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Archive 2014 · How do you handle those led advertising boards ???

  
 
RubenL
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · How do you handle those led advertising boards ???


Hello all, I was this weekend out shooting handball, and the club i shoot for bought some new advertising boards.
they already are playing in one of the darkest arena's of the country, and putting those lights in is giving me some stupid colorful reflections, or way to bright backgrounds (what leaves me with dark players in the foreground i can't brighten up because of the already high ISO. I am used to set my camera on auto ISO with some borders, because the light is not even in the whole place, but i fast found out it was better to put everything on manual now. For white balans i changed to auto, because the panels changing from red to blue, green, yellow, orange, ... what giving me realy bad looking colors, but still i get effects i can't get rid off,

how do you handle these boards?

I uploaded some extreme pictures from the problem.

PS: I also found that my camera had harder to focus, maybe that was just a feeling








© Ruben Lamers 2014




Oct 20, 2014 at 05:35 AM
P Alesse
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · How do you handle those led advertising boards ???


They definitely affect focus. We have dealt with them at World's Cheer the last several years down in Orlando. Color casts, focus issues, flicker affect, blown out backgrounds. Agreed... major headache. Bottom line... they cannot be reckoned with unless you shoot at 1/30th and expose for them which in turn will render your subject in darkness....

Only way to deal is to avoid them in your BG at all costs. You'll still have to deal with color casts on skin, especially the lighter skin tones, but it's better than having them in your BG like you have in your second shot.



Oct 20, 2014 at 10:29 AM
Jefferson
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · How do you handle those led advertising boards ???


Just curious … I use spot metering and the center focal point in manual exposure mode when shooting cars (and most everything) with very bright lights. I had problems with exposure … very dark image and well exposed lights … until I changed the way I shoot. I don’t know if this would translate to what you shoot.

I believe I had the center focal point on the single wiper blade in this shot …

5D + 50 f/1.4 @ f/4 … ISO 100 … 1/320
http://jeffersonposter.smugmug.com/Category/Petit-Le-Mans-13/i-jKF5C4K/0/X2/Petit%20%2713%20Wed.-596-X2.jpg

Jefferson ...



Oct 20, 2014 at 10:50 AM
Focus Locus
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · How do you handle those led advertising boards ???


Since the club you shoot for bought the advertising panels, and presumably controls them, you might have an option not always available to a sports shooter.

Ask if the intensity/brightness level can be turned down a bit. Work with the person responsible for setting up, turning on, and taking down the boards to find the balance of advertising readability, while reducing the luminance to have a less influential effect on the light balance illuminating the players on the court.

That's what I would try. And in fact, that is what I have done, successfully, in the past. I've shot in some arenas where the arena was rented, and the sport that typically takes place in the arena (say, ice hockey) is entirely different than the sport taking place in the arena on a temporary basis that I'm contracted to shoot. I have successfully tracked down the house technician, and amazingly have gotten results that varied from turning off the panel, to covering the panel with black cloth (done by the arena staff!), to adjusting the brightness levels, to a resounding but polite "No, we can't touch the advertising." And that is the very worst that can happen by asking... is that they will simply say no. In my limited experience, the times where I have been accommodated has made enduring those inevitable "no's" worth the effort.

The second thing I've found with those LED type advertising boards is that I can sometimes use them to an advantage, as a background. This goes contrary to what Paul said above, which was to avoid them at all costs... but depending on the type of panel display, and more importantly, the occasional content of the panel display, I have sometimes found them to make brilliant (pun intended) backgrounds to provide a sense of context, time, team, or place.

For example, in some sports that I shoot, the panels that display advertising also display athlete scores, names, or countries of origin, with flags. These displays make WONDERFUL backgrounds for sportraits in real time. I have framed storytelling headshots of athletes leading the scoreboard whilst their name and score was being displayed on the panel. If you can't beat the displays, enjoin them into the work! In international events, where the flag of the country the athlete is representing is displayed on the panel, including the panel in the background is a sure fire seller. Those shot opportunities have worked well for me, especially for candid sportraits on the fly.

In yet another glass half full point of view, those obnoxiously bright panels can provide a glowing rim light or hair light behind the subject, that can add a specular dynamic to the image.

Therefore, rather than avoiding these panels at all costs, I would rather learn, as the OP requests, "how to handle them" better. How to use them to advantage, and how to expose and white balance around them. When and where exposure and white balance is challenged by them, I aim for a setting that best represents and suffers the least of all evils. I show up early to new venues to allow time for making these settings manually (and to allow time to find and befriend the appropriate staff to negotiate any adjustments, when and where probable or possible, which isn't always.)



Oct 20, 2014 at 06:05 PM
P Alesse
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · How do you handle those led advertising boards ???


Great post FL


Oct 20, 2014 at 06:20 PM
P Alesse
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · How do you handle those led advertising boards ???


Here is one working it into the ambiance of the event....







Oct 20, 2014 at 06:24 PM
Focus Locus
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · How do you handle those led advertising boards ???


If I were that young athlete, I would be quite proud to be captured in front of that bright LED background. Much more so with that context of importance (NCA, CBS Sports Network, and the well recognized corporate sponsors) versus, say, a concrete gym wall with a folded up basket ball hoop in the background. Or a non descript black curtain.

And if I were that photographer (Paul), I would be quite proud to have nailed the focus on the athlete, instead of on the high contrast red, white, and blue letters of NCA, a background that is not only brighter than the intended subject, but also completely DWARFS the subject in relative size. This bigger, brighter background covers the entire ellipse of possible focus sensors, offering plenty of distraction for the camera alone to go astray... but not in Paul's hands.

Not only that, but one must appreciate that the subject is off center. Now I don't know how Paul's camera's work, but my 10 year old clunkers are much more accurate with the center focus point than any others in the field, cross type or not. So it is a particular challenge to obtain fleeting focus accurately with offset subjects.

Add to this the fact that this is cheer, and a flyer no less, in a rotational toss. This means that focus recompose is out of the question. And appreciate further the fact that we see this flyer's face... caught in the most ideal angle of rotation. AND, we see her in peak single legged split toe touch. AND, we don't see her crotch.

I'm not sure if non cheer shooters can fully and truly appreciate just how excellent this story telling capture is, it's that good. So good, that the fact that this picture is proof positive that athlete subject EXPOSURE can indeed be managed quite well, despite the big LED panels directly in the background, was almost forgotten, and I'm sure that was the entire point of Paul's posting the shot. Exposure and focus indeed CAN be "managed."

Over the years, I've seen enough of these types of shots to know that they are not flukes... they are rather the ideal intersection between the roads of practice, learned technique, committed concentration during the 2 minute routine, and opportunity. Hopefully, Paul and others who continue to do this type of work will offer more specific tactical advice on how they get it done when surrounded by bright panel displays.




Oct 20, 2014 at 07:35 PM
buffallo bill
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · How do you handle those led advertising boards ???


Wow, talk about nailed on focus, spot on composition and perfect timing, this young athlete looks like she is sitting on the letter A of the logo, it doesn't get much better than this, thanks for sharing, Bill.


Oct 20, 2014 at 08:46 PM
RubenL
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · How do you handle those led advertising boards ???


Thanks for all the advice, i'll try them out and keep them in mind.


Oct 24, 2014 at 09:20 AM





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