Look! I am flying.... (Lots of pic inside)

[Wai]

Went to Youth park today to shoot at skate boarding....but went at the wrong time, the sun light was so strong that most shots are overexposed.....are there anyway to reduce/prevent this?? esp the reflecting on sun light on the ground, what kind of metering should i use?

Camera : EOS D30
Lens : Bluestrike's 75-300 f4-5.6 III (Thanks BS!)
Continuous focusing & shooting, spot metering, ISO 100


f4, 1/320s, +1/3EV


f4, 1/250s, +1/3EV

[Wai]

f4, 1/250s, +1/3EV

animated gif version, is it possible to make animation of more than 256 colour??




f4, 1/160s, +1/3EV


f4.5, 1/125s, +1/3EV

[Wai]

f4.5, 1/640s


f4, 1/640s, -2/3EV


f4, 1/640s. -1/3EV

[Jed]

Not too bad. Why did you dial in +1/3 compensation in the first few shots? The majority of the scene is already dark (foliage in shade, black obstacles). You're wondering why you were overexposed? Well, start understanding exposure... before you start dialing in compensation.

You need to slow your animation down, it's moving too fast. The main problem is not your number of colours but the dithering.

Another big problem is that you're shot really shooting head on. A lot of your shots are side profiles, with hidden faces.

Your shots can benefit from being tighter, less DOF (I know, but there is no substitute for a fast lens at the end of the day). And other things to fine-tune or try out once you sort the abovementioned out.

[ralphii82sg]

1st, 2nd and 9th pic can benefit from a tighter crop..too much of the ramp with the bright paint draws attention away from the skateboarder...well...a suggestion is to crop the pic...focus on the skateboarder...

jus my two cents worth

[Wai]

Thanks Jed for the valuable comments

i really find that the ground was so bright that the face become very dark...so i increase the EV a bit so that the face can be seen clearly and then crop away the ground later...

i have played with all the EV values and found that +1/3EV gave the best result....is that the correct way to do so?

Will fill flash reduce the shadow in this case?

for the animation, cos i shoot at 1/250s....how long should i set each frame to display so that the animation will move at actual speed?

i didn't crop any tighter becos i want to show a little bit of the ground in order to show the relative height....is that a right way to do so?? imagine if i crop away the ramp...u cannot see how high the skateboarder jumped already

for less DOF...which means i should use smaller f-number? too bad f4 is already the max for the lens that i use.

[Ian]

Quote: Originally posted by kamwai i really find that the ground was so bright that the face become very dark...so i increase the EV a bit so that the face can be seen clearly and then crop away the ground later...

A basic lesson in exposure theory is called for here kamwai as you've made such a mess and displayed such complete ignorance for someone of your alleged competence (based on your posts elsewhere) that you have to be corrected.

Increasing the exposure value from the metered value won't lighten dark areas, but it will blow the highlights clean off the scale. In fact what you need to do is to underexpose slightly so that you move the dark areas closer to the central point of the density range, thus lightening the dark areas and showing more detail.

Quote: Originally posted by kamwai i have played with all the EV values and found that +1/3EV gave the best result....is that the correct way to do so? [/b]

No it's not, see above.

Quote: Originally posted by kamwai Will fill flash reduce the shadow in this case? [/b]

If the flash has range and is within synch range yes it will work.

Quote: Originally posted by kamwai i didn't crop any tighter becos i want to show a little bit of the ground in order to show the relative height....is that a right way to do so?? imagine if i crop away the ramp...u cannot see how high the skateboarder jumped already [/b]

Poor excuse for poor composition in several of the frames.

Quote: Originally posted by kamwai for less DOF...which means i should use smaller f-number? too bad f4 is already the max for the lens that i use. [/b]

As big bird from Sesame Street would say...
Smaller numbers means less DOF while big numbers mean more DOF.

[yeppie99]

wah Ian a bit harsh...

[Wai]

Quote: Originally posted by yeppie99 wah Ian a bit harsh...

no lar....Thanks Ian for sharing his knowledge

Quote: Increasing the exposure value from the metered value won't lighten dark areas, but it will blow the highlights clean off the scale. In fact what you need to do is to underexpose slightly so that you move the dark areas closer to the central point of the density range, thus lightening the dark areas and showing more detail.

I will go try again another day when the sun is not that bright

but then...

Quote: Poor excuse for poor composition in several of the frames

When i was cropping the photo, i really have in mind to includes the ramp to show the relative height.....would you pls tell me how should i improve the composition in order to show the height as well?

Thanks Ian!

[Ian]

Quote: Originally posted by yeppie99 wah Ian a bit harsh...

Yeppie,

As the saying goes, if you wanna play in the big pond be prepared to be eaten alive by sharks and other monsters lurking in the murky depths. Compared to the serves I've dished up to some other wannabe types the one above is meek and bland.

[Ian]

Quote: Originally posted by kamwai When i was cropping the photo, i really have in mind to includes the ramp to show the relative height.....would you pls tell me how should i improve the composition in order to show the height as well? Thanks Ian!

Try shooting in portrait orientation rather than landscape, that is long axis of the frame vertical. This allows for much tighter composition while giving you some room to include material above or below the subject in order to put the shot in context.

[Wai]

Quote: Originally posted by Ian Increasing the exposure value from the metered value won't lighten dark areas, but it will blow the highlights clean off the scale. In fact what you need to do is to underexpose slightly so that you move the dark areas closer to the central point of the density range, thus lightening the dark areas and showing more detail.

After studying the settings that i have used.

Those taken at +1/3EV (the first 8 shots)..although the face is brighter, but other parts of body such as arms and T-shirt are very very overexposed (It blow the highlights clean off the scale as u mentioned)

whereas those taken at 0EV (9th and 10th) and -1/3EV (11th and 12th) are a bit better.....i think i should decrease the EV further..and make sure next time when i playback the picture...I shouldn't just look at the face of the person