Hey today I'm going to give you some
tips on working with your exposure, so
you don't have to change it after each
and every frame.
Hey everybody welcome
back to ask David Bergman here on
AdoramaTV,
today's question is from Doug C. and he
asks when shooting sports in
manual mode how do I set my shutter
speed aperture and ISO so that I don't
have to keep changing them throughout
the game.
Boy exposure it's a big thing
right, because you might think that you
have to change everything all the time,
and it can get really confusing, so what
I do is I actually have a live concert
photography workshop, and what I teach my...
yes that's a shameless plug by the way,
shootfromthepit.com you can sign up
there for the email list for future
workshops, but what I like to teach
people when I'm teaching about exposure
is - what you want to do
is eliminate variables.
So there's three variables and
the problem is people take a picture and
then it doesn't look right, they change
all three settings, and it still doesn't
look right, and then their head explodes
right, because you don't
really know what you did.
So by scientifically eliminating
variables, you can really make it simpler,
what I teach people is I want you to
forget about the camera, forget about the
gear, forget about all the settings, and
concentrate on making pictures.
Paying attention to what's happening in front
of the lens, that's the secret to making
great pictures, it's not about what
setting to use, or you know which lens to
use, it's concentrating and paying
attention to what's happening in front of a lens,
and not missing those great little
moments that happen in a concert, or
sporting event, or even when you're doing
a portrait.
Those little moments, that's where the
greatness happens.
So what I teach people is, I want you to
eliminate variables.
So I'm not gonna go over the
whole exposure triangle, you know about
shutter speed, aperture, and ISO, there's
plenty of videos about that, but three,
the three settings, the goal is what you
want to do is figure out which ones you
can set and forget, and get out of your mind.
So I'm gonna use myself as an
example, I'm shooting I'm on tour with
Luke Combs, as you probably know by now,
and I'm shooting concerts every single
night, so the thing is, I know for example
my ISO is going to be high, and it's not
as bright as daylight at a concert.
It's pretty bright, but it's not as bright as daylight.
So I know my ISO, I'm gonna push
that up as high as I'm comfortable.
Now I'm using a Canon 1DX Mk II,
I can with really high ISOs, I'm gonna
shoot 6400 all night long, it looks great, all
the pictures on my Instagram, from, from
the shows arr 6400.
I've done coffee table books with 6400 ISO,
it looks really, really good.
So with that particular camera,
I know I can push it that high.
That's where I'm gonna go, I'm gonna set
it at 6400, and I'm not gonna touch it
all night long.
I don't have to change it at all, so it's
out of my mind.
I don't have to think about it right?
So that one's gone now,
let's talk about aperture generally.
I'm gonna shoot wide open,
depends on the lens I'm shooting with,
but I'm using an f/2.8 lens, or an f/4 lens
I'm going to shoot as wide as that lens
will allow me.
Depth of fields not so much of an
issue in a concert, because usually the
people are separated, separated from the
background enough, that I'm not really
shooting super shallow depth-of-field.
I don't want to shoot at f/11 or f/16,
because I want to get as much light in
as I can.
Slso so now if you're using a
prime lens that's a f/1.2, or f/1.4, or
something like that, you have to make
your own decision.
If you want to shoot that wide open,
because then your depth
of field is gonna be really shallow, and
you might have an eye in focus, and a
nose out of focus, so that's a creative
decision, that I'm gonna have to leave up
to yo,u but once you get into the f/2.8 or
a f/4 range, it's really a non-issue.
So for the most part I'm gonna shoot that lens
wide open, so my lenses, most of them are
either f/4 or the long lens it's a f/5.6,
that's what I'm going to shoot at.
I'm gonna set it, I'm gonna forget it, so I'm
at 6400, I'm at f/4 and I don't have to
touch those two settings all night long.
So what am I left with, shutter speed,
that's all I'm ...so now
shutter speed for the most part, has now
become a brightness setting, right,
because, because I'm down to one setting.
if I speed up my shutter speed, my image
is gonna get darker, right, if I slow down
my shutter speed, my image is gonna get
brighter, and that's really it, so if I
take a picture, and I look at it on the
back of the screen, it does, it looks too
dark, I just slowed down my shutter speed,
once I figure out what the exposure is,
of course I'm shooting full manual,
once I figure out what that exposure is,
and it looks good, I'm gonna leave my
shutter speed where it is, and I'm gonna just
shoot and pay attention to what's
happening in front of the lens, and just
take pictures, and concentrate on not
missing those moments, and I'm not gonna
change anything until the light
significantly changes.
