White Balance Nightmare

I got a little bored the other night during a lacrosse game and decided to take a photo of the light standard against the blue sky. After looking at it I now know why white balance can be a nightmare at stadiums. Look at the different color temps of the the actual bulbs. Supposedly they are looking into improving the lights at our stadium which would be nice and not so nice all at the same time. Nice because we could actually get photos without a flash of a running back making a dive into the endzone and see his face, or capture that very common airborne catch in the corner of the endzone. Both photos are near impossible with the light dropping off at about the 5 yard line causing the endzone to be pitch dark. The reason the coaches have gotten behind this is the receivers say they can't see the ball in the dark endzone.

Why you ask did I say it would be not so nice, well because as it is now you have to have an idea of how to work a camera to get a good photo and with great lighting everyone will decide putting their camera on sports mode they can capture an award winning photo translating into even more crowded sidelines. In the mean time I have a much bettter appreciation of the bad lighting after seeing the bulbs in action.