Don't leave your Bat

[sgriggs2006]

Ok ya'll....another sunless afternoon....how come I don't ever get the gigs in good light?
Alas, let me know...
I've had to post process this one - levels and noise ninja....I'm still learning NN, so I don't really know what to look for...I usually use the default settings, but this one I kinda ramped it up a notch, manually....Help me learn what to look for when pushing the limits on the program....
cheers,
sue

[fidgety]

I'd prefer shooting in sunless skies everytime if I got the chance. I don't like the harsh shadows and blownout faces you get from the sun blazing down. Give me that big fat softbox in the sky everytime.
The image has very nice action as this is the type of shot one is always looking for. The images does appear to be a tad overprocessed however -- too much noise reduction and over sharpening. You said you had to use Noise Ninja. What ISO did you have to shoot at? It appears that the sun is shining on the trees beyond the outfield wall so I would think your ISO could have been low enough not to have to need noise reduction.

[NoKnees]

Nice capture of the action..... As for the bat, that's the on-deck batter's fault. Only one job to do, and they failed...

As for your technical issues, nothing to add there... Sunless skies can definitely be a blessing for taming harsh mid-day light, but yes, they do present their own challenges..

[sgriggs2006]

Ok, here is the original image...no processing save for cropping and resizing for the website...I thought it was really crappy.....
Tech info:
ISO 1600
Shutter 1/640
F8

[fidgety]

Ok, here is the original image...no processing save for cropping and resizing for the website...I thought it was really crappy.....
Tech info:
ISO 1600
Shutter 1/640
F8

Isn't ISO 1600 in daylight rather high and why shoot at f8? I would think you could shoot even in cloudy conditions at ISO 200 to 400 and with an f-stop of 2.8 to 4.0 you would have a high enough shutter speed to freeze the action and make the two players pop in the image.

[Ultra Magnus]

what sucks about days like that, is the total blown out sky... I can't stand that. I nice deep rich blue sky is a lot nicer htat shades of blwon out white...

imo, your best bet in conditions like this, especially where the backround (the trees) are more brightly lit than the foreground would be to change your shooting angle to try and eliminate as much if it as possible.

BM

[opus]

ouch!

Yeah, your camera was reading the backlighting and so the foreground is too dark and blue. I don't know what I'm doing as much as you don't, lol, but I *sometimes* have luck with the white balance eyedropper, picking an area inside the foreground and telling the program that THAT is what I want to be white. It often brightens up the whole picture. Try it on a couple of areas and see if it does what you want.

[sgriggs2006]

And....can you describe what you see (specifics) when you say its over processed? I am still trying to figure out those little nuances.....obviously I still have LOTS AND LOTS to figure out!
cheers,
sue

[fidgety]

And....can you describe what you see (specifics) when you say its over processed? I am still trying to figure out those little nuances.....obviously I still have LOTS AND LOTS to figure out!
cheers,
sue

The edges in the image are starting to loose their sharpness and becoming too "rounded" for lack of a better term. Specifically, I look at the runners mouth and her teeth have no definition, just a blob of white that may come from too much sharpening.

[sgriggs2006]

I typically use shutter priority in my settings....And, my lens is a standard zoom 55-200mm nikon lens, not the $$$ one.....its f4-5.6 :-(.
I cranked it up to 1600 ISO because it just seemed that the other places around the field that were not backlit like this one seemed to just be too dark.... When I am moving around the field as much as I was that day...I try to just pick settings that can get the range of what I need. The ISO1600 was definitely overkill for this shot...but it seemed a few of the other shots that I needed to get were turning out better w/ those settings....
I am not very good at moving around the field, talking w/ parents and keeping track of who is where, that if I add keeping an eye on my camera settings, that I usually screw up and mis-expose my shot...
Uh, this is why I can't take my photography to the next level....!! :-)

[actionpics]

Most of your replies so far are correct. The biggest two things going on in the picture is the white balance being off and the metering is incorrect. In a situation like this (bright skies in the background and field of play in shadows) be sure to either use center weighted metering or spot meter off a players face that is standing in the field and then go with manual metering. You can also meter off the grass that is in the same light as the field. Grass is close to a neutral 18% gray and can work to get you a pretty good starting point. Just check your histogram after that to see what EV adjustments you need.

White balance wise there are several ways to set a custom white balance on the spot (coffee filters, ExpoDisc, gray card, etc.). In PP I would play with the levels and curves or if you have PSE try their auto white balance. If you want to send me your original I would be willing to play with it a bit to show it what it should look like.