Now with a concert if
facing the same direction if I am facing
the stage, generally the light doesn't
change, because there's a spotlight on
the lead singer, and that's really all
I'm concerned about - is the light on the
face of the lead singer.
Around him or her there's gonna be all
kinds of colored lights and things
changing and blinking on and off,
that doesn't matter-
the face is what I want to expose for,
so if there's a bright red light in the
background, it's gonna look bright,
bright red in the picture.
If it's black in the background,
it's gonna look black, as long
as that face is exposed properly, and
then I'm good to go.
So I'm not going to change my settings,
any of them until if I move.
If I go onstage and go behind, you know the
singer, and shoot out to the crowd, I know
it's gonna be darker back there, because
the spotlights are from the, coming
from the other side, so I'm going to slow
down my shutter speed, maybe a couple of
stops, you know, you figure it out, with
experience over time, but you can slow it
down, shoot one frame, take a look at it
when that looks good,
then just shoot, pay attention take
pictures.
So sports, in the same way if
you're shooting sports, you're in
daylight, maybe set your ISO,
first... kind of low 400 maybe,
then you know, you're gonna shoot
wide-open right?
So if you're shooting a
long lens maybe a 600 f/4 or a 400 f/2.8
or something like that,
you're gonna shoot wide open, and then
you're just gonna ride your shutter
speed as needed, and you don't have to
check it every single frame, because it
doesn't change that much.
One more example, let's say you're shooting
something where you want to do a panning
photo right, where the you're shooting a
car or somebody on a bicycle let's say,
and you, you're, you're photographing
them and you want to pan with them, and have
the background blurry, you want them
sharp but the background blurry.
Well in that case, you know your shutter speed is
the most important thing there right?
You have to figure out the exact shutter
speed to be able to pan with them to
keep them sharp but get the background
out of focus, so I'm gonna just guess
maybe, that's around 1/30th of a
second right?
You have to experiment and
figure out what's the best one for you,
but in that particular situation, but
let's say it's a thirtieth of a second
so you want to set that shutter speed,
and you want to set it and forget it,
that doesn't, you don't want to change
that all day long while you're shooting
this picture, because that will change
the look of your picture, and that's not
the idea, you don't you want the creative
look of that panic shot, if you have
speed up to 1/250th of a second, it's
going to change it the way the picture
looks - so you're in 1/30th, you've set it,
and forget it,
then maybe you you check your ISO right?
You're in daylight, you can keep your ISO pretty
low 200/400 run or something like that, so
you're gonna set that, you're gonna
forget it, so we've eliminated two of the
variables, now all we have left is
aperture, and you can just change your
aperture based on the brightness level
of your scene.
So take some test frames
see how it looks.
Try it at f/8 try f/2.5, f/6 try it at
f/11 whatever it is, if it's too bright you
want to close down your aperture.
So the higher numbers f/11, f/16, if it's too
dark you want to open up down to f/5.6, f/4,
f/2.8, something like that, and until you
get the right exposure then once the
exposure is set, set them and forget them.
Don't think about it, then concentrate on
making pictures, that's what I'm hoping
to get people to do, it's really the best
way to think about it, and Doug you know
with sports, it's I know, the lights
changing occasionally, but if you
eliminate two of the variables and leave
it just at one, then you're gonna be much
better off, and you can really worry
about not missing those great action pictures.
Thanks so much for asking that,
that question,
again shootfromthepit.com is my workshops.
I hope to see some of you guys out there soon.
Next year in 2020, there will be a bunch of,
bunch of new ones, and then Adorama TV,
look these guys have been great, I mean
there's so much photo content there's
something like a million subscribers now.
A bunch of free photo content, I hope
you'll subscribe -
if you're not already a subscriber.
Come back here next week
we'll have a new David Bergman question,
and I will pick the best ones and answer
them right here on a future show.
Thanks so much for coming along,
and I'll see you next time.