Mixed light sources

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Pierre Jelenc wrote:
> In late afternoon I found myself exercising my FZ20 to take pictures
> at an open-air concert an hour before sunset.
>
> The sky was lightly overcast and the stage already in the shadow of
> buildings to the west but there was still significant daylight for
> most of the show; there were red and orange spotlights overhead,
> which contributed as much as the sky where they were directed; and
> the back of the stage was open to the sky, resulting in a rather
> strong backlighting situation (and very iffy autofocus).
>
> Is there a trick to take decent photos under these conditions? I tried
> playing with the white balance, the flash, over- and underexposure,
> but nothing worked.
>
> Pierre

You can use the light problems as lighting opportunities. You could
also try post exposure adjusting in software. It is a difficult situation.
I would suggest bracketing the exposure to give you something to work with.


--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Joseph Meehan wrote:
> Pierre Jelenc wrote:
>
>>In late afternoon I found myself exercising my FZ20 to take pictures
>>at an open-air concert an hour before sunset.
>>
>>The sky was lightly overcast and the stage already in the shadow of
>>buildings to the west but there was still significant daylight for
>>most of the show; there were red and orange spotlights overhead,
>>which contributed as much as the sky where they were directed; and
>>the back of the stage was open to the sky, resulting in a rather
>>strong backlighting situation (and very iffy autofocus).
>>
>>Is there a trick to take decent photos under these conditions? I tried
>>playing with the white balance, the flash, over- and underexposure,
>>but nothing worked.
>>
>>Pierre
>
>
> You can use the light problems as lighting opportunities. You could
> also try post exposure adjusting in software. It is a difficult situation.
> I would suggest bracketing the exposure to give you something to work with.
>
>
I agree. And forget the flash unless you are within a few feet of the stage. The little
flash on most cameras has a range of only a few feet. It won't illuminate a stadium,
though many people think it will.

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Marvin <physchem@cloud9.net> writes:
> Joseph Meehan wrote:
> >
> > I would suggest bracketing the exposure to give you something to work with.
> >
> I agree. And forget the flash unless you are within a few feet of the
> stage.

Thanks; I did not think of bracketing, I was mostly switching between
flash and no flash (I was right at the stage, so I did get fill-in, but
the backgrounds are too dark.)

Pierre
--
Pierre Jelenc | New on Home Office Records: Ethan Lipton
| www.homeofficerecords.com www.ethanlipton.com
The Gigometer | Pepper Of The Earth: the HO blog
www.gigometer.com | www.homeofficerecords.com/blog

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Pierre Jelenc wrote:
> Marvin <physchem@cloud9.net> writes:
>
>>Joseph Meehan wrote:
>>
>>>I would suggest bracketing the exposure to give you something to work with.
>>>
>>
>>I agree. And forget the flash unless you are within a few feet of the
>>stage.
>
>
> Thanks; I did not think of bracketing, I was mostly switching between
> flash and no flash (I was right at the stage, so I did get fill-in, but
> the backgrounds are too dark.)

You were close enough for the flash to reach the front of the stage. That would make the
background come out even darker On auto, the camera stops the exposure when it senses
that enough light has entered the center of the image.
>
> Pierre

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Marvin <physchem@cloud9.net> writes:
>
> You were close enough for the flash to reach the front of the stage.
> That would make the background come out even darker

Right. I would have had to use one of those night settings.

Pierre
--
Pierre Jelenc | New on Home Office Records: Ethan Lipton
| www.homeofficerecords.com www.ethanlipton.com
The Gigometer | Pepper Of The Earth: the HO blog
www.gigometer.com | www.homeofficerecords.com/blog