What are your outdoor settings?

[Tokyudo]

I'm an amateur photographer and I'm curious as to what your outdoor camera settings are.

I don't normally cover outdoor sports but I will be shooting pics at an outdoor MMA event next month and I wanted to see what everyone else's settings were.

I have a Rebel XT w/ stock lens (f3.5 18-55mm) and a Canon f1.8 50mm prime lens. I will not be using a tripod as I will be on the move at ringside.

The event will start in the afternoon and carry on into the evening so my prime lens is going to come in handy.

I plan on shooting the daytime portion with a very low ISO setting (probably 100) and bump it up to 800 at night. I'm not sure what the lighting conditions will be like when it gets dark.

Also, any advice when it comes to outdoor shooting (ie. how to adjust to sun, positioning, lens hood, etc.) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Overread]

When shooting in the daylight (especially under the sun) I set my camera to -1 exposure compensation (shooting in av or tv modes) or underexpose by 1 stop when in manual mode. This helps to stop blowouts caused by the bright light present - of course depending on what you are shooting, availble light and also the area (shade, open ground) this factor can change, so be flexable and review shots (read up on reviewing the histogram - this helps a lot).
After that the light should idealy be comming from behind you and thus lighting up the area of the subject you are shooting at - if the light is the other way (behind your subject) this can lead to problems as if subject is correctly exposed, background will be overexpose -and if background is well exposed subject will be underexposed. To correct flash can be used to fill in the missing light and then exposing the shot os as the background (sky) is well exposed.
As for evening I would certainly change to using the 50mm prime - infact I would be tempted to use that lens for the whole day - a fast aperture is very helpful for action shots -- many will also say that you are rather challenged in the focal ranges avaible to you - most sports photographers like at least 200mm or greater idealy to get closer to the action (without having to get closer )
Finally ISO 100 might be a bit low for action shots - even in the daylight. I would start at ISO 200 and see how things go - and don't be afraid of moving to ISO 400 if needed

 

[Dmitri]

Since it's a sporting event, I would suggest shutter speed be the priority. Keep the 100 ISO and as fast a shutter speed as possible without messing up your DOF.

I would take some practice shots before the event starts and during breaks to make sure the settings are where I would want them, and of course I would shoot in RAW format (bring plenty of extra memory cards ).

Best of luck, I hope it's a good show for you! I'll be watching the free UFC one tonight

 

[Tokyudo]

Thanks for the tips and advice guys. I really appreciate it.