Nikon SLR Cameras

Shooting in overcast nights at a stadium?

strawberrycierra
strawberrycierra

I was taking photos of football players the other night on my Nikon D3100 with a 55 to 200 mm lens and there was a storm cloud over head. The photos came out very dark and I was wondering if anyone had any advice for next time I'm forced to shoot in these conditions. Thank you.

Added (1). I was shooting in manual, 1/125, ISO 1600, there are 8 sets of flood lights on the side of the stadium. I was on the sideline of the field.

Curious
Curious

Cierra,

You didn't mention what types of lights there were at the stadium. How dark it was. What manual settings you used that didn't work. And how fast your 55-200mm lens is. Those are the kinds of bits of info that help answerers diagnose problems and make suggestions. That said, without the needed details, here is something you might want to read and try out that also explains that shooting sports at night is tough for anyone…

http://digital-photography-school.com/low-light-sports-photography

Okay, you added some info - here's add'l.suggestions to try out (still read the article from DPS). You'll need a fast lens that focuses quickly (that means it should generally be around 75-300mm & able to shoot nominally at f/2.8, espec. For nite - ideally f/1.8). Because stadium lights are wacky your white balance will be off. Either adjust for it when shooting or shoot in Raw and adjust the W. B. When you process the Raw image capture. Good that you're shooting in manual (but experiment with Sports Mode too… ).In manual start by setting your Aperture to f/2.8 (ideally f/1.8) and your Shutter Spd. To at least 1/500-1000 (much faster than the 1/125 you're using now at least if you want to stop motion). If you need to go higher on your ISO (and can w/out too much noise) then do so (if you get noise - better than missing the shot - then use a denoise software program to clean the shot up in post). And I don't know what metering mode you're using currently, but try Center Weighted. See how that goes.

keerok
keerok

Hard to tell but if it was that dark, slowing down shutter speed or lowering f/number may help. Always check EV before you shoot. If you occasionally miss doing that, at least check each time light changes.