Exposure Compensation

Hi,

I am hoping someone can explain to me how to set an exposure compensation for hockey photos.

First you need to understand that WB and exposure are to entirely separate things. Making a CWB using the ice is a good idea, but it won't affect your exposure. As you have learned, using Evaluative metering will make the ice grey and the people underexposed. You want the ice to be white, close to clipping but not clipped, and brightening the ice will at the same time brighten the people. So put your meter on Spot so that you can meter only the ice. Put your shooting mode into M (Manual) and point the camera at the ice. Adjust aperture, speed and ISO until the needle in the viewfinder is on +2 (the right end of the scale). This will make the ice two stops brighter than the medium grey produced by having the needle on 0.

An alternative would be to point the metering spot at the palm of your hand, if you can get close enough to the rink to put your hand in the same light as the players are in, but if you do this, set the needle to +1 (because Caucasian palms are one stop brighter than medium grey.)

The above assumes that you are shooting jpgs. If you are shooting RAW you can use the greater highlight headroom available by metering the ice at +3 stops and adjusting during conversion.

Hi,

Thanks tzalman,

I do shoot in RAW and will give this a go.


Cheers

tzalman has given you a nice bit of info there to play with.

if the lighting doesn't change a great deal [I'm guessing it doesn't??] then i'd be tempted to shoot in Manual mode for consistancy & also in a custom or set WB too. if the wb is slightly out then as least it's across the board & in something like LR you can adjust all at once.

Another thing to consider is the adjustment to the "correct" overexposure for the ice so that you get a shutter speed that will not have blur in it from motion of the players or camera shake from shooting with a long focal length. So, choose a reasonable aperture, set an appropriate shutter speed and then adjust ISO accordingly to get the exposure correct as Tzalman explained above. You will likely have to shoot at ISO 1600 or 3200 with an appropriate shutter speed and aperture.

Kirk

Tony,

Just to add on here to the good advice given:

Your OP has a couple "points" that should be cleared up.

First, when you use the term "Exposure Compensation", that refers to an adjustment you make in Av, Tv or P mode to move the exposure from what the camera deems is "correct" (where the needle is centered). When you do this, the needle will no longer be centered -- it will stay "fixed" at the level where you set the exposure compensation.

But, using EC in one of those modes does not set the exact exposure, but only the exposure relative to what the camera is metering at a given point.

So, in one of those "semi-auo) modes, if you point the camera at the ice and dial in the +2/+3 EC, at that point you will get a good exposure for the whole scene. But then, if you want to shoot the guy in the black jersey, you will focus on him and your camera will meter him, taking the black jersey in, and will set the exposure to "medium" plus the EC you have dialed in. The meter needle will read +2/+3, whatever EC you have dialed in. When you then look at the shot, you will have everything overexposed.

This is why Manual exposure can be helpful here -- you will have a single exposure for everything. The black jersey will have a "needle reading" of perhaps -2 EV, which is proper for a dark garment. The yellow jerseys will have perhaps a +1 EV reading, because they are lighter than "medium", although not as bright as the snow.

Now, some people do prefer to shoot in, say, Av, and to use the EC to adjust "on the fly", and that's fine as long as you understand what you are doing -- if you are shooting the black jersey you adjust your EC to the negative, but if you are shooting the yellow jersey, you adjust to the positive.

Do you get what I'm saying?

tonylong wrote in post #13225432
Tony,

Do you get what I'm saying?

Hi Tony L,

I believe so:

I'm not sure why I mentioned the WB in the post - I think I am over tired!!

But I do shoot in manual and I will adjust the metering for the target ie - underexpose (move needle to the left) abit for darker targets (so the overall exposure is closer to correct) and overexpose abit for brighter objects. basically compensating for what the camera will do as far as its light reading. I believe (hopefully) this is the gest of it?

BTW - that is my little girl - mind you she is one heck of a TomBoy (8 yrs old and still hasn't worn a dress - and thats no exageration!!) - and a heck of a hockey player.


Thanks Again


Tony

General_T wrote in post #13225929
Hi Tony L,

I believe so:

I'm not sure why I mentioned the WB in the post - I think I am over tired!!

But I do shoot in manual and I will adjust the metering for the target ie - underexpose (move needle to the left) abit for darker targets (so the overall exposure is closer to correct) and overexpose abit for brighter objects. basically compensating for what the camera will do as far as its light reading. I believe (hopefully) this is the gest of it?

Yeah, it sounds like you're getting the idea. It takes some practice, either in M or one or the other modes, you have to have an awareness of these issues and an eye on what you are doing and be ready for changes as well.

But with consistent lighting, using Manual and nailing that ice can set you up to shoot all day without worry. Or, you could use one of the other "targets" the same way.

BTW - that is my little girl - mind you she is one heck of a TomBoy (8 yrs old and still hasn't worn a dress - and thats no exageration!!) - and a heck of a hockey player.

Thanks Again

Tony

Cool! I don't have anyone involved in a sport, otherwise I'd be out there more!

Have a read of the book "understanding exposure".

tim wrote in post #13226067
Have a read of the book "understanding exposure".

Hi Tim,

I actually have (and have read) the book. I do understand the relationship of the "triangle" ISO/Shutter/Aperture (at least I think I do:lol. Thing is, its gonna take awhile to put theory into practice and get consistent results - which is why I will be pestering ppl in this forum. I started this kinda late in life (50+) so I have a lot of catching up to do!!

Thanks for the help


Cheers

It's been a few years since I read Understanding Exposure, so I dug out the dang book -- it's the 2004 edition, meaning that it's not up-to-date with some of his revisions for digital...

His chapter on Light covers this type of stuff, and he hits it from all kinds of angles, and it's worth revisiting!

General_T wrote in post #13226159
Hi Tim,

I actually have (and have read) the book. I do understand the relationship of the "triangle" ISO/Shutter/Aperture (at least I think I do:lol. Thing is, its gonna take awhile to put theory into practice and get consistent results - which is why I will be pestering ppl in this forum. I started this kinda late in life (50+) so I have a lot of catching up to do!!

Thanks for the help

Practice is all you can really do now. Rule of thumb is for general photos you'll want about +2/3, for something mostly white (wedding dress) +1.5 or so, for something black -1 or so. That's for Canon, other brands are different.

Image is underexposed by about a stop.
In a scene like that' I'd either meter a bright spot of the ice (not the reflection of a light) and make sure it just doesn't blow (put it at about +2) or measure the black and make sure it retains detail (put it at about -2)
Should get you in the ballpark.

Look at the histogram on your playback. Its well underexposed. Not helped by the player wearing black! Shadow/highlight recovery in PS gets some detail back, but set your exposure as has been suggested next time.

General,

I am taking a lot of kids hockey pictures these days w a 60d and 70-200L.
The rink I shoot at the most has decent light, but it is still challenging getting the exposure correct.

I will be the first to admit that I am very much a newbie but here is what I can provide:

As of yesterday, my setting are ss1/640, f2.8, iso2500ish.
Also, I use spot metering (not that it matters with fixed settings), hi-speed drive, and ai-servo. I found that using the upper focus point lets me get a little tighter.

I used to be scared of high ISO but now realize that the sensor electronics are much better at increasing sensitivity rather than increasing exposure in post processing. Meaning, less noise.

Here are some pics of my son's team. The ones later in the album are better I think.

https://picasaweb.goog​le.com …u-A99jaIQ&feat=directlin​k

Good luck,
Rick