Dear AP Land,

Just wondering, for future reference, how would I best manage this circumstance? I was shooting my Dad's ukulele group at a local pub in the beer garden. I was afternoon, 2-4pm (August), with the sides open to the west and shaded to the east. In the roof, there are slats that allowed strong bands of light in and strong bands of shade. I normally shoot in Aperture Priority, however, my sensor was not coping with the differences in light. I metered with Spot Metering off the subjects face, but this didn't seem to help the situation being that half the face was blown out with the strong sun and half the face was shaded (Single Point AF). Eventually, I went with Manual mode, ignored my light meter and just experimented until it was as close to right as possible. I travelled light, so I packed my camera and my 24-70mm 2.8 lens and that was it (no flash)

Obvious limitations are - I can't change when or where they perform (this is a regular gig), so I need to learn to work around the available light. I am considering taking a flash next time and bouncing it. Is there anything else I can do to manage this light in camera?? Below is an example of what I was working with.

Thanks in Advance!!

Erin.