Stills (and videos) when sun is directly overhead of tandem

[steveorino 7]

Anybody have a solution for the dark shadows I see on the tandem student's face when the sun is high over head and the TM is casting a pretty big shadow over them?

I use auto settings on the HC40 because the wide angle lens (.03) won't allow me to use presets.

steveOrino

[ast4711 0]

a flash?

alex

--
www.tandemmaster.net
www.skydivegear.de

[Miami 0]

I've seen some people turn the backlight on, but that really washes out the rest of the video and in my opinion does not look very good.

Or you can mess with the exposure setting, if your camera will let you, but that will take some trial and error to get figured out.

Or you can try it on beach & ski mode (little palm tree looking thing)...I've heard that can help, especially with single element wide angle lenses.

I personally fix this problem by flying extremely close to the subject, well within arms length. Fills the screen with mostly the student and/or tandem masters face/body so the auto exposure corrects to them instead of the bright sun behind them. I'm also jumping a .3 for tandem and it doesn't look too bad when I have to fly like that...
Hope this helps...

Miami

[Miami 0]

Alex's answer is it for stills...for some reason I saw only video in the question...

Miami

[steveorino 7]

Backlight washes out everything when sun is not directly over them, such as launch from door.

other modes such as beach & ski, landscape won't work with the Royal Diamond .3 lens

I also fly close with this wide angle lens. If you don't the subject is too far away. But around noon the tandem's face is dark. By 3 PM all is okay.

I thought about jumping the light I use for night jumps. I wonder if that would help?

steveOrino

[dunesurfer 0]

Quote

other modes such as beach & ski, landscape won't work with the Royal Diamond .3 lens

I am curious as to why your HC 30 won't let you do this... later models will, I use a cookie .45 on my HC42 and use beach and ski setting

[IMGR2 0]

I've used a convex mirror on my helmet before.
Takes a little work to find the right mirror and the right angle, but it does work.

[newshooter12 0]

depending on what color temp. the light is your white balance will probably be off and make the people look orange or force the background in the other direction. use a dichroic filter to solve the problem.
matt

[BlueSBDeath 2]

I try to stay off those loads

I know it is not always possible, but when the lighting is not best, I try not to do TM video, I also tell the customer they may not get the best footage and why.

Your comment about getting close is the only thing I have found that does work, and it is not a sure thing.

Best of luck!!!

Arvel

BSBD...........Its all about Respect,

USPA#-7062, FB-2197, Outlaw 499

[ast4711 0]

yeah.... for some reason I only thought about stills....

I think there is not much you can do, other than to fly close or wait until the light is better, which is not possible sometimes...

I remember that different cameras behave very different in this subject. Once I had a PC-3 with a HAMA 0.4 which produced the best results with sport mode.
My current PC330 in sport produces vertical shadows and makes the video nearly useless. In Auto-mode it is much better, but far from the old PC3.

I don`t think, that a light would help very much with the video, you would have to use a very bright (heavy) light.

If you do stills, a good flash gives impressive results, and people will get over the not so perfect video easier...

alex

--
www.tandemmaster.net
www.skydivegear.de

[Fuzzy 0]

What can also work is to get some shots / video off to the side (45 to 90 degrees) sort of a profile thing, and not as steep. That way your not shooting into the sun as much and can still get a good face shot of the passanger when they look at you.

I have done this on days with high overcast that has you shooting into a white background. It seems to cut down on the shadow or dark faces and saves having to play with the camera settings.

Fuzzy
Ambition / Ability: Know the difference.

[pope 0]

using a light (or lights) for video is the solution I've used in the past. I use a couple of smaller Sunpak lights I got awhile back.
makes a big difference.
You also might want to see if you can find a Reflective ND Filter. ?

pope