These were shot at a littlt league game earlier this year. I would love to hear your comments.

All shots severely cropped and contrast bumped up (+6). Finally zapped with a little USM.

Nikon D100
Sigma 28-135 f3.5-5.6
Shutter speed 1/1600
jpeg Fine

#1

The catcher in this shot is a fantastic little ball player and I fully expect to see him playing in the Big Show.

Nikon D100
Sigma 28-135 f3.5-5.6
Shutter speed 1/1600
jpeg Fine

#2

Brian,

FIrst, remember that I just recently went through a crash course on sports, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. :D

Both shots show you have good timing. THe action wasn't the greatest, but sometimes you just can't help that.

I assume you were shooting with the 135 end of your lens? You mention severe cropping and the DOF is pretty deep, which lead me to believe that. Don't know if you have a longer lens or not, but something in the 200mm plus range would allow you to get tighter, but more importantly, it would soften the distracting background. You don't mention what aperture you were using, but it seems that usually people shoot stuff like this wide open to help blow out the BG.

One thing I learned about sports is that almost everyone seems to be shooting loose to get evertyhing and then crop down to focus on the action. THis took some getting used to for me, as I always tried to shoot full-frame. With this in mind, I would crop the second one just to the two players. The catcher's facemask is laying pretty still, and it's far away. Its lack of motion doesn't add anything to the moment, and the distance at which it is located tends to distract from the main action. I would crop it out.

On the first one, I like the slide and the dust being kicked up, but the guy holding the bat on the right just begs for too much attention. I don't think it's as good of a shot as the second, although I'm still learning as to why I feel that way. :)

Sports shooting is surprisingly addictive. I find it very challenging trying to anticipate the action, positioning myself, and trying to time it right. We are not blessed with 1D or D2H bodies and their godlike shutter lag times,so we just need to practice until we get the timing down tight.

Thanks for posting these. I find that critiquing images lets me learn almost as much as getting critiques on mine.

Take care and kep shooting everything...now that you no longer worry about film. :D

Brian,

FIrst, remember that I just recently went through a crash course on sports, so take everything I say with a grain of salt. :D

Both shots show you have good timing. THe action wasn't the greatest, but sometimes you just can't help that.

I assume you were shooting with the 135 end of your lens? You mention severe cropping and the DOF is pretty deep, which lead me to believe that. Don't know if you have a longer lens or not, but something in the 200mm plus range would allow you to get tighter, but more importantly, it would soften the distracting background. You don't mention what aperture you were using, but it seems that usually people shoot stuff like this wide open to help blow out the BG.

One thing I learned about sports is that almost everyone seems to be shooting loose to get evertyhing and then crop down to focus on the action. THis took some getting used to for me, as I always tried to shoot full-frame. With this in mind, I would crop the second one just to the two players. The catcher's facemask is laying pretty still, and it's far away. Its lack of motion doesn't add anything to the moment, and the distance at which it is located tends to distract from the main action. I would crop it out.

On the first one, I like the slide and the dust being kicked up, but the guy holding the bat on the right just begs for too much attention. I don't think it's as good of a shot as the second, although I'm still learning as to why I feel that way. :)

Sports shooting is surprisingly addictive. I find it very challenging trying to anticipate the action, positioning myself, and trying to time it right. We are not blessed with 1D or D2H bodies and their godlike shutter lag times,so we just need to practice until we get the timing down tight.

Thanks for posting these. I find that critiquing images lets me learn almost as much as getting critiques on mine.

Take care and kep shooting everything...now that you no longer worry about film. :D
For starters, allow me to address the highlighted, bold faced, underlined comment... That "guy" is my son so he has to stay! LOL

Now, all joking aside.. I think this is a great critique Sebastian and I really appreciate you taking the time to leave it. Your comments and observations are on the money and are quite helpful.

In regards to the lens used, I don't think I was using it at the 135mm (202mm effective) range, it was likely closer to 80mm or 100mm. I'm sure my f-stop was set at 3.5 (5.6 after zoom factor) so I was at my maximum aperture. Next time I'll try shooting with either my 180mm f2.8 or my Dad's 28-200 f3.5-5.6. Obviously the 180mm is the better choice, but the 28-200 is so much more versitile, but I've found the DoF to be too deep, even at 3.5 end.

Thanks again for such a well thought out critique. I really appreciate it!
~Brian

Brian,

You're welcome. I forgot to mention one thing though. How is your camera set? I noticed that the highlights are slightly blown, and the shadows are blocking up. When I shot the D100 I had it set to low contrast, this way the images looked washed out, but detail was there in the shadows and in the highlights. It is much easier to add contrast than it is to subtract it, and that thinking has saved some shots in such harsh lighting for me.

Once you get the shot into PS, contrast is a poor way of adjusting contrast. It just brightens the highlights and darkens the shadows. You will have much more control by learning the levels and curves tools. Usually, just sliding the levels shadow tirangle to the edge of the histogram can create a nice looking image. An s-curve can be even better.

Mess around with it, you'll like it... :D

I really need to become adept at PhotoShop.. I guess it's time I stop trying to buck the system and just go out and buy a book.. If memory serves me, you speak highly of the PhotoShop Bible, correct??

~B

I really need to become adept at PhotoShop.. I guess it's time I stop trying to buck the system and just go out and buy a book.. If memory serves me, you speak highly of the PhotoShop Bible, correct??

~B

Yes, I like the Bible, but it's not really geared towards photographers, it's more of a fun to read manual, that also gives good examples. There's a lot of stuff in there that may or may not apply to what you might be using it for.

Go to a store, get some coffee and just browse the book for an hour or so, get a feel for it. I really enjoyed it.

quick reply to PS books...I have a few of them, but Photoshop 7 Classroom in a Book really brought it home for me. Lot's of fun too.

Joe.