shooting in constantly changing lighting

I was experimenting last night. My daughter was running around in our front courtyard as the sun was setting. Strong setting sun from the west and the house on the east. My small daughter was of course constantly running around from north to east to west to southwest to northeast etc, you get the picture. As you can imagine when shooting west vs east, exposure values were vastly different. I usually shoot manual. But this is also the first time I've had a two year old running in circles in my life. So I got to thinking and figured it might be much better to shoot in TV and float the ISO. Is this the most efficient way to shoot in a situation like this? It would be nice if there were a mode to lock shutter speed aperture and dial in exposure comp. Seems like this is problematic if you have inconsistent lighting. Almost as if manual becomes useless because lack of exposure comp, unless you constantly want to be fiddling with the top dial. So my question is more or less, am I correct in assuming that in this situation TV with exposure comp set with a floating iso is the most efficient way to shoot? Or do I have a case of brain freeze and am missing something critical? I ask because if I'm shooting to the backlight vs the frontlight in this situation the exposure value could change by as much ad -/+ 2ev. Very inefficient to use manual in this situation. Thanks in advance.

My instinct would be to still shoot on full M & expose for highlights where the sun is hitting her AND to use RAW. The reason is that if the camera, in it's infinite wisdom, looks at a backlit scene & decides to expose for it, you will get unrecoverable blown out highlights, especially if she has blond hair or light colored clothes.
No method is perfect in that situation, but I feel that RAW allows me to bring up the shadow areas in a way that works most of the time.

For example, look at the first two images in: "Horsies" - A CMHA Equestrian Event

I agree, and thanks for the photos. The quandary with M is really that you can't set a constant compensation value, which is a killer. Another, thing is that I also found spot metering does a much better job than evaluative in this situation. Evaluative just gives underexposed photos for the subject with the back lighting in most cases.

Frodge wrote in post #17627842
The quandary with M is really that you can't set a constant compensation value, which is a killer.

To me, that's an advantage. I don't want the camera to do ANYTHING that I didn't tell it to do.

This is what I use 99% of the time: Need an exposure crutch?
And this is why: Post #47

This is where practice and getting to know how the metering is gonna react pays off. Back lighting is going to require positive compensation in evaluative and center weighted metering mode. In the situation you describe, I prefer to shoot TV in evaluative metering (using fast primes). I'll chimp both for a back lighted and not back lighted frame, then hope my eye finger coordination is fast enough to add or subtract the compensation depending on back lighted or non back lighted. I've been a manual only, spot meter only photographer for a number of years. Using the evaluative metering has allowed me to get more quality exposed images when shooting people outdoors.

Let me ask. If you find that an advantage, he do you handle this. I'm shooting with my daughter into the sun 1/1000 at f4 ISP 200 as purely just an example. The photo looks good. She runs to the opposite corner into the shadows. Now she is totally underexposed at these.settings, up to 2-3ev. What way do you quickly rectify this?

I'd shoot at 400 or 800 ISO and 1/500 if that's what it took and I was limited to F4 as the widest I could shoot. You'd not get your shallow DOF when she's out of the shadows, but you can't have your cake and eat it to. What were the better images, when she was in the shadows our out of them? May consider deciding which looked better and and coax here into that lighting.

Frodge wrote in post #17627863
Let me ask. If you find that an advantage, he do you handle this. I'm shooting with my daughter into the sun 1/1000 at f4 ISP 200 as purely just an example. The photo looks good. She runs to the opposite corner into the shadows. Now she is totally underexposed at these.settings, up to 2-3ev. What way do you quickly rectify this?

I'd have to decide which situation is most important. Personally, the one with the sun would be my choice. So one click of the dial would move me from M to Av, where I'd already set the parameters for shooting in the shadows.
As I said, "No method is perfect..." ; )

BTW, this is where fill flash can make things look nice, IMO. Back lighted subject with nuanced fill. ETTL.

Frodge wrote in post #17627825
I usually shoot manual. But this is also the first time I've had a two year old running in circles in my life. So I got to thinking and figured it might be much better to shoot in TV and float the ISO. Is this the most efficient way to shoot in a situation like this?

I'm used to almost always using TV and faced with a similar situation like you (18 month old grand niece) I bracket +/- 1-1/2 stops and let the camera do the work. At close to 5 frames per second (I have the 60D like you) the 3 exposure bracket generally catches something worthwhile. Even if the +1-1/2 frame proves to be an absolute winner in terms of content but has some slight overexposure and can pull a very respectable image by post processing.

I also suggest you explore the use of AI Servo for the little people. Sometimes it also proves helpful. When my grand nice sees me with the camera she frequently runs directly toward me!

Thanks forbal the responses so far! Much appreciated. I do in fact use servo for moving subjects. I have not tried flash outside yet so far. Maybe it will be worth giving that a shot. I also have not explored bracketing. Other than that, in may make sense as suggested, to coerce my daughter where I want to after I set exposure. I also must add that I don't have any problems with either the 60d or t3i to get crisp frozen images.

Reading that with very much interest. Here's how I would have tackled the situation (assuming there is generally enough light): TV, 1/250, flash on -2/3, EV +1, ISO100 and center weighted. What is the difference between the other suggestion? DOF probably one. Any other?

I set to AV and let iso be auto and let the camera handle it. I know I'll get some bad exposures, but usually I can get it right in LR. Rather get 'A' shot then over-expose.

Aren't two year olds fun?

I use TV with kids running around, check exposure compensation and try to adjust for the direction of lighting. I rarely use auto ISO, but have used it when lighting changes rapidly. I would be more likely to set ISO high enough to give me high shutter speeds, like ISO 400-800 in this case.
With a moving child, I would want F stops that are small enough to provide enough depth of field.

Frodge wrote in post #17627825
I was experimenting last night. My daughter was running around in our front courtyard as the sun was setting. Strong setting sun from the west and the house on the east. My small daughter was of course constantly running around from north to east to west to southwest to northeast etc, you get the picture. As you can imagine when shooting west vs east, exposure values were vastly different. I usually shoot manual. But this is also the first time I've had a two year old running in circles in my life. So I got to thinking and figured it might be much better to shoot in TV and float the ISO. Is this the most efficient way to shoot in a situation like this? It would be nice if there were a mode to lock shutter speed aperture and dial in exposure comp. Seems like this is problematic if you have inconsistent lighting. Almost as if manual becomes useless because lack of exposure comp, unless you constantly want to be fiddling with the top dial. So my question is more or less, am I correct in assuming that in this situation TV with exposure comp set with a floating iso is the most efficient way to shoot? Or do I have a case of brain freeze and am missing something critical? I ask because if I'm shooting to the backlight vs the frontlight in this situation the exposure value could change by as much ad -/+ 2ev. Very inefficient to use manual in this situation. Thanks in advance.

Heya,

I shoot in that all the time with my 2 year old.

I shoot AV all the time for this purpose. I will meter the brightest and darkest areas to get an idea real quick of just how low my shutter would get at the aperture value I want to use. Then I simply push ISO to a set value that ensures my shutter is always faster than a certain speed, and up to 1/8000s. I generally do this at ISO 400, 800 or even 1600 on my 5D without any hesitation, and I expose to the right by about 1 stop or so, with partial metering in AV.

The only time I shoot manual in that kind of light is when I'm providing the lighting (speedlites or strobe) in which case I set the camera settings to ambient light, and adjust my subject exposure via the flash/strobe.

AV with natural light (using higher ISO to ensure faster shutters so I never worry about being too slow for action freezing, while maintaining the aperture I want) (ISO 400~800) going from sun to shade in a heart beat.

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