Outdoor sports advice sought.

[AlphaBjerke]

I was planning to shoot some sports for my students at the school where I teach. I know from the one time I did it last year (baseball) that exposing for the athlete often leaves you with a washed out background. This isn't a problem (I don't think) if you are in a stadium or something, but if you are at the local ball field, in order to see the person's face during a game in the afternoon when the sun is lower in the West, you have this distracting bright object behind them.

What do you guys recommend? I shoot in RAW, but will probably shoot in RAW plus Jpeg for these situations since I don't wish to PP everything, but want to be able to if a parent wants a print of a particular shot.


Thanks!

[Drkranger]

Well, ask yourself first what it is you want to capture: the athlete in action or the background. Sure it's possible to keep the background from washing out by exposing for it, which could then cause the action to be blurred because you're not using a fast shutter speed, or put the athlete in shadow. You could also expose for the background and use a fill flash, but you may also be limited to a sync shutter speed, usually 1/200 or 1/250, and also the number of shots you can take consecutively due to the flash recharge.

Honestly, when shooting sports, I'm not concerned about exposing for the background. I don't actually want a background in the shot unless it's part of the overall story, like cheerleaders or parents cheering a score or something like that. I want a background that's not distracting and one that's blown out where the athlete is perfectly exposed can't get much better.

As for the sun, moving to another angle might be best.

By the way, if you can post some samples, we might be able to give additional pointers.

[AlphaBjerke]

Thanks, Drkranger, that is what I thought. It makes sense to me, it is just that around here as soon as there is a blown out background everyone says, "it is distracting" or something like that. Thanks!

[Drkranger]

In that case, crop out as much as possible and/or move to another angle. Fill the frame with the athlete/action.