Partial versus Centerweighted Metering

[Kevin_M_Cox]

Ken is right, once you set your manual exposure you're good to go until the light changes again. Sure you'll have to adjust for changing cloud cover and as the sun starts to set you'll be adjusting your exposure more often, but as long as you're aware of the light it shouldn't be a big deal.

As to Jolesch in particular, here is an old thread on SportsShooter that details my experience (as well as others) with the company:
SportsShooter.com - Anyone familiar with Jolesch Photography?

-- Kevin

[Lynn Lopez]

Thanks much guys... I totally understand where you are coming from now with the manual exposure. That will be the way I go this Sat.

Kevin, thanks for the link to Jolesch. This will be my first event for them and I guess I am approaching it as money I would not have to begin with. I am actually hoping to get to take winterguard pictures with them. I have spent the last two years being the exclusive photographer for a local colorguard circuit. I would spend 8 hours on a Sat and another 4 hours on a Sunday processing pics to have a bunch of people log in, say what wonderful shots I took, and not buy a thing. I made about $1000 last winter working around 100 hours total. So to go to an event take pictures and just be done with it will be a treat for me. My main concern is the wear and tear on the camera. I guess I will just wait and see how it goes.... I am signed up to take pictures on 7 different days including BOA here in SA and the Texas State UIL contest in SA.

[DonLashier]

Good luck Lynn,

fwiw I virtually always shoot in manual exposure whether dark/light uniforms are a problem or not. It's just much more accurate, predictable and consistent than any of the auto modes. Like Ken, if I'm in a sun/shadow situation I pre-meter both and know how many stops difference there is and then just count clicks if I swing from sun to shadow.

- DL

[Muse]

I thoroughly concur with Don on this one, and generally shoot in manual anyway. I did a golf tounament here in the UK last week, in nightmare conditions. Reasonably breezy, patchy dark clouds, sun going in and out by the minutes(sometimes seconds) and a variety of coloured clothing dark and light. Keeps you on your toes thats for sure, but I would have put money on it that if I'd used any of the other modes it would have been fooled far too often for my liking. I may have lost a small number to not reacting quick enough but not enough to bother me. If your conditions are 'reasonably' consistent then you'll not have to mess too much.

A lot of that day was shooting vertical but I also always shoot with both eyes open(never bothered to ask or noticed if any others do that too) but I could see the clouds and the sun with the broader view of my left eye and had a little advance warning of the change that I wouldn't have seen through the viewfinder alone.

I spent 10-20 minutes before the day started and tested the various conditions as they happened(nearly all but snow in about 15 mins) making a mental note of what was needed. It helped.

I hope throwing in my little snippets is useful, I have certainly gained many tips from reading the comments and the wealth of experience of this forum's members, cheers

[TimRucci]

Ken nailed it with his first response and manual is definitely the best option here.

One thing I would add is that once you set your exposure, make a note of the reading on your exposure meter in the viewfinder. Whatever you set for your exposure, the camera will still show you if it thinks you are under or overexposed by where the needle points in the exposure meter. For example, let's say you are at f4 and 1/800 and the meter is pointing to 1-stop underexposed. Consider that setting your sweet spot, and if you see the neddle move more than 1/3 of a stop either way, then you should probably adjust your setting accordingly. The difference in using manual from Av or Tv, is that instead of changing the setting automatically, the camera will just show you what it would do by the meter reading. You can choose to go along with it by moving the shutter or aperture a click or two when it's called for.

Good luck!

Tim

[Ron Metz]

Tim,

Regarding your great shots of Maria Sharipova, I did notice that all the shots were "Program" exposure. Was this because the light was so consistent? Thanks.

Ron

[TimRucci]

Hi Ron,

Actually, what you are seeing is a bug in the exif program at Pbase.com, that hosts my site. They are currently rewriting that part of the site (finally) and I hope when this problem is rectified that it will also go back and correctly list the exif data on all previous photos that are posted there. It also shows that the flash is OFF, even if flash was used in a particular photo. Of course, I did not use flash on any of tennis shots (and flash is not allowed at Amelia Island anyway). For some reason, Av and Tv show up correctly, but manual shows up as "program 1". Except for this and "flash" all other information in the exif data is accurate as far as I know.

I shot all the Sharapova photos in manual mode, just as I described in my post above, keeping an eye on the exposure meter, and tweaking the shutter speed or aperture when needed. Except for the sun going in and out, the exposures were fairly consistent. Here, the meter was often on the minus side, due to the dark blue background and the light colored outfit she was wearing.

The sun wreaks havoc in this situation when it comes out from behind the clouds and causes blown highlights very earily. In many of the photos I had to accept a small amount of blown highlights in order get a photo that was bright enough overall.

I just went back in CS3 and verifed the settings used, just to make sure I had not accidentally changed something without knowing it. All photos were indeed made in manual mode.

Thanks for your comments.

Tim

Maria Sharapova Photo Gallery by Tim Rucci at pbase.com