variable lighting on a soccer field at night

DavidDwight · 09-10-2015, 08:45 PM

I'm wondering what causes the wide variety of lighting seen in these pics even though the exposure settings are the same. My theory is that the lights over the field actually flicker or oscillate but faster than you notice when live and only caught with stop action photos

what do you think?

note two photos shot in close succession with very different exposures and color balance even though ISO, ss and f-stop are same
note two photos shot in close succession which a light / dark stripe (second one has opposite transition

is it the lights?

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**RGlasel** · 09-10-2015, 10:17 PM

Originally posted by DavidDwight

what do you think?

My thought is your camera is having a hard time determining the white balance, because there are different lighting sources with different colour temperatures, but without knowing what your WB setting was, I can't say. No matter how you look at it, this field doesn't exactly have broadcast quality lighting. You could also drop your shutter speed to 1/250, cutting the ISO setting in half and hopefully giving you more dynamic range to work with.

danny09 · 09-10-2015, 10:27 PM

You well face this problem with all modern lighting that had not been designed for still camera action. The lights flickering is not noticeable for shutter speeds less than 1/180s or so.
There are few threads here on PF on how to deal with this situation.

Edgar_in_Indy · 09-11-2015, 10:11 AM

Same thing happens at my daughter's gymnastics school.

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09-10-2015, 10:17 PM	#2
RGlasel Site Supporter Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: Saskatoon Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 3,229	Originally posted by DavidDwight what do you think? My thought is your camera is having a hard time determining the white balance, because there are different lighting sources with different colour temperatures, but without knowing what your WB setting was, I can't say. No matter how you look at it, this field doesn't exactly have broadcast quality lighting. You could also drop your shutter speed to 1/250, cutting the ISO setting in half and hopefully giving you more dynamic range to work with.

09-10-2015, 10:27 PM	#3
danny09 Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: SF Bay Area Posts: 417	You well face this problem with all modern lighting that had not been designed for still camera action. The lights flickering is not noticeable for shutter speeds less than 1/180s or so. There are few threads here on PF on how to deal with this situation.

09-11-2015, 10:11 AM	#4
Edgar_in_Indy Veteran Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Indiana, USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 2,685	Same thing happens at my daughter's gymnastics school.