Frustrating Exposure Today

So I was out at the lake this afternoon, bright sunny day, trying to shoot some jetskiiers. Sun was directly overhead. Shooting with a 70-200 f/2.8 in AV mode, aperture at f/5.6, ISO200 (to keep the shutter speed high), EC at between +3/4 to +1 stop.

No matter what I tried my subjects were dark with an exposed or slightly overexposed background. I tried both Evaluative and Spot Metering, same results.

Obviously there would be some shadows but what gives here ?

I usually don't encounter this to as much of an extreme as today.

Any thoughts ?

Heya,

It was just too bright and even in spot metering (because evaluative here is definitely the opposite of what you'd want to use for metering), probably very bright, so it turned those super bright highlights into the 50% grey or whatever, and that resulted in the overall image being much darker in terms of exposure, due to the highlights being super bright. Bad conditions really. You could try a CPL. I would have checked via live view to see the histogram and checked my overall exposure that way, and shot in manual once I knew my minimum shutter speed and aperture for what I wanted, and used ISO to increase exposure from there. LiveView is a great tool for moments like this, to see what the exposure is going to be like as a whole image, as Canon's meters (in my experience) under expose all the time.

Very best,

I would have shot in M just because you probably won't need to fool with the exposure much shot to shot after you are set. Sometimes it is easier to just do it yourself if the conditions aren't really changing fast (clouds moving overhead).
Go into LV, set your exposure, click out of LV and fire away

With a clear sky/sunny day, when shooting facing in a particular direction, I'll typically use Manual exposure, Spot meter the blue sky, and set the exposure to +1EV. This will give the sky a nice light blue and should do good with subjects that are getting decent light, although shadows can be of course challenging (so I've shot such things in Raw).

If there are white clouds in the sky or areas with bright highlights, I'd double-check to make sure highlights are not being blown. But as a "rule of thumb" setting a blue sky to +1EV works quite well for me, not so bright as to blow things out. Frothing white-water may be a bit much, tame it in a Raw processor, but the overall results can be good.

If you change directions (in relation to the sun and the subjects) you then want to adjust your exposure accordingly.

If the light changes (such as clouds or the action going into shadowy areas) you also would want to adjust. Some people prefer Av or Tv for scenes with changing light.

Next time try this, shoot in Manual mode use a 5/6 F stop ISO around 200 to 400 shutter around 200 to 320 and use meter mode to the adjustment.
Or better still trying auto ISO using 5/6 F stop.

Sounds like you needed more EC. Here's a shot I took at an outdoor concert, looking almost directly into the sun. I'd take a shot, preview it, and adjust the EC. Ended up with the EC cranked up to +3. Sometimes you just have to expose for the subject and don't worry about the background.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/nnYv​jL

Good example. You have to make up your mind about what's important, expose that properly and then if the highlights are blown to kingdom come, so be it.

apersson850 wrote in post #16914113
Good example. You have to make up your mind about what's important, expose that properly and then if the highlights are blown to kingdom come, so be it.

Right, unless you can use fill flash.

Of course, but he talked about "jetskiers", and I envision those to be out of flash range. But I may be wrong there.

apersson850 wrote in post #16914271
Of course, but he talked about "jetskiers", and I envision those to be out of flash range. But I may be wrong there.

Yes there's no way I could use fill flash unfortunately because of the distance

MalVeauX wrote in post #16913687
Heya,

It was just too bright and even in spot metering (because evaluative here is definitely the opposite of what you'd want to use for metering), probably very bright, so it turned those super bright highlights into the 50% grey or whatever, and that resulted in the overall image being much darker in terms of exposure, due to the highlights being super bright. Bad conditions really. You could try a CPL. I would have checked via live view to see the histogram and checked my overall exposure that way, and shot in manual once I knew my minimum shutter speed and aperture for what I wanted, and used ISO to increase exposure from there. LiveView is a great tool for moments like this, to see what the exposure is going to be like as a whole image, as Canon's meters (in my experience) under expose all the time.

Very best,

So if not Evaluative metering then what ?

alexxn wrote in post #16914432
So if not Evaluative metering then what ?

Manual!
You said sun was overhead. Therefore I will call that consistent light.
So just take photos in any mode until you get desired exposure.
Then stick to that exposure.

Choderboy wrote in post #16914496
Manual!
You said sun was overhead. Therefore I will call that consistent light.
So just take photos in any mode until you get desired exposure.
Then stick to that exposure.

I'm thinking manual for sure now, I don't know how something like that could have escaped me like that. Oh well live and learn !

alexxn wrote in post #16914432
So if not Evaluative metering then what ?

Heya,

Fully manual. Evaluative will not do that shot right, hardly ever. There's too many really bright highlights probably blown out, and dark shadow points. So when it meters all of that, as it meters the whole thing in evaluative, it will base it on that bright blow out stuff and you get a really dark underexposed photo. Spot metering and center weighted metering would work better. But even then probably not do the best (such as you found out spot metering doesn't help either there, it's not backlit, it's just overhead noon sun, which is the worst sun there is for light). So at that point you manually expose for what you want to see. Adjust things based on LiveView and Histogram. Don't trust the meter.

Very best,

Thanks everyone !