tshift Loc: Overland Park, KS.

Post Processing.

Tom

mizzee Loc: Boston,Ma

Just went to a sports photo workshop. Although you probably already know this, I'll share my two biggest take aways: the "rule of Thumb" and background check. With the rule of thumb, you hold your arm straight out with your thumb pointing upward. Where are the shadows? Position yourself accordingly so that your back is to the sun, if possible. As to background, look for uncluttered background, again, if possible. After the class portion, we shot at a high school soccer game. One side had signs and parked cars. The other side of the field had trees.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

I would try a powerful Speedlite on camera with a MagMod MagBeam to create some fill light for the shadows. The challenge will be shutter speed to freeze motion. My camera has a sync speed of 1/250. You would want to look for areas and times when motion is slowed or reduced. Photographers shooting Pro Motocross shoot with fill flash during the daytime all the time. You can also play with high speed sync to use higher shutter speeds but it will be harder on the Speedlite and reduce the distance that the flash is effective. A powerful Speedlite can reach out over 100’ or more in dim lighting to get a decent shot in my experience so this should be worth trying. I use flash from Speedlites to shoot drag racing both as fill flash during the day and to get enough light at night. High ISO capability body is useful for night shooting of course.

LCD

I adjusted the jpegs of your images in lightroom and the results weren't that bad. If I had RAW data I could probably do better. I would download the images, but I haven't figured out how to do it in UHH yet.

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

Shooting raw will help because it provides a bit more dynamic range.

Exposing to the right but just short of blowing the highlights will help retain detail in the highlights yet capture enough stuff in the shadows.

When processing the raw file - reducing the contrast and highlight sliders, and maxing out the shadow recovery sliders will usually provide a better range of tones.

Filters generally will not help. Precise exposure will. As a rule the conditions you are shooting in have an EV of 15. Your camera settings of F5.3, 1/2000 and ISO 720 would be ideal for EV 13, but clearly 2 stops too bright.
A better combination of settings would be 1/2000. F5.6 and ISO 200.

You can go through lots of combinations in the calculator in this link:

https://www.pointsinfocus.com/tools/exposure-settings-ev-calculator/

I often have to shoot high contrast subjects. I use the camera's spot meter to measure a representative highlight in the scene where I would want to retain detail. Then add 1 1/3 to 2 stops to the reading, to get a nice, bright, but not overexposed image.

The LaCrosse shot was taken in 2007 with a D200, which had totally awful (by today's standards) dynamic range. ISO 400, 1/2500 = EV 13.33. As you can see the highlights after adjusting are just on the verge of blowing out, perhaps 1/3 stop less exposure would have gotten me better results.

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mikeroetex Loc: Lafayette, LA

If you are mid-day, you won't have to worry much about changing light conditions. Go full manual. Spot meter for the white on jerseys, test a shot, then check your histogram. If still blowing out highlights, use exposure compensation to dial it back more. You can bring up the faces in PP a bit.

I can't imagine why you would ever shoot at ISO 560 or 720 on this bright a day. I would have been at 100 ISO and 1/4000 SS, that's at least 3 stops... if that was what it took. You may have to give up f5.6 and go to f7.1 or f8. The CPL may help with glare, but only if the sun is at the 90 degree angle. Theses seem directly overhead.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Another good approach...

Cheapshot Loc: California.

In Lightroom...lower the contrast.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

How about some links? Probably not too helpful.

https://bpsop.com/shooting-at-high-noon/
https://www.creativelive.com/blog/five-lighting-tips-for-shooting-at-high-noon/
https://www.slrlounge.com/5-tips-taking-natural-light-portraits-high-noon/
https://www.thephoblographer.com/2014/07/16/tips-shooting-high-noon/


Nothing to do with the quality of the image, but I find it interesting that those gloves are allowed. I'm sure their purpose is to provide a better grip.

It's like poker tournaments, with all the players wearing sunglasses so the others can't see their eyes.

dsmeltz Loc: Philadelphia

Post Processing

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Nik collection, color effects pro 4, detail extractor at 50%. Reset whites and blacks in Camera Raw. A little better IMO. A polarizer may help, but will slow you down 2.5 stops. In order to get the speed you may have to bump the ISO 2.5 stops which may introduce too much noise for you.

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spraguead Loc: Boston, MA

faster shutter speed and filtering as others state would be some good places to start. Also consider adjusting to underexpose a stop or two. The highlights are getting very blown out, and although this will darken your shadows, you should be able to pull them up in post and the D500 should give some details in those areas.

Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Jerry I checked out these links and they mostly seemed to focus on controlling the noon light by seeking or creating shade. Good ideas but not usually possible when shooting sports outdoors unfortunately. Spot metering on the face and adjusting in post might be a useable idea suggested. Thanks for sharing.

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

If you try to fix overexposure in post processing, all you will succeed in doing is veiling the highlights. They will take on a lower tonal value but they will be very light grey and still have no detail. You can add to an image in post processing something that wasn't captured by the camera in the first place.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

Live with the shadows, expose for the highlights. If you get a good close-in shaded face shot, bring it up in post.