First Baseball & Softball shoot

[BFiredup]

Okay....I shot the boys Varsity baseball game this afternoon and changed fields between innings to grab a few shots of the girls softball game also. It was a really sunny day, but brrrrrrrrrr.....was it cold...my fingers were frozen.

Now as most of you guys know, I have been using the 85mm for basketball, but now I have switched off to the 70-200mm f/2.8L ...... so I have questions....I feel like I am starting over again...ugh...LOL

I shot these at 2.8
1/200s
Iso 100
Before PP, they were all washed out some....not sure what I should do to change this....

All comments welcome....Help me out, as you have so many times in the past....

[Jimmy B]

Up your ISO so you can up you shutter speed to cut down on motion blur. That is what I would try. Old Timer has some of the best BB pics I have seen here, I am sure he may have some more in site.
Jimmy

[Tiago Rohrsetzer]

Speed up the shutter and your problems are gone. No doubt about it.
Nice slide in the #4

Tiago

[BFiredup]

Thanks guys....I have seen Old Timers, and he does have some fantastic shots....would love to get those results.....I will keep practicing....

[ciddog91]

BF......

Nice timing on these, but like everyone else...Shutter speed needs to be upped...

But what a start..... Looking forward to some more soon....

Phil

[dhyravy]

In bright sun you should be able to get at least 1/1000 or better and up your fstop a bit as well. Outdoors in the sun I use a low ISO (around 200) since you shouldn't need the extra light capture ability. To get an idea of the conditions, try setting the camera to 'P' mode and see how it meters the scene, then switch back to 'M' mode and use that as a starting point. Most cameras tend to underexpose a bit to prevent what they perceive as the highlights (in this case the sky etc) being blown out.

[BFiredup]

Thank you Daniel, I will test it out more tomorrow at the boys JV game....hopefully I will get the feel of it soon.... I am going to change things around a bit, and see how it goes.

Hopefully I won't freeze to death doing it...LOL

[BFiredup]

Thought I would add a couple more....

Finished editing this game....on to the JV game tomorrow...

[JETA]

Yep, you've gotta raise your iso and shutter speed. Also with baseball (as I learned from livin) you'll need to straighten your horizons.

Good first outing!

[BFiredup]

I noticed that too....but I think it is just getting used to the weight of the 70-200 lens...so much heavier than I am used to....so hopefully getting that straightened up will come....I hope anyway...LOL...I was thankful for the rail around the field so I had somewhere to rest the lens in between shots....LOL....

You guys are a big help....Thanks again...will see how today goes...

[JETA]

Speaking for myself I think it's a bit much for me to get a straight horizon while shooting. Especially sports. It isn't like we are spending 10 minutes setting up one shot. We are firing off many fps.

Just do it in photoshop. Light or heavy lenses, I still have to do it in ps.

[BFiredup]

Oh....gotcah, I have never tried that...LOL....see learn something new everyday....

"So much to learn....so little time.."...But I love every second of it....I am having a ball...

[ciddog91]

I try to straighten mine is PS.... But when I had Elements it was easy... Now I have CS3 I cannot seem to find how to do it... Anyone know where I need to look for my straighten tool??

Phil

[BFiredup]

Phil where do you go in Elements to straighten them, that is what I am using....

Thanks

[skydiver6]

Nice job BfiredUp! It's fun to see other sports besides basketball. My daughter will be playing soccer and doing track so I might try some of them. It will be nice to have outdoor light - I think! Good luck with baseball!

[BFiredup]

Thank you sky, yeah it is....although it has been COLD out there....the fresh air and natural light is nice...but different....keeps you on your toes and learning something else..

[JETA]

Oh....gotcah, I have never tried that...LOL....see learn something new everyday....

"So much to learn....so little time.."...But I love every second of it....I am having a ball...

Swear to you Betty. I'm a PR Parrot! I'm just repeating to you everything I was taught here. lol

[farski]

It's tough to do when shooting at HS fields, but one of the biggest things that could be improved is cleaner backgrounds.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/%7Ergaya/swtd1/index.html

The baseball section of that, while talking specifically about one park, has many good general points

[Hoffy]

Hi all,

I'm going to give my 2 cents worth (FWIW), but, just looking at the first image, whats wrong with it? Sure, if the shutter was up, the bat & the ball would be frozen....but the way this image is currently, you can clearly see the trajectory of the ball, as well as the motion of the swing. If it was frozen, wouldn't these elements be lost? I personally (apart from maybe a bit more contrast...but thats why we PP!) like this shot very much!

Like I said, my 2C worth!