Football Photography - Harsh Shadows

How to deal with harsh shadows when shooting football

Category:

Education

Tags:

• football
• photography
• digital
• camera
• aperture
• shutter
• iso
• canon
• nikon
• shadows
• lens

[805coach]

Hi Scott, do you think you could show us hands on editing and what system you use

thanks , great videos i get a lot out of them, lots of information.

[sds4kst8]

@805coach - Honestly, I do very little editing for photojournalism type work. Some levels or curves adjustment, a bit of sharpening, a crop and save. Pretty simple, really.

[ajlepisto]

I'm curious, do you use spot metering for football, especially?

A lot of my images are nicely exposed, but especially when taking pictures of players with dark complexions, or even worse, wearing a tinted visor, it makes it look like I have a black hole for a face. I always try to expose for the subject and not worry about blowing out the background, but I'm just curious how you do it.

[sds4kst8]

@ajlepisto - I use center-weighted metering. The key when shooting sports where the athletes wear helmets or hats is to expose for the faces. Doesn't matter much if the uniform is nice and perfectly exposed if we can't see the face under the hat/helmet. You'll often blow the whites in other areas of the image, but there's really not much choice if you want to see the faces.

[hcm228]

Great videos and Ive appreciated every one of them. I do have a quick question though. When shooting in AV mode, what metering setting do you use? Thanks again for the great tips.

[sds4kst8]

@hcm228 - Center weighted with EC bumped up (usually) 2/3.

[barronphotos]

I have learned a lot from your videos. I have a Canon 7D. What custom settings (C.Fn III) should I use for day/night football? Thanks!!!!!!!

[sds4kst8]

Thanks. Glad you like the videos.

[soobumim]

Thanks Scott so much

I love your videos and hope to see more!

[hcm228]

Thanks for the tips. I have been kicking up my exposure by 1/3 when shooting in the harsh light and I might go ahead and try 2/3 because I dont seem to be having an issue blowing highlights but more of seeing the faces. Thanks again.

[sds4kst8]

Thanks for the kind words about the videos. Glad you like them.

I usually use evaluative metering in Av. Probably should try partial more often, but I find that evaluative usually works fine. I should mentioned, too, that I usually bump up exposure by 1/3 stop when shooting in those harsh shadow situations, and sometimes 2/3 stop when shooting backlit.