chipc Loc: Clifton Park. New York

I am a novice and learning my way around my Canon 7d. I would like to know the best way to Overexpose. I do mostly indoor sports including hockey and my friend says I need to overexpose. He has a nikon and can't help. Suggestions appreciated.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

There should be an exposure comp dial, why overexpose?

chipc Loc: Clifton Park. New York

I am not sure it for hs hockey. Not sure for light or what. Using a 70 to 200 2.8. Setting on aperture priority iso 1600 or betteron 3.2.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

You'd over-expose, or more accurately > expose to the right < to obtain whiter whites in the equipment, ice and jerseys. This can be done in several methods, exposure compensation in P, AV or TV modes being the most typical. You should consult Chapter 5 - Advanced Operations, pages 99 - 108 of your 7D manual for details. You should see some "blinkies" in the whites / highlights when shooting and reviewing the images on the back of the camera. If exposure compensation was zero and you take a few test images and no blinking highlights, adjust the exposure ( + ) until the highlights in similar test images just begin to blink. This is an art, not a science, so there's no way to say how much without being onsite there with you. The blinking highlights should not occur on anything considered the subject of the image such as the face, hair or jersey area above the waist of the players. Reduce the exposure compensation ( - ) if adjusted too much or light conditions change from your test images. Exposing to the Right (ETTR) will also help minimize the digital noise that was a limiting factor of the original 7D model.

Shooting manual is another more advanced method to ETTR. I shoot Aperture Priority more than Manual but not typically high action sports such as hockey. Are you able to freeze action in AV with good exposure? Hopefully, as you gain more knowledge and confidence with your camera operation, your friend can help with suggested settings and target adjustments.

chipc Loc: Clifton Park. New York

Thank you.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

First, one does not ever want to overexpose.

What one wants to do is determine the amount of additional exposure the camera is capable of capturing. In order to take advantage of this capability one will need to photograph in RAW. There are a number of articles that have been written regarding ETTR and EBTR (Expose To The Right and Expose Beyond The Right) posted here on UHH. I'd suggest reading those articles, taking your camera out and do some serious experiments.

The best way to conduct those experiments would be to use an X-Rite color checker, full size not the smaller one. Do a series of exposures by spot metering on the white patch. To start, the first exposure setting should be spot metered on the white patch. After the spot meter reading is taken, increase the exposure by 4 stops. Take a photo. Then take a series of exposures, each with an increase of 1/3 stop. I'd suggest 9 to 12 additional exposures.

After that is completed, download the images into your computer and post process them. In post, you'll need to reduce the exposure setting sufficiently to produce a good image. At some point you'll reach that exposure which will not allow any setting to produce an accurate representation of the original test card. That is your camera's point of over exposure.

Following the tests, photographs taken will need to be spot metered for the brightest part of the scene, and the total number of additional stops added to the exposure reading. This method will allow you to control the amount of exposure to take advantage of the camera's ERADR (Extra Raw-Accessible Dynamic Range). Each camera is slightly different. Thus, the need to determine your particular camera's capabilities.
--Bob

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

Use the exposure compensation dial on your camera and start with a +.3 ( that is 1/3 of a stop over exposed) and go up from there to .7 then 1 then 1.3 until you find a setting YOU like. You may find out that your camera does good without using the exposure compensation dial. You can also set camera to manual, find out what your exposure is (say 125 sec. at f11) then manually start over exposing until you find what YOU like. So, your next exposure would be 125 sec. f8--F11, then 125 sec. f8, and so on, opening up a 1/2 stop each time until you find what you like. And you might be pleasantly pleased to find that your starting point of NO over exposures the best. But you won't find out until you start shooting.

MtnMan Loc: ID

I don't get why your friend suggests you overexpose.

But there are two basic ways to do so. You can either use Manual Exposure or set the EV up on your camera.

If using M use spot metering and set the meter to + 2 EV on the brightest spot on the white ice.

