BetterPhoto Q&A
Category: New Answers

David Cook

Sports Shots overexposure

I am using a canon 10d with a canon f2.8 70-200L USM lens for sports photography. I was out today from 9am until 5pm shooting football games. At one point I moved from teh auto sports setting to a manual -aperture priority to gain a better depth of field. The auto settings were 4.5 and 2000 - I changed to a f11 and kept a 750 shutter speed which I figured would be fast enough for kids football- All of the shots were over exposed- what did I do wrong and how can I prevetn this in the future?

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September 17, 2005

Jon Close

Could you load a sample or two?
It's hard to imagine that you were overexposed at those settings, unless you were shooting with the ISO set higher than 400. Did you note the meter-scale reading in the viewfinder?

f/11 + 1/750 would be the correct expsosure for ISO 400 at the brightest daylight ("Sunny 16" rule). At lower ISO, earlier/later part of the day, and/or cloudy or overcast you would be underexposed.

Similarly, f/4.5 + 1/2000 would be correct for ISO 160 in the brightest daylight. Would only give overexposure if the camera were set for higher ISO.

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September 19, 2005

David Cook

Here is where the rookie comes in... I didnt note the ISO on either the auto or when I switched to AV. I uploaded images yesterday, but obviously to the wrong spot

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September 19, 2005

David Cook

Gallery activated. Thanks for responding

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September 19, 2005

Jon Close

Well those two are overexposed, and the white balance is off. You should be able to read the EXIF data of your photos and that will tell you the ISO and white balance settings, along with a lot of other exposure data.

An EXIF reader is probably included in your imaging software. If not, you can do a search and find freeware EXIF viewers. I'd use mine on the photos you uploaded, but BetterPhoto.com protects uploaded images from right-click operations.

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September 19, 2005

David Cook

Currently at work, will attempt what you suggest when I get home tonight and post results.

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September 19, 2005

David Cook

Well you were right. The ISO was set to 800 and that was the root of the problem - as well as the white balance being set at tungsten lights. I forgot all about that - thanks for your help

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September 30, 2005

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