dark object + really bright background?

Do I HAVE to use a flash?
I regularly shoot random pictures at the local skate park and almost everyone wears dark colored t-shirts. background either being the sky or some really reflective white cement on a bright and sunny day.
being a very fast paced sport, I get about a 20second notification before some guy does a trick. So I don't have much time to setup anything.

I want the object to be nice and bright without the background being crazy over exposed. how how how? I would like to get a external flash, but no money to afford one right now.

You might try using a polarizer. That should darken the sky somewhat, maybe enough for your needs. You might also try using exposrue compensation. That may not blow out the highlights quite so bad.

Maybe a combination of the two.

what about spot metering? ... or center metering?

Definitely a tricky one...it's usually a compromise one way or the other. My best suggestion might be to try to move to a position where the kids are skating into the sun (not always possible) or as someone mentioned a bit of exposure compensation. I used a -2/3EV recently at an MMA fight where the first few shots had a balanced exposure (background & subject) but the guys skin was blowing out a bit and losing some of the muscle tone. The compensation meant I lost some background lighting but got better exposure on my subjects...which a the end of the day is usually the important bit.

Flash is best of course.

BUT, you COULD use a reflector. You don't even need to buy a good one, a piece of white styrofoam will do fine.

Stealthy Ninja wrote: Flash is best of course.

BUT, you COULD use a reflector. You don't even need to buy a good one, a piece of white styrofoam will do fine.

Good advice given in this thread

Alex wrote:

Stealthy Ninja wrote: Flash is best of course.

BUT, you COULD use a reflector. You don't even need to buy a good one, a piece of white styrofoam will do fine.

Good advice given in this thread

of course.

Stealthy Ninja wrote:

Alex wrote:

Stealthy Ninja wrote: Flash is best of course.

BUT, you COULD use a reflector. You don't even need to buy a good one, a piece of white styrofoam will do fine.

Good advice given in this thread

of course.

Just for you,

A polarizing filter is going to block light evenly so that won't help. Exposure comp is also adjusting both background and subject exposure the same.

I like the reflector idea. You wear all white, or wrap yourself in tin foil, and as they get close you'll provide the reflected fill. I would think the bright concrete offers some fill?

There are processing options for lightening dark areas, but anything beyond minor adjustments tend to result in increased noise and posterization. You'll need to take some test shots, and look at the histogram to figure out what the best exposure is so that you don't lose too much detail on either end. On a sunny day it's going to be tough. On an overcast day, or early or late in the day it might not be so bad. Once you figure out the exposure it doesn't change unless the lighting does, so you can set the camera to manual and fire away.

Some sort of fill light, from flash or reflector, is the standard way for dealing with this problem. Even a pop-up flash could help, and then go the rest of the way in processing if it's not powerful enough.

Another option might be to get a cheap flash that only offers manual control. It's a bit trickier, but if you can keep the flash to subject distance (when you take the shot) close to the same, and the background lighting doesn't change, you will be able to figure out the settings in a test shot or two. With some practice you'll also figure out how to adjust flash power or aperture to deal with changing subject distance on the fly. Not too long ago this is the way we all had to do it. I'd memorize the settings for 5', 10' and 20', or something like that. Basically every doubling of the distance is 2 stops.

Really think you're going to need a cheap flash to do what you want. Reflectors could be useful if you have an extra hand or two so you could track your subject.

You'll always find a use for an extra flash .... no matter how cheap it was. I'll use one with a trigger to help get rid of shadows the main flash causes or behind a wheel of a car to get rid of that 'dead' area between ground and under carriage .... You'll think of more uses as you go.

Shoot RAW. In that case you would have some leeway in post processing, as your darker subject can be corrected by 'fill lighting'. Just ensure you don't blow the highlights.
If you use a DSLR like the Pentax K20D / K-7 / K-5, you can invoke DR (Dynamic range) and get some decent shots.
A good cheap flash on ebay should cost you no more than $ 45 to 50. There is no substitute for one though. Use of a reflector mentioned above can mitigate your problem too.
I had hell shooting in an ice skating ring. The additional problem is the blue cast thrown up by ice.
Good luck.

nanhi wrote: ...
I had hell shooting in an ice skating ring. The additional problem is the blue cast thrown up by ice.
Good luck.

Use outdoor cloudy setting for your auto white balance, or set your WB off the ice.