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Archive 2012 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question

  
 
Matt OHarver
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


I'm looking for some of the regulars on here who have shot Football at the Edward Jones dome.


On the 30th I've been hired by a group of parents who's little ones are playing on the field at Halftime of the Rams preseason game. And while I've shot other events at the Dome, they never have "TV lighting" like they will for this game. The kids play a 6 minute game on the field so getting it set right off the bat will be best.


Nikon D3s and 400MM F2.8 and a D3x with a 70-200MM F2.8 and a 24-70 on my belt.

What I normally shoot there is Monster trucks and motorcross. And I notice they don't always have all the lights on during the shows. But if I remember right I'm shooting at 800ISO and F3.2 and 1/250-1/320. So I'm sure with the remaining lights on, I'll be fine.

I know Scott and a couple others have shot Rams games there. Any help? Thanks.





Aug 18, 2012 at 08:49 PM
Jeff_Stapleton
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


I would think the biggest hurdle would be getting the credentials to shoot...even that... in the first place


Aug 18, 2012 at 09:04 PM
Matt OHarver
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


Jeff I already have credentials. That isn't an issue.

Just so you know Jeff I'm a credentialed member of the Missouri Press Association and am a working journalist. But I also have my own studio and sports photography business, this is through my own business. Everything has been cleared with the proper channels with the Rams and the Edward Jones Dome. I work in a smaller market South of St. Louis and the team I am covering is a referral from one of my regular customers.




Edited on Aug 18, 2012 at 09:23 PM · View previous versions



Aug 18, 2012 at 09:10 PM
BobSam
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


Why not just let the D3s take care of you? Auto ISO with upper limit set at 6400 using aperture mode at f4 with min shutter speed in the auto iso parameters set to 1/400. I wish I had "your equipment setting concerns". :-)
.



Aug 18, 2012 at 09:15 PM
rrtht20
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


Hey Matt,

I shot the state finals there a few years back.

I was at f4.0, 1/500, ISO 1600 and was a little under exposed.
I don't know if they had all the "TV" lights on for that game.

Any way here is a link to the gallery from that game. The images have been
bumped up a little in Photoshop.

http://smu.gs/P6bnPF



Aug 18, 2012 at 09:21 PM
Matt OHarver
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


Thank you Rob, that helps quite a bit. I'm sure I could go wide open stay at 1600ISO F2.8 and hit 1/640- 1/800 shoot raw and bring them up a bit if needed. I've only got 6 minutes during the game so having a starting point is going to work. I can't have my gear out in the stands to do anything ahead of time until we hit the fields. I will bring my lightmeter with me just for a quick reference.


Matt



Aug 18, 2012 at 10:13 PM
Scott Sewell
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


Matt, sorry I didn't see this sooner; I just got home from a long day out of town.

This image should help. Looks like I was at ISO1600, 1/1000 at f2.8. Hopefully that will give you a starting point. With little kids, I'd probably drop the shutter speed a bit and shoot at f4 or even f5.6.

Good luck.



Aug 19, 2012 at 02:04 AM
Matt OHarver
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


Thanks Scott. That does help a lot. I was going to PM you directly rather than start a thread. But I know how busy you are, and with the start of college. I figured you would really be swamped. Thanks for taking the time out of your day to help.

Matt




Aug 19, 2012 at 06:30 AM
BillyHurst
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


Matt, I just saw this today or I would have posted earlier. I have shot the same sort of exhibitions the last 2 years at the Edwards Jones Dome and trust me brother, the 6 minutes goes by in the blink of an eye!! Shoot EVERYTHING YOU CAN SHOOT while they are on the field and edit out the bad stuff later, because most of these kids may never get another opportunity to play on a stage like this. My biggest problem the last 2 years is when you go in and take all you your readings, they already have all the TV lights on for the Rams. The light is pretty darn good as you can see from my first image (if the EXIF shows up). I knew 1600 ISO would yield me 500th sec. ss but I wanted to play it safe (and also because your adrenaline kicks in knowing you've only got 6 minutes to get these shots for 25 kids) and my camera would handle 2500 ISO with minimal noise so I opted for ISO 2500 1/1000 ss at f 2.8 or 1/500-1/640 sec at f 4.0.
Here's where things get interesting though. After the kids have been on the field for a minute or so....THEY KILL MOST OF THE LIGHTS!! You go from beautiful light one minute to ISO 6400 just to get 1/320 - 1/500 sec. ss. Shoot in RAW just to be safe because your WB will look horrible in there shooting Auto and even if you do a custom WB, you'll be screwed once they turn the lights off anyway. They may not turn them off on you, but it happened to us 2 years in a row. Just be ready. Best of luck and I may see you there. I'll be shooting that night as well.

Billy-

P.S. Both of these are out of camera with no post processing. I just wanted you to see the difference in the light, as I thought this would help you more than seeing to perfectly color corrected images would.





With TV lights on.







When the lights go out!!




Aug 20, 2012 at 01:29 PM
Matt OHarver
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


Wow Billy, can I just say ewww, why the hell would they do that. I've shot their with those nasty yellow lights on and the TV lights off. I guess I might as well leave the D3x at home or in the bag. No way it's going to that high an ISO. Or maybe I'll bring the 400MM and the 200MM F2 for the D3x. At any rate, thanks for the information.


I hope to see you there. Oddly enough the team I've been hired to cover is from over in your neck of the woods.


Matt



Aug 20, 2012 at 05:31 PM
BillyHurst
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


Really? Who might that be? I only cover about half of the football teams in my area. One uses LifeTouch, one uses a local trophy house who does photography as well and the others just use MWAC's.

Billy-



Aug 21, 2012 at 08:58 AM
Matt OHarver
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


it's a team from the Waterloo area. One of the mom's is married to an old friend who grew up in my neighborhood.




Aug 21, 2012 at 09:39 AM
BillyHurst
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Edward Jones Dome Lighting Question


Yeah, that's a little bit out of my area. I hope to see you over there.


Aug 21, 2012 at 10:03 AM





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