Lugano

Hello everybody,
I have been reading this Forum for awhile but it is the first time that I consult it.
Next week I have a self-assign shoting in a basketball court of some Kendo players.
They all dress in black and the fluorescent lights are very high in the roof and no additional lights are available.
What will be the best way to get some contrast in their faces, without using flash, with my very brand new Canon 6D and its 24-105 mm f4 lens.
Thank you guys!!!

George

Leitz Loc: Solms

Haven't read the rules to see what Admin says about the use of capital letters in your title, have you?

melismus Loc: Chesapeake Bay Country

Bear in mind that you cannot get consistent exposure with short shutter duration under fluorescent light, because it flickers at the 60 Hz line frequency. Only 1/30 sec or slower is really safe. With faster shutter you can just shoot a whole lot and cull them.

Lugano

Sorry, no I have not.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

Lugano....This is Catholic School....one ruler smack to the hand.

melismus Loc: Chesapeake Bay Country

Wow--this is too too brutal. Welcome to the Hog, Lugano. I hope someone with more experience with sports photography will pick it up.

LFingar Loc: Claverack, NY

A while back I shot an indoor soccer match that had fluorescent lighting fairly high up. Those conditions suck! I was shooting with a 7DII and a 70-200 f/2.8 L II and it was a challenge to get good shots. The 6D is far better at high ISO then the 7DII, but an f/4 lens is going to work against you. You need a fast shutter speed to stop motion, unless you are really good at panning the players. Be prepared to use some very high ISO settings and be sure to go into your menu and set High ISO Noise Reduction to High. Flicker will produce uneven results, since the 6D cannot compensate for it. I've shot my 6D at ISO 25,600 and had quite acceptable results. Get there early and experiment. One advantage you will have over the soccer match I shot is that a basketball court floor is much lighter then the artificial turf I had to work with. With any luck that should improve your chances.

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

Sorry to break the news to you, these conditions are absolutely horrible for the following reasons:

1. Worst possible location for light - weird shadows, poor contrast, totally unflattering light.
2. Fluorescent lights have a frequency of 60 hz, and will flicker. Using a shutter speed that is shorter than 1/125 sec will expose you to taking images during an "off" cycle - resulting in strange color and uneven exposure, even across the frame.
3. But the action is fast, and you would want a shutter speed of at least 1/500 or shorter. So you have a no-win situation.

Unless you can get your own lighting or a camera that has an anti-flicker feature, all I can say is take a lot of exposures, and be prepared to toss half of them.

http://photo.stackexchange.com/questions/4115/do-fluorescent-lighting-and-shutter-speed-create-a-problem-with-color-cast

Lugano

Hello Gene51,
Thank you for clarifiyng the situation anywayys.
When you said "shutter speed shorter than 1/125 sec you mean 1/60 sec or 1/500 sec? Sorry but I am in the process of learning Photography and English.
Kendo is a Japanese discipline that is slow and harmonious, not fast tracks here.
I have a continuos LCD small light (from my video's days) and was planning to use it on top of the camera. What do you think? Do fluorescent and LCD light mix well?

Best regards,

Jorge Z.

marty wild Loc: England

I would try aperture control and shutter priority take a mono pod for the movement work which as you know, manual is required. ISO 1000 + Wack up EV +5. Shoot raw go auto on the w/b. Any good post process software can pull the white balance back should be no problem, keep an eye on histogram not the monitor screen on your camera. This is my opinion there are spoilers around who would blow it of the water. But you have to start somewhere. Be prepared to move you do have a limited lens. The F stops will change as you zoom in and out. Have fun click away! Take extra batteries and a couple of cards shoot continuos and fire away bare in mind who is around you so not to spoil their game. You just might get the shot of the game without a kick of the ball😉

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

shorter = the shutter is open for less time - so 1/60 would be longer, and 1/500 is shorter. Without a need to stop action, you can probably shoot using exposures longer than 1/125.

Would you be trying to use the LCD as a fill light? You would have to put a light balancing gel on the light to get the color temperature close to the color of the fluorescent lights. The problem is you do not know what that is, and there may be several different lights with different color temperatures. You could always shoot it in color, but process some of the images as black and white.

If you record the images as raw files, you will have more post processing options.

I am not sure if Marty's suggestion would work - and I don't know what he means by aperture control and shutter priority, and using a monopod may not help much either. Also don't know what using 5 stops exposure compensation would do, other than overexposing your images by 5 stops. Also he incorrectly states that the aperture will change as you zoom - the Canon 24-105 is not one of those lenses, as you already know.

He also is unaware of what Kendo is - a Japanese martial art that is probably closer to western "fencing" than kicking a ball. I've seen some Kendo that was pretty fast and furious. You do want to catch the bambo "swords" as blurs, and if you use too long a shutter speed they will not be captured at all.

He does make some good suggestions - take extra batteries, cards, and use the histogram on the back of the camera to make sure your exposures are bright enough without overexposing the highlights. I would add turning on the highlight warning, which will blink when your exposure is too bright. You always have the option to shorten the shutter speed or lower the ISO to get a better exposure. You may be shooting at F4 in any case, which means that you can't adjust the aperture to allow the camera to capture more light.

I suggest you take a test shot using 1/60 sec, F4, and whatever ISO you need to get a decent looking image. The participants do not need to be in the shot. You can adjust your shutter speed, ISO and lastly your aperture to get better exposure. That lens will be sharpest at around F5.6, and action will be captured better at 1/125. The 6D is pretty decent in low light/high ISO situations. I have seen great results at ISO 6400. Optical stabilization will be your friend here. But remember to shoot raw - you want control over sharpening and noise reduction, rather than to let the camera sharpen and remove noise, and possibly important fine details.

jeryh Loc: Oxfordshire UK

Very difficult; hopefully it is daylight coloured, otherwise you are in a world of hurt ! The only other way, is post processing, or use the colour balance

CatMarley Loc: North Carolina

You are SOL shooting action under flourescent without flash. You are going to get bad color, blurring, or wrong exposure or all three at once! Use flash.

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

Go early or days ahead, you have a white balance adjustment on your camera and it should have several fluorescent setting, shot a model (someone cheap like girl friend, boy friend, maintenance worker, etc.) under all settings and with the auto white balance on, see what you like and then use the same setting when you shot for real. You can also take a all white sheet and read your manual so you can point your camera at the white sheet and camera will come up with correct settings.

zigipha Loc: north nj

I think the 7dmkii has the anti flicker feature. when i first read it i did not appreciate how useful it can be in this venue.