Leaving home......plate

[Eagle_Eye]

I shot some high school baseball with my 20D last week. Using sports mode, I got this shot of a friend's son after he hit the ball and headed for first.

Comments always appreciated!

Dudley

[2kids2shoot]

Great timing on the shot - the look of concentration on the hitter's face is great. I like the framing as well. May be my monitor but the catcher and some of the bleachers look a bit blown out. It was probably a bit tricky shooting since it's looks like about midday. I also think I would have prefered a little less DOF to focus more on the players but that's a small nitpick. Thanks for posting!

2k2s

[jar_e]

Love this shot. As pointed out, there are some overexposed areas, but I think those can be picked quite easily. I don't mind the DOF at all, great action shot!

No blur at all!

Nice shooting,

Jared

[mdmc]

Excellent action shot! You might want to blurr the background a bit, but it looks good the way it is.
I like how I can see both of the plyers faces.
Mark.

[Eagle_Eye]

2k2s, Jared and Mark, thanks for the comments. I love to shoot action sports and do so every chance I get. When shooting baseball, my favorite shots are pickoffs at first and slides at second.

Using the 20D in sports mode is so easy but it limits what you can do with the DOF. I guess it's a good trade off for not having to think about settings so that you can put more into catching the right shot. I think I will shoot manual mode next time and see what I can do.

Just for giggles: this shot- ISO 400, F6.3, 1/1250

Thanks!
Dudley

[OldSchool]

Hey Dudley,

That's just a fantastic shot! Wow! It'll be a great gift.

Just curious why you use the Sports mode. What does it get you that going to shutter priority and upping the shutter speed doesn't? I suppose you'll have different focusing modes, but you can set those manually.

Br,
Tim

[2kids2shoot]

I agree with OldSchool - you don't need to use manual mode. I think you can use shutter priority setting a fast shutter speed, you can set the focusing method to Predictive AI Servo. You'll have to set ISO as well - I think- since the Basic modes pick it for you. The manual (*gasp*) has a table that shows what's set to what for all the modes so you can see what's going on with the basic modes if you want to try and have some more control.

...or you can not worry about it and use the sports mode.

[OldSchool]

So, please don't interpret my post as a "real photographer only uses manual" type comment. I just ask because I've find some automated modes reduce my ability to adjust. For example, sports mode may lock you into only one type of focusing mode -- and you can't switch out.

For example, (on my camera) Auto locks me into 'focus on the nearest subject' mode -- and that can bite me when I least expect it.

One auto mode that I find very useful is Auto-ISO. I use it a lot -- especially when just doing studies. I'll snap it off when I want more control of the capture.

Cheers,
Tim

[ShotsbyScott]

Nice capture Eagle_Eye! I would like to see more from this day at the old ball park!

Scott

[Eagle_Eye]

Thanks for the comments OldSchool. As for why I was using sports mode, that's easy. A buddy of mine at work was asking me why I don't ever use the sports setting and I didn't have a good answer so I decided to try it. I have found it to be a good mode to shoot in but you don't always get the DOF you desire.

I guess I should apologize for using the word "manual" to loosely. Depending on the situation, I will shoot in shutter or aperture priority but for some reason, I think of those modes as being part of the manual family. Maybe I spent too many years behind a Honeywell Pentax 35mm where everything was manual.

Well I guess I've rambled enough. Once again, I really appreciate the comments and I'm just thankful that every now and then I luck up and press the shutter at the right time.

Thanks!

Dudley