How would you shoot this? (exposure)

Would appreciate any opinions, even if they dismiss my train of thought.

When the sun is lower on the building it isn't too hard to get decent exposure for the sign and the players (I could have had this with better aperture and composition )

Fill flash

Add a little shadow fill and WB on the players would be my 2 cents. I don't know if these kind of shots would benefit from silhouetting IMHO.

Wilt wrote in post #14802242
Fill flash

this.

I should have mentioned, I was already the extreme odd ball in the crowd with only a 60D and 70-200 F4 IS. Full power blasts from a 580ex just wouldn't be in my comfort zone here.

FredM wrote in post #14802680
I should have mentioned, I was already the extreme odd ball in the crowd with only a 60D and 70-200 F4 IS. Full power blasts from a 580ex just wouldn't be in my comfort zone here.

That is what you need to get it correct. Don't worry about what other's think. Get the good shot and enjoy your results.

FredM wrote in post #14802680
I should have mentioned, I was already the extreme odd ball in the crowd with only a 60D and 70-200 F4 IS. Full power blasts from a 580ex just wouldn't be in my comfort zone here.

I agree with the others, either fill flash is in your "comfort zone" or that's what you're going to get

Really high contrast, so without flash you're pretty much stuck with what you already have, doing pure silhouettes, or shooting exposure bracketed shots and fixing in post.

Get a Nikon. It has the DR to cover this shot (or so I've read).

FredM wrote in post #14802680
I should have mentioned, I was already the extreme odd ball in the crowd with only a 60D and 70-200 F4 IS. Full power blasts from a 580ex just wouldn't be in my comfort zone here.

Well, you need to decide if you want to be an oddball who takes good pics by using the right gear, or an oddball who can't cope with awkward lighting conditions and gets bad results. As "serious" photographers we will always stand out in a crowd of people using iPhones to take pics. You probably feel that you stand out more than you do, the vast majority of people won't be paying you any attention at all. Those who do, just ignore them and get on with what you are doing, concentrate on your photography and you won't notice them.

I am sure I look pretty unusual shooting at night, with a tripod, in the city centre of Manchester or Liverpool, or at an event with two bodies (both with white lenses) hung around my neck, or lying on the floor to get a low angle. I just don't pay any attention to passers by that stop and watch. I am there to take the best images I can, I am not going to take poor shots just so that I look less of an oddball.

In lieu of using a flash fill, set the exposure metering to "spot" and use the center AF point for focusing. Obviously, this will affect the way you compose the shot, (as subject will always be dead center in frame) but having the subject in the center of the frame by no means seriously artistically effects these types of shots. Make sure your subject completely fills the spot circle in the viewfinder. Bump up the ISO if necessary.

You will most likely end up over-exposing the background, but that is a fair trade-off for well exposed subjects in this type of situation.

FredM wrote in post #14802680
I should have mentioned, I was already the extreme odd ball in the crowd with only a 60D and 70-200 F4 IS. Full power blasts from a 580ex just wouldn't be in my comfort zone here.

If you want to go off-road, you need a 4 wheels drive

Also, I forgot to mention, as others have commented, using fill would work. (Which I agree completely). From a technical standpoint, they are all correct. However, it would be completely careless to use a flash in a situation where the subjects are walking down a flight of stairs. Making it even more dangerous would be the fact that they are wearing cleats (if you've ever worn cleats on stairs, you know how difficult it can be to maintain your footing / balance) and the fact that they are probably exhausted from the competition, all adds up to the likelihood that someone will be momentarily blinded, trip and fall.

Using a flash in this situation would not be appropriate.

PUREBRAD wrote in post #14805563
Also, I forgot to mention, as others have commented, using fill would work. (Which I agree completely). From a technical standpoint, they are all correct. However, it would be completely careless to use a flash in a situation where the subjects are walking down a flight of stairs. Making it even more dangerous would be the fact that they are wearing cleats (if you've ever worn cleats on stairs, you know how difficult it can be to maintain your footing / balance) and the fact that they are probably exhausted from the competition, all adds up to the likelihood that someone will be momentarily blinded, trip and fall.

Using a flash in this situation would not be appropriate.

A flash, which at 1/1000 is 1/10th of the blink of an eye, would endanger someone coming down stairs?! If that were the case, blinking the eyes would be 10x the risk factor for a single blink, and in the time of decending one staircase, they might end up with 100x the risk of a single flash! And texting while driving would be 10000x times the risk.

dinanm3atl wrote in post #14802693
That is what you need to get it correct. Don't worry about what other's think. Get the good shot and enjoy your results.

My father has always told me, never worry or think about the other photographers are doing, do what you know needs to be done, problem solve yourself. Just do it.