unique lighting problems.

[fennerat]

I was invited to watch a Dressage show where my buddy was competing with his horse. Of course I brought my camera along but I found that the ring where they compete in was a serious challenge as far as lighting is concerned.
Here is the situation, the competition itself is under an overhang making everything really dark underneath, and they do their competition during the middle of the day. So, the sun is high in the sky making my background really bright, and I can't use a flash as it will disturb the horses.
Other than cranking up the ISO which I hate doing, is there any way to defeat this lighting situation to produce clear shots of movement and not wash out my background? Thank you for any advice.



Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi
Exposure: 0.01 sec (1/100)
Aperture: f/5.0
Focal Length: 84 mm
ISO Speed: 200

Also, does anyone have any tips for shooting nighttime jumping competitions? Again, I want to catch clear movement.

[CaptainNH]

Firstly, your shot is excellent in my view. Yes it's backlit, but there's still plenty of detail in the horse and rider. Despite the bright backlighting, you've still been able to keep the shutter speed down enough to capture some movement in the horse and rider. My particular favourite element is the judge in the hut, I just love the lighting on their face that is reflected up from the ground below.

If you were looking for a tack-sharp (no pun intended) shot of the horse, then you've lucked out, but as an overall image, I really like it

Cranking the ISO isn't going to help with your lighting imbalance, or with capturing motion. With higher ISOs, your background is still going to be brighter than your subject but your shutter speed will be shorter, which will tend to freeze the action, rather than capture the motion.

You could try panning to try to portray motion, but, I'm not sure how successful that would be given there is a fair amount of up-and-down motion going on as well.

To deal with the backlighting, you really have three options, add light to your subject (flash (not an option) or a movie light), recompose to reduce the imbalance (ie, find a darker background), or live with it and accept either some nicely silhouetted horses or a blown out background).

[fennerat]

Captain
Thank you. I may have miscommunicated my motion issue. I don't want the motion in the photo. I want the horse to come out crisp and clear. I like the light idea, I just need to figure out a way to do it without distracting the horse and rider. But this may be one of those situations that like you said, I have to live with.
Thanks again.
Adam

[CaptainNH]

Originally Posted by fennerat

Captain
Thank you. I may have miscommunicated my motion issue. I don't want the motion in the photo. I want the horse to come out crisp and clear. I like the light idea, I just need to figure out a way to do it without distracting the horse and rider. But this may be one of those situations that like you said, I have to live with.
Thanks again.
Adam

If frozen in time is what your looking for, then you'll need a combination of more light, higher ISO and/or a faster lens, particularly for the night time showjumping.

The only evening show jumping events I've been to have been indoors with reasonable lighting, (in terms of direction and to some extent levels).

In a floodlit scenario, your backlighting problem should resolve, but you'll still need high ISOs or 2.8 glass if you're to freeze the horse and rider mid-jump.

Good luck!

[fennerat]

Thanks Captain. I was also talking to some other photographers and they were telling me about spot metering, I'm going to attempt both ideas and see what I like.

[wamplers]

Originally Posted by fennerat

Thanks Captain. I was also talking to some other photographers and they were telling me about spot metering, I'm going to attempt both ideas and see what I like.

Spot metering will only allow you to meter the subject properly, regardless of the back lighting. To freeze the subject, you still need a faster shutter speed via either more light, larger aperture, or higher ISO.

[fennerat]

That makes sense Wamplers. I'm heading to the barn in a few days to try out everyone's ideas. Thank you guys for everything.