.
The whole dive isn't this overexposed.
It's also pretty much impossible to fix in post.
Would some type of filter help?
Tried the auto ISO on the Mark4 it didn't help either.
Thanks

[psurrette]

Have you tried shooting in AV mode with the metering set to spot meter? Shutter speed should adjust when the diver hits this hot spot and readjust for the rest of the dive.

[wyofizz]

Hadn't tried AV but did try spot meter. Will do this morning.
Thanks

[wyofizz]

Tried both AV & TV mode.
Both yielded severly under exposed images.
Guess I'm stuck with a low keeper rate:(

[Gary W.]

Hey all,

Can you turn down the intensity of the 2 spots? Maybe to something less bright as the sun?

Gary W.

[wyofizz]

Don't I wish, very poor building design. They are way too close to the divers.

[Mikeroscope]

Set up some flashes to back light them and expose to the spot lights Then you will have pics of them diving with a black back ground. Might look cool. Though they might not like getting a flash in the face when they are 20 feet in the air upside down.

[DDCSD]

Though they might not like getting a flash in the face when they are 20 feet in the air upside down.

I highly doubt they'd notice, given the incredibly bright continuous lights burning holes into their retinas!

[DDCSD]

Tried both AV & TV mode.
Both yielded severly under exposed images.
Guess I'm stuck with a low keeper rate:(


Did you try cranking in some EC?

[Paul S]

Can you bounce the light ?

[wyofizz]

Can't strobe during diving.

[ChunkyDA]

How about planning to shoot in the light or out of it? I am wondering why your ISO is 2500 for this shot, of course it is going to be overexposed.
Just send the mIV down to me and I'll play with it for a while:p

[wyofizz]

How about planning to shoot in the light or out of it? I am wondering why your ISO is 2500 for this shot, of course it is going to be overexposed.
Just send the mIV down to me and I'll play with it for a while:p


Note the SS of 1/1000.
I've gone down to ISO 1250 and SS of 1/640, still gets blown out or
the body parts not directly in the spot light are severly underexposed.

[mestes]

Wouldn't a lower ISO help reduce the over exposure? try maybe 1000 or even 800?

[liam5100]

BB gun?

Those spots are crazy. Like others have said, if you cant alter the output of the spot's the only other thing to balance an exposure is to bring up the other light, but if you cant with flash other ambient spots are your only option. Tough one.

If it were me.. I'd set my settings on manual to get proper exposure when the spot lights were on them and just use that as the place to shoot. Dealing with the black or severely under exposed background. Then maybe do the same thing in an area the spots are not hitting them in the dive, get some shots from that spot as well with the balanced ambient. Just the way I'd handle it..

[Jimmyhickey]

^ Ditto. Just get the exposure right when the spots are on him and keep it at that? There is a way to correctly expose that image. Looks like some weird shooting conditions...I've never heard of them spotlighting the divers:/ Talk with the light operators beforehand, have them shine the lights at you as you stand on the high dive with a light meter and find the correct exposure? That might be your best bet...

[wyofizz]

BB gun?

Those spots are crazy. Like others have said, if you cant alter the output of the spot's the only other thing to balance an exposure is to bring up the other light, but if you cant with flash other ambient spots are your only option. Tough one.

If it were me.. I'd set my settings on manual to get proper exposure when the spot lights were on them and just use that as the place to shoot. Dealing with the black or severely under exposed background. Then maybe do the same thing in an area the spots are not hitting them in the dive, get some shots from that spot as well with the balanced ambient. Just the way I'd handle it..

I actually brought up the BB gun to the AD during my setup routine. He chuckled:)
It will take some more experimentation to get the proper exposure. When the diver is at the end of the board their not in the direct spot light. They can also dive beyond the worst of the light. i suppose I could expose for the direct light and then select the diver in PP and use shadows/highlites to try and correct. I suspect I'll still end up with a multi lit diver:oops:
I've also noticed that that much light really hoses the sharpness of the image.