More important is your choice of metering. I suggest spot or center metering. Since you place the spot on the subject the ice, if white, will expose correctly: as white vs. gray.

bobmcculloch Loc: NYC, NY

Reading this for a while and getting to understand your concerns my suggestions for your first shoot, Center point auto focus and exposure, shutter priority to freeze the action, shoot RAW to be able to correct the get whites white, if you really feel you need it after checking the preview screen and the histogram add a 1/3 or 2/3 stop of exposure compensation. then after processing your first shoot you should have a better idea of what adjustments you need to make to your shooting settings for YOUR camera and style, Bob.

trc Loc: Logan, OH

Hi chipc,

First, I own and shoot a NikonD800. Secondly, I have shot many high school hockey games in the past having had 4 sons who played ice hockey and became the team photographer. Do NOT overexpose . . . if anything, under expose by just a little.

What I used to do that worked very well, was to always shoot in RAW, and to focus on the goalie pre - game while he was in goal to get my settings. Then, whenever and wherever I shot a player skating on the ice, the settings were good for lighting most all the time. Now, I would have to rapidly make quick adjustments for focusing, but seemed to get pretty darn good at it after all the years I did that.

I most always used a 70-200 mm f/2.8 lens and would actually rapidly change my focal length as needed. Once you do it for a little while, you can get really good, but you don't usually 'see' much of the game, depending upon how many shots you take per game. I would then make my own web sites with my own URL and post the full size images downloadable for all the parents who wanted action shots (or still shots during face-offs, etc.) of their player(s). Setting the camera to 'follow' the movement, or a single player, never worked for me - I always did better on full manual and making my quick adjustments as described.

Practice, practice, practice and you will soon see improvement and some really good action shots. Oh, I would usually use a fairly wide area for the shots (shorter focal length) and not zoom in real close, and then I would crop if I wanted to in PP'ing, but with my D800 (36 MP), I could easily do that and not lose quality or get any pixelation. If I wanted a specific player on a specific shot, I would then zoom in much tighter.

Lastly, if you want correct white balance, you can always do a custom white balance in your camera before the game begins; or in PP'ing, you can always click on a 'grey' area or the ice with an eye dropper, or possibly get a player to hold up an X-Rite Color Checker, pre-game maybe during warm-ups, and take a shot of it and the player on the ice. Once you get it for an individual rink, you can always use that for all the games during the season for that specific rink.

Best Regards,
Tom

blackest Loc: Ireland

I think what your friend is rally saying is that you need some exposure compensation due to the large quantity of white stuff on the hockey field.

Your camera will meter assuming the average exposure is mid grey, of course white isn't grey unless you under expose it.
Take a shot and look at the histogram you will probably find there is little on the right side so you can increase exposure with some compensation, do not overdo it as too high and the details will be gone. This will drop your shutter speed, if it is too low you maybe better to shoot raw and increase the exposure value in post processing instead. At that iso it maybe quite noisy in the shadows see what works for you.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

Usually the rink will have a white base under the ice. That white will become 18% gray if one doesn't "overexpose" for the correct exposure.

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Chip, welcome to the Hog.
I shoot sports quite a bit but never hockey.
I over expose quit often but it's in certain situations. I'm not trying to ettr but my goal is to get faces well lit when there is backlighting but in that situation, for me, if the background blows out its not important.
Often in a typical ettr shooting situation the subjects are static such as landscape and the goal is to bring up the shadows. That's usually not the case in fast moving sports.
My guess would be that in hockey, the ice or glass around a rink could present a specular highlight situation from some angles. That could really limit how much ttr you could go.
I think we need to know your final goals in your particular exposure needs to know how to respond more specifically to your situation. Even and example of what is NOT right with your current shooting exposures.
Again, welcome to the Hog!
SS

BebuLamar

That is not overexpose. That is giving more exposure than the meter said otherwise it would be underexposed.

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

That why overexpose was in quotation marks. That is also why I state the ice would become 18% gray for the exposure given by the meter. The camera meter, especially if averaging the scene, will indicate "overexposure" even though it is not if properly shot.