What went wrong?

[Sonny]

Why are my photos so dark in the foreground? And what can I do next time to correct this mistake?

[PeteQ]

My first question is to ask what metering mode were you in? Many times the matrix modes are fooled by strong backlight. I use spot or center weighted for shots that have strong backlighting. On the Nikons in thses modes, the meter works off the selected AF point. Canons probably do the same, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the point is that if your focus point is on the main subject, then that point is what your scene is metered at vs the entire frame. That being said, your bright background will probably be a bit hot, but that's the lesser of the two evils here anyway, as long as it's not totaly blown out. If it is a consistant series you can also dial in a bit ot exposure compensation to help with that backlight blowout also....

[Sonny]

I was using Evaluative Metering with center AF point.

[eurotrash]

because there is a shadow there?

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by eurotrash

because there is a shadow there?

[eurotrash]

Originally Posted by Sonny

I was using Evaluative Metering with center AF point.

yep change metering modez

[Sonny]

Now I know. And knowing is half the battle. GOOOOOO JOOOOOOE!

[eurotrash]

Originally Posted by Sonny

Now I know. And knowing is half the battle. GOOOOOO JOOOOOOE!

WHO WANTS A BODY MASSAGE???

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by eurotrash

WHO WANTS A BODY MASSAGE???

hahaha...I remember that.

[Norm]

You can fix these in PP probably several ways if you need these.

[jchooper12]

Know that when you meter off the player your background is going to blow out most likely in this situation. I would try taking the photos from a different vantage point personally.

[bullsparade]

yes thats a tough one to fix either way. The area behind the player is so bright, if you lost his shadows, the background would have been blown out. In a non-sports situation or rather a set-up shot like this you would us ea fill flash to light the subject. Obvioulsy he is too far and its a baseball game with action. So this situation is probably the worst case for a photographer. You should go to baseball games on cloudy days...

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by bullsparade

yes thats a tough one to fix either way. The area behind the player is so bright, if you lost his shadows, the background would have been blown out. In a non-sports situation or rather a set-up shot like this you would us ea fill flash to light the subject. Obvioulsy he is too far and its a baseball game with action. So this situation is probably the worst case for a photographer. You should go to baseball games on cloudy days...

I like shooting on cloudy days.

[Sonny]

Originally Posted by jchooper12

Know that when you meter off the player your background is going to blow out most likely in this situation. I would try taking the photos from a different vantage point personally.

These were my seats at the game.

[Abel]

i would definitely use a partial metering mode... which you can use to properly expose the player but keep in mind that all of the background will be highly blown out.

shooting in that situation can be extremely tough to manage because theres a major difference in the amount of light available in seperate sections of that same image.

hope that helps some.

ps, i usually always use partial metering when shooting... very seldomly do i switch over to an evaluative (matrix) meter