College Softball...Peering over the fence...

[masdog]

On Wednesday, I shot part of one of the last Women's softball games of the season. As the title suggests, I figured out how to get around shooting through the fence...by going up. Using a rickety step-ladder that I borrowed, I was able to get up high enough to be able to see over the fence.

The lighting was a little harsh. Whoever designed the field didn't have photographers in mind, and I ended up shooting at odd angles to the sun from both the 1st and 3rd base sides.

[JSPhoto]

Not bad considering you were shooting over the fence. It appears that they have a black fence, have you tried shooting through it? A trick an old pro taught me when shooting through a fence is to paint it black so the AF won't focus on it so easily. He proved it works at Indy.
The best shot is next to last

JS

[masdog]

The outfield fences are black, but the infield fences are your normal metal grey. I have tried shooting through them in the past, but I could never get a good shot of anything except the pitcher. Getting over the fence is the only way I can get the entire infield and all the action.

[Old Timer]

Some really nice individual images of the ladies, I'm sure they will love them. I agree with John's pick for best of bunch it show the intensity and action. I'm always lamenting the late day conditions that I'm shooting baseball or softball in but I see bright sun has it's disadvantages too.

[JSPhoto]

The problem is you have to over expose the highlights to get faces out of complete shadows. I don't worry about blowing out white uniforms anymore, as long as I get what I am wanting otherwise, which is how the editor wants it.

JS

[ally]

Nice shots, the light looks great for getting a good speed ?

[livin4lax09]

nice shots, nice color. No real peak action persay, but some very good sportraits that the ladies will love. Do you have the shot RIGHT after the last one? It would be much better if it were just a split second later.

[masdog]

Bright sun has its disadvantages because it messes with the metering, especially when you're dealing with uniforms that are white. If you shoot into the sun, the background can throw the meter off, and you need perfect exposure in order to get your images to come out right. If you shoot with the sun at your back, you can easily overexpose the highlights of the image.

If you shoot into the sun, you tend to lose a lot of contrast and the colors appear washed out. Bumping the contrast in photoshop (usually about +10, but your mileage may vary) tends to correct this and gives you a natural looking image.

Gmen over on the photography-on-the.net forums uses this technique, and it is one of his favorites. He talks about it extensively in this thread: http://photography-on-the.net/forum/...d.php?t=116971.

[masdog]

To be honest, there wasn't a lot of peak action in this game. It was kind of slow, kind of boring, and there was very little to work with. I do have some pictures from a previous game of the pitcher that I should find and post.

As for the image that would follow the last shot, it didn't come out. The girl was half cut-off in that one, and the rest are just shots of her laying there as the ball rolls into the outfield.

[swmdrayfan]

Sean, these are really fine shots considering the conditions. I'd say you did pretty well for yourself.
John