Figure Skating (attempt) need your CC please.

[wings of a bluebird]

Ok I posted last week hoping to gain some tips on how to take a decent shot of my daughter skating here. Figure Skating = any tips?.

Today at her lesson I took several (most of her behind LOL) and this one of the only ones where she doesn't have a goofy look on her face.

I took all the advice I was given in the previous thread, but I found it hard to nail the focus... I also found it was near impossible to get a slightly overexposed (as opposed to underexposed) shot at any other ISO. As it was when I metered this was 2 stops above exposed, and I don't think it really is as it's still looking under to me?



So I have 2 questions about this.

1. How do I make this look less like she's just floating on a white background and show more of the details in the ice? I tried burning it a little, but the only place I could get it to work is down on the right hand corner where hopefully it's showing the wet patches. There are some cool markings on the ice and it kind of looks weird her just levitating on a white background IMO.

2. Do you think it's underexposing due to the vast expanse of white in the background? If so what do I do to prevent this? Is this something to do with how I'm metering? Or am I confusing it being underexposed with having too much noise?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[RichardTaylor]

Just a few thoughts - and I havn't shot figure skating.

As far as focussing going are you using centre focus point only and focus tracking on (AI servo)?

You are shooting in a high contrast environment.
I would spot meter off the subject (face) and use that as a guide for manually setting your exposure (check your histogram). I would not use any other exposure method as all that white ice will fool your meter.

Shoot RAW as it will give you more leeway when PPing especially for selective exposure control (to get a bit of shadow) and noise reduction if need be.

[wings of a bluebird]

Originally Posted by RichardTaylor

Just a few thoughts - and I havn't shot figure skating.

As far as focussing going are you using centre focus point only and focus tracking on (AI servo)?

You are shooting in a high contrast environment.
I would spot meter off the subject (face) and use that as a guide for manually setting your exposure (check your histogram). I would not use any other exposure method as all that white ice will fool your meter.

Shoot RAW as it will give you more leeway when PPing especially for selective exposure control (to get a bit of shadow) and noise reduction if need be.

thanks so much for replying

I had my focus set to centre spot.

I did meter off her face.

I shot in RAW, but unfortunately I'm a complete novice at PP, therefore I don't know how to do much in the way of exposure control and noise reduction yet.

[gturner]

I agree almost with Richard, but to get the same result I would change it slightly

The spot meter above is exposing for her black top, which is then completely blowing the ice.
Metering off her face is nearly impossible because of how fast she is moving. If you can, meter off the face when she is still and then switch to full manual and lock in the settings.

If you are shooting her without any ability to control her (event etc) I would use exposure comp to just dial down the ice, and lift some light on her face in the post processing.

You might also want to include the rink background, just to provide a break in the white.

[wings of a bluebird]

Originally Posted by gturner

I would use exposure comp to just dial down the ice,

Can I ask possibly the dumbest question ever, but what do you mean by using exposure comp to dial down the ice?

Also, I metered on her face when she was still (talking to her coach) and I shoot in manual mode - but what does it mean to lock the settings in manual?

[sk66]

The image is still underexposed for the subject. You simply are not going to get 100% results shooting black against white, the dynamic range is just too much. Additionally because of the pose It looks somewhat "backlit" (probably just overhead).... The only help here is flash.
As for settings, you are just up against the limits w/ your kit and available light.
By shooting in Raw this image is "savable"...I did a quick edit of the Jpeg version posted (working from RAW the results should be better)

I used shadows/highlights to recover the shadows/exposure and gain some detail.
Then a bit of noise reduction for the ISO (and another run of it on just the black outfit)

[Jim Bryant]

Originally Posted by wings of a bluebird

Ok I posted last week hoping to gain some tips on how to take a decent shot of my daughter skating here. Figure Skating = any tips?.

Today at her lesson I took several (most of her behind LOL) and this one of the only ones where she doesn't have a goofy look on her face.

I took all the advice I was given in the previous thread, but I found it hard to nail the focus... I also found it was near impossible to get a slightly overexposed (as opposed to underexposed) shot at any other ISO. As it was when I metered this was 2 stops above exposed, and I don't think it really is as it's still looking under to me?



So I have 2 questions about this.

1. How do I make this look less like she's just floating on a white background and show more of the details in the ice? I tried burning it a little, but the only place I could get it to work is down on the right hand corner where hopefully it's showing the wet patches. There are some cool markings on the ice and it kind of looks weird her just levitating on a white background IMO.

2. Do you think it's underexposing due to the vast expanse of white in the background? If so what do I do to prevent this? Is this something to do with how I'm metering? Or am I confusing it being underexposed with having too much noise?

Thanks in advance for your help.

As I mentioned before, set your camera on manual mode and take some test shots by adjusting your fstop or shutter speed and shoot RAW.

[wings of a bluebird]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

As I mentioned before, set your camera on manual mode and take some test shots by adjusting your fstop or shutter speed and shoot RAW.

Sorry Jim, I'm not sure how I fix this and obviously I'm going to sound completely daft given what you've told me to do, is what I *thought* I did.

I shoot fully in Manual Mode already with auto focus being the only "auto" function I used.
The photo was shot in RAW.

I did adjust my fstop and shutter speed until I got what I thought was an 'acceptable' sort of range, but obviously that's not the case - this looks okay on my camera screen, but obviously it's not full size and not giving a true indication.

The histogram always goes spacko with blinkies because of the ice, so I find it hard to work from that....

I'm sorry if I sound completely daft, but I'm having trouble working out what part am I doing wrong there from your feedback/critique?

I'm guessing it's the adjustment of my f-stop and shutter speed that are the real issues, but I can't work out how to get a non blurred shot otherwise... Is it a case of the equipment I have and the conditions it has to work in are just not suitable?

[wings of a bluebird]

Originally Posted by sk66

The image is still underexposed for the subject. You simply are not going to get 100% results shooting black against white, the dynamic range is just too much. Additionally because of the pose It looks somewhat "backlit" (probably just overhead).... The only help here is flash.
As for settings, you are just up against the limits w/ your kit and available light.
By shooting in Raw this image is "savable"...I did a quick edit of the Jpeg version posted (working from RAW the results should be better)

I used shadows/highlights to recover the shadows/exposure and gain some detail.
Then a bit of noise reduction for the ISO (and another run of it on just the black outfit)

Thanks Steve for the feedback.

Shooting this has been a really tricky learning experience for me, but I'm determined to get better.

So, since I can't use the flash, if I had a better lens, in terms of something that opened up to f3.5 or f2.8 or something, I might get better results??

Am I on the right track?

Thank you also for the pp - sadly I'm completely suckful at pp, despite my best attempts I really don't know enough about PS to be able to master it successfully.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by wings of a bluebird

Thanks Steve for the feedback.

Shooting this has been a really tricky learning experience for me, but I'm determined to get better.

So, since I can't use the flash, if I had a better lens, in terms of something that opened up to f3.5 or f2.8 or something, I might get better results??

Am I on the right track?

Thank you also for the pp - sadly I'm completely suckful at pp, despite my best attempts I really don't know enough about PS to be able to master it successfully.

With a faster lens you will be able to achieve a faster SS or lower ISO, maybe both. But it will not help with the high dynamic range of the image. A lighter outfit or darker BG would help more than a faster lens.