Tough event to photograph

[cichlid]

Hi All,

I still need to do the PP on the photos, but just wanted to comment on the difficulty I had. I went to a local figure skating event and was worried of the low lighting conditions. At first, I was attempting to shoot on Aperture Priority mode. I found shutter priority was my best option. I was able to get acceptable exposure with my ISO set at 800 f 4.5 to 5.6 on my 55-300mm lens with the shutter usually set to 1/60sec.

It was a nice challenge to put what I've learned to the test. I look forward to sharing some of those pictures here with you.

Erik

[Colin Southern]

Hi Erik,

1/60th will probably give you motion blur unless you're panning with the subject.

If it were me, I'd probably max out the ISO - open up the aperture to the max - and shoot manual at whatever shutterspeed I needed to get a good exposure.

[cichlid]

Why would you prefer to use Manual setting?
If I set my camera to Shutter Priority will the camera not naturally use the widest aperture based on the metering?

Now that I type and think about this, I had set the metering to spot. Most shoot were taken when the spotlight was on the skater. Would this through off the metering to close the aperture slightly?

Thanks

[Colin Southern]

Why would you prefer to use Manual setting?

Because - assuming that the lighting was consistent - this would give me consistent and correct exposures.

If I set my camera to Shutter Priority will the camera not naturally use the widest aperture based on the metering?

No. It'll give you the shutterspeed that you asked for, but will vary the aperture to give you what it thinks is a correct exposure at whatever ISO you have selected - so your aperture (and thus depth of field) depth of field could be all over the place. If I wasn't shooting manual, my next option would be to max out the ISO - use aperture priority mode, and select the widest available aperture; this way the camera would use the fastest available shutterspeed consistent with what it thinks will be a good exposure.

Now that I type and think about this, I had set the metering to spot. Most shoot were taken when the spotlight was on the skater. Would this through off the metering to close the aperture slightly?

Yes - but - you also need to keep in mind that spot metering kinda works a little differently in that it assumes that what you're pointing at is a middle grey; if you point it at something white, it'll cause the camera to under-expose about 2 stops, and if you point it at something black, it'll cause the camera to over-expose about 2 stops. So if the area you're spot metering is very dark or very light, you need to dial in the appropriate +/- EC (Exposure Compensation) first.

Basically in your situation your 2 main priorities are a fast shutterspeed to freeze any motion (unless you're panning to deliberately induce background motion blur), and a wide aperture to (a) blur the background / isolate the foreground subject, and (b) assist in getting the highest shutterspeed. Usually getting a high enough shutterspeed is a challenge in these types of circumstances, so it's usually desireable to have the ISO set to a high value. Av mode guarantees the widest aperture and the fasted shutterspeed whilst still getting a good exposure and manual mode (set correctly) does the same thing, but guarantees consistancy if set correctly - especially with spotlights.

Hope this helps