Shooting Pictures in Shade on Sunny Day

MCL45 · Mar 19, 2015

My children play basketball in a court that has a roof but is open on the sides, usually during a very sunny part of the day. The pictures always come out dark, presumably because of all of the light surrounding the court. How do I get better lit images?

480sparky · Mar 19, 2015

If the camera has a Backlight function, use that.

Otherwise, use Exposure Compensation. Start at around +2 EV.

Buckster · Mar 19, 2015

Ideally, set up a couple of off camera flashes with TTL as close to the court as you can get them without them being in a position to get damaged by a flying ball or person, and let them light the subjects when you hit the shutter. Adjust the shutter to the sync speed of your camera and flashes, and adjust the aperture to get a good ambient background so it's not blown out.

tirediron · Mar 19, 2015

Or, use a single AF point & spot-metering; this will probably blow the background out completely, but it's another option.

Scatterbrained · Mar 19, 2015

Put the camera in manual mode and meter the exposure for the court, not the background.

Derrel · Mar 19, 2015

Scatterbrained said:
Put the camera in manual mode and meter the exposure for the court, not the background.

I agree with pretty much all the suggestions that have been made so far. Bottom line for me is to see the exposure optimized for the COURT and the players! Let the background go all-white, or all-yellow, or however it blows out to over-exposed highlights...that can in fact actually look GOOD!

MCL45 · Mar 19, 2015

Thank you for all of these replies, though I fear that I am too much of an amateur for this site, as I don't understand much of the guidance. I have a Nikon D3300 and pretty much shoot in Auto Mode. I couldn't find a 'backlight' mode, but can check the user manual to see if there is a backlight function. I know how to put the camera in manual mode, but then do not know how to 'meter the exposure' (or focus for that matter - it doesn't seem to work like my old Pentax K1000).

480sparky · Mar 19, 2015

As for the backlight function on your camera, apparently the D3300 doesn't have it. Turning on D-Lighting and using the po-up flash might help.

Otherwise, you're down to shooting in manual.

Designer · Mar 19, 2015

MCL45 said:
Thank you for all of these replies, though I fear that I am too much of an amateur for this site, as I don't understand much of the guidance. I have a Nikon D3300 and pretty much shoot in Auto Mode. I couldn't find a 'backlight' mode, but can check the user manual to see if there is a backlight function. I know how to put the camera in manual mode, but then do not know how to 'meter the exposure' (or focus for that matter - it doesn't seem to work like my old Pentax K1000).

Nobody is "too much of an amateur for this site". We're here to help.

It may seem counter-intuitive to add light in the daytime, but that is what you should do. First; use the "exposure compensation" feature. Increase the exposure when the meter wants to limit the exposure because of the strong backlight. (What does that stupid meter know anyway?)

If that doesn't give you the results you want, put your built-in flash on, so that the flash "fills" the shadows (that is nearly anything that is shaded and close enough for the flash to help with).

Learn to put your camera in "spot meter" mode, so that you can meter on the players and not the overall scene.

wfooshee · Mar 19, 2015

Switch the metering mode to spot, set the camera to manual, pick a shutter speed that is fast enough to freeze the motion you expect, then meter someone's shirt as they stand just a little bit away from you. Make a note of what it tells you about the aperture you need. If you can't get a good aperture from metering like that, then adjust your shutter speed or ISO until you can.

Spot metering limits the area of the view that gets measured for light, using only the very center of the frame.

Leave those settings on the camera and shoot that way.

If you'd still prefer auto-exposure, choose shutter-priority instead of full auto, and set exposure compensation to +2, as suggested above. Switch back to matrix metering because you won't be able to control what's in the spot if you stay in spot metering. (You might get a player, or you might get background, resulting in very different exposures. Going back to matrix, then compensating, puts the meter back to reading the entire frame.) If that's too much, bump it down a bit. You background will be blown out white, but the court area should be OK.

I don't think flash is going to work for you because you won't really know the distance you're shooting all the time, or maybe you don't want to be restricted to the distance appropriate for your flash. Also, you may get into recycle times and end up missing shots.