Zebra settings for proper exposure?

D

digexpressions

Active member
I've got a live event shooter that takes really nice shots but has problems with exposure. I'm not sure if it's his eyesight or what, but exposure seems to be a bit off all the time. I'm thinking this is a good time for him to utilize the zebras. I normally have the close-up shot and have my camera set at 75% and allow for a little bit of zebra and the highlights areas of the face. He's normally on medium to wide shot. What should the settings be on the camera and what should I tell him to look for? Should I put it at 80% and tell him to adjust the iris just enough so all the zebra disappear from the person's face? 90%? 100%?

THANKS!
 
well if hes shooting people (caucasion skin) its best to use 70% and have it barely stripe on forehead / cheekbones etc.. I use 70% and 105% set the face with 70% and be sure nothing is triggering the 105% in the scene.

Others may do things differently but if it were me and the person is the main focus of the shot I would zoom into the person set exposure and zoom out to frame the medium shot. Of course you have to take into account if your event is outside and you have sky/clouds in the shot you may want to expose for the entire scene or have blowouts in the sky but have a properly exposed subject.
 
Well its all to personal taste and how hot you like your skin tones. Im always going for a more filmic look/exposure so basically I want to just trigger 70% on facial highlights. heres a ghood post from the net i found it may help you.

"Skin tones usually fall between 55 and 65% for a very natural, well detailed, chroma-rich look. At 70% skin will start to "shine." At 75% you are loosing detail, and at 80% most all the detail is gone. That maybe fine if you're trying to make an old actress look 20 years younger, but in general it means that the person's face is bland, pale and washed out. If the 70% zebras just barely appear on the most reflective portions of a face, like a cheek or upper forehead, then the rest of face falls into that 55 to 65 range. It's a very simple way to maintain a consistant good look. "
 
If I use them at all I have them at 100% and check to see that nothingf is blown out except for things like the sun reflecing off metal etc.

LCD viewfinders/displays suck for judging exposure. I find many people try to base it off the display. BAD idea. Zebras or WFM FTW.
 
I've started using the waveform monitor built into the HMC-150. It's a great tool. To see how much trace is being blown out.
 
One of my shooters is constantly under exposing because they see zebras and back off too far. I'm trying to teach them when it's OK to have zebras and when it's not - but of course it's different from location to location.
 
Exact, I used to set them at 105% back when I used them. I knoew what ever shown up was blown out for sure. (Back in SD days). Techncally 100% isn't blown out in HD. Superwhite goes as high as 109% or so does it not?
 
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