Ballpark Exposures for the Ballpark

[Frank R]

The Detroit Tigers baseball team is coming back to Comerica Park for the next round of the playoffs. I was told that some fans who could not get tickets for some recent sold out games were watching them from the top of a parking structure across the street from the stadium.

I thought this might be a good vantage point to set up my 4x5 camera for a shot. The games will be played at night under very bright lights but of course I will be in the dark (literally). I only have Fuji Provia 100 and Kodak T-Max 100 on hand.

I have never shot under these conditions and I only have an incident meter. Any exposure suggestions?

 

[Konical]

Good Morning, Frank,

I can't comment on the use of Provia, and I am not familiar with the stadium in Detroit. I have, however, used T-Max 100 to make similar night shots of Busch Stadium in St. Louis. If I recall correctly, I bracketed four shots from about 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minutes 30 seconds at f16. Processing was in Technidol for 12 minutes in a rotating drum; I used the Technidol packet to make 10 oz. of solution instead of the 8 oz. specified by Kodak.

Obviously, there's some experimentation involved with most night-shooting situations, so you might be prepared to regard the first outing as a time to keep careful records of exposure and development times and then return the next night for a subsequent effort. Actually, doing this kind of shot is not especially difficult from a photographic point of view. The hassle is in having a good location, dealing with traffic and crowds (and maybe security employees in a parking garage), and incurring the probably-inflated parking charges during play-off events. Good luck!

Konical

 

[Jon King]

You might try asking the question at www.sportsshooter.com. I'd bet someone there knows what the light levels are at that stadium. It might give you a starting point that is close enough to give you usable results. That sounds like a great idea. Good Luck!

 

[Chan Tran]

According to this article:
http://livedesignonline.com/mag/lighting_lair_tigers/index.html
The illumination at the field is 280fc which is about EV10@ISO100.

 

[Frank R]

Thanks Chan, just what I was looking for.


GO TIGERS!!!!!!!

 

[Konical]

Good Afternoon, Frank,

I'd be interested to know how things work out; please keep us posted.

Konical

 

[Frank R]

Well, I was telling my idea to another photographer today and he told me that the parking structure I had in mind belonged to the Detroit Athletic Club; a very private club with membership dues costing $25,000 per year. (http://www.thedac.com/public/)

The parking structure is not open to non members.

 

[ann]

why not call the DAC and tell them what you want to do and offer some photos for their "walls".
The worst thing that can happen will be hearing "no".