Shooting into the Sun (Page 3): I thought the same thing until I goggled it and learned that a telephoto lens is indeed different than say a 100mm or 300mm prime lens.

leftj Loc: Texas

dennis2146 wrote:

With respect, you confused me. "A long lens is best, telephotos or zoom lenses are the worst." Aren't telephotos classed as long lenses, depending on their length? Are you talking a telephoto of 100mm or 300-600? Your statement seems to contradict itself.

Dennis

I thought the same thing until I goggled it and learned that a telephoto lens is indeed different than say a 100mm or 300mm prime lens.

rdubreuil Loc: Dummer, NH USA

dennis2146 wrote:

With respect, you confused me. "A long lens is best, telephotos or zoom lenses are the worst." Aren't telephotos classed as long lenses, depending on their length? Are you talking a telephoto of 100mm or 300-600? Your statement seems to contradict itself.

Dennis

Exactly...

AndyT Loc: Hampstead, New Hampshire

If you're subjects are in shadow, wouldn't metering off your hand in the sun underexpose the subjects on the boat? A telephoto would eliminate a lot of the background light you don't need. Spot metering on them

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

rdrechsler wrote:

I need some pointers. I’m going to be shooting some boats on Sunday morning and the sun will be almost directly behind them. I don’t want the boats to be in silhouette because the objective is to capture the people on board. Can I get some help with settings so I don’t encounter a problem?

Take your reading on the boats in Manual, then, open up three stops using either F stops or shutter speed and shoot again, check your results, if still too dark, keep opening up a stop at a time until you get the detail you want. But you may also blow out the highlights in the background. You could also shoot in RAW and correct in post, within reason.
ie. if basic manual exposure is 1/250 sec. at F11 at iso of 200 say. Then you could open up the lens three stops to f4, or take 3 stops off your shutter speed, say to 1/30 sec. or you could do a combo, say on stop open on your shutter speed to 1/125 sec and two stops on the f stop to say f5.6. or you can up your ISO a few stops to make up the difference.
Then you could also do the EQ. a few stops, like a +3 to start.
But be aware that as you increase your exposure you are blowing out the background. So, my best advice would be to shoot in RAW and do post processing to bring in detail to the boat. But again, there is just so much recouping you can do in post.
OR, you can bracket your exposures over 5 stops and then combine the images in post, use the correct exposure for the boat and then the correct exposure for the background and then combine them in a Post Processing Program.

Angel Star Photography Loc: Tacoma, WA

rdrechsler wrote:

I need some pointers. I’m going to be shooting some boats on Sunday morning and the sun will be almost directly behind them. I don’t want the boats to be in silhouette because the objective is to capture the people on board. Can I get some help with settings so I don’t encounter a problem?

Depending upon the position of the sun, you may be able to use a graduated neutral density filter. I used one shooting directly into the sunset while trying to retain foreground detail. I also metered on the foreground. The image came out very nice. There was detail in the clouds, foreground, and the sun had a nice orange-gold color. There was even some detail in the little, leaflets, tree that was between the sun and me.

rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Why a polarizing filter?
--Bob

PaulR01 wrote:

Spot metering, polarizing filter and lens hood.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

dennis2146 wrote:

With respect, you confused me. "A long lens is best, telephotos or zoom lenses are the worst." Aren't telephotos classed as long lenses, depending on their length? Are you talking a telephoto of 100mm or 300-600? Your statement seems to contradict itself.

Dennis

I came away initially with the same thought.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

rdrechsler wrote:

All my lenses are zoom. I’m not sure yet whether t... (show quote)

You may want to invest in a few Primes, 50mm (a nifty-fifty), 28mm or 35mm, 85mm or 105mm or 135mm.

apitic Loc: Down Under

Good article on the subject.

https://learn.zoner.com/how-to-shoot-with-the-sun-in-the-frame/?utm_source=newsletter-magazine&utm_medium=mailing&utm_content=article1-img-b&utm_campaign=2018-03-24-newsletter-magazine

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

aflundi wrote:

I think you are confusing telephoto with telecentric.

I’m talking about the design difference between two types of longer-than-normal focal length camera lenses. For example, I have a 400 f/6.8 Leitz Telyt 2 element long focal length lens. Focused at infinity, the rear element is 400mm from the focal plane, and the overall length is 406mm. I also have a 400 f/5.6 Tokina AT-X SD telephoto lens. Focused at infinity, the rear element is 84.6mm from the focal plane, and the overall length is 202mm.

Say Cheese Loc: Eastern PA

Of the suggestions here I would use a 6 foot step ladder, make a hood extension, take a reading off of an 18% gray card, put on manual and bracket 2/3 or a full stop either side of the 18% gray card reading.

SteveR Loc: Michigan

rdrechsler wrote:

Good tip. I might accomplish the same thing with a piece of black construction paper. I might try that.

That would work, too. The hand was easily removable since not all of my shots were into the sun. Fortunately, my camera and lens combination was not so heavy at that time that I could handhold with one hand. Today's cameras and lenses, however, HAVE gotten to the point that, depending on the lens, just holding them may take both hands, so I understand.

RWR Loc: La Mesa, CA

RWR wrote:

I’m talking about the design difference between two types of longer-than-normal focal length camera lenses. For example, I have a 400 f/6.8 Leitz Telyt 2 element long focal length lens. Focused at infinity, the rear element is 400mm from the focal plane, and the overall length is 406mm. I also have a 400 f/5.6 Tokina AT-X SD telephoto lens. Focused at infinity, the rear element is 84.6mm from the focal plane, and the overall length is 202mm.

I forgot to say that the Tokina telephoto has 10 elements. The extra glass decreases the length, but increases the chance of flare when shooting into the light.
I apologize for any confusion my omission may have caused.

aflundi Loc: Albuquerque, NM

RWR wrote:

I’m talking about the design difference between two types of longer-than-normal focal length camera lenses. For example, I have a 400 f/6.8 Leitz Telyt 2 element long focal length lens. Focused at infinity, the rear element is 400mm from the focal plane, and the overall length is 406mm. I also have a 400 f/5.6 Tokina AT-X SD telephoto lens. Focused at infinity, the rear element is 84.6mm from the focal plane, and the overall length is 202mm.

I'm one of the many that has mistakenly used telephoto as synonymous with long-focal-length for the last 50 or so years. Thanks for the education.

rdrechsler Loc: Channel Islands Harbor, CA

rdrechsler wrote:

I need some pointers. I'Âm going to be shooting some boats on Sunday morning and the sun will be almost directly behind them. I don't want the boats to be in silhouette because the objective is to capture the people on board. Can I get some help with settings so I don'Ât encounter a problem?

Too all of you that took the time to help me out with this project, my sincere thanks. You all said it and you were sure right....this was tricky! I've posted a few of my shots just so you can get an idea. These are going to be used in a newsletter, so the quality isn't really going to be an issue. What people mostly want is to see themselves, so to the extent I could pull them in (they were a Looong way away, even with my 200-500mm lens), I think they will suffice. I DEFINITELY RECOMMEND DOWNLOAD!

Comments are invited. BTW...they were not all shot into the sun. You can probably tell the diff

Thanks again everyone!

(Download)