PLEASE! PLease help me!

[VinnyC01]

I have a college kid working for me. He has taken an interest in shooting photos over video. His 1sttwo times out, he was the man. Great clip, poor timing, but I figured he's learn. He reads book after book, picks the ear of any photographer that will listen and talk. This is what I have gotten the past 3 weeks: (This includes less than 20 pictures that could even consider putting up for sale out of the 500+ he tales). Last night, he took over 1,000 and I barely have 20. I am going through today's and I need to fix this.

This was taken with the monopod and is the norm of all the pics I get:


I thought it was his hands, so I bought him a monopod, but then:

[jorgemonkey]

Well first off, I'd have him shoot vertical. That would help out the compositions and singling out one player at a time.

With the first lacrosse players, the camera was focusing on the player in blue. There is also some motion blur on both players.

Second one looks like he might have had a slow enough shutter speed to get the blur.

If you could post the exif data, that could help.

[JSPhoto]

Vinny,
Ship him here and I can fix his problems in a weekend. It's not that he needs a monopod, even with that he's crooked! He doesn't get the idea of the horizon.It also appears that he's pushing the shutter button and moving the camera as he shoots and probably doesn''t even know it. He also needs some training on settings, and may have the focus point set wrong... should be center point. :thumbsup:

JS

[SmartWombat]

If you could post the exif data, that could help.

Get yourself Firefox and the EXIF plug-in

1) the 3 on the pitch with the ball, left hand shot
Exif IFD0

* Camera Make = Canon
* Camera Model = Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
* Picture Orientation = normal (1)
* X-Resolution = 720000/10000 = 72.00
* Y-Resolution = 720000/10000 = 72.00
* X/Y-Resolution Unit = inch (2)
* Software/Firmware Version = Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
* Last Modified Date/Time = 2007:11:14 21:42:07
* White Point Chromaticity = 313/1000,329/1000 = 0.313, 0.329,
* Primary Chromaticities = 64/100,33/100,21/100,71/100,15/100,6/100 = 0.64, 0.33, 0.21, 0.71, 0.15, 0.06,
* Y/Cb/Cr Coefficients = 299/1000,587/1000,114/1000 = 0.299, 0.587, 0.114,
* Y/Cb/Cr Positioning (Subsampling) = co-sited / datum point (2)

Exif Sub IFD

* Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/400 second = 0.00250 second
* Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 28/10 = F2.80
* Exposure Program = aperture priority (3)
* ISO Speed Ratings = 1600
* Exif Version = 0221
* Original Date/Time = 2007:11:14 17:29:56
* Digitization Date/Time = 2007:11:14 17:29:56
* Components Configuration = 0x01,0x02,0x03,0x00 / YCbCr
* Shutter Speed Value (APEX) = 566484/65536
Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/400.00 second
* Aperture Value (APEX) = 194698/65536
Aperture = F2.80
* Exposure Bias (EV) = 1/3 = 0.33
* Metering Mode = partial (6)
* Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
* Focal Length = 200/1 mm = 200.00 mm
* FlashPix Version = 0100
* Colour Space = 65535
* Image Width = 216 pixels
* Image Height = 144 pixels
* Focal Plane X-Resolution = 3888000/877 = 4433.30
* Focal Plane Y-Resolution = 2592000/582 = 4453.61
* Focal Plane X/Y-Resolution Unit = inch (2)
* Custom Rendered = normal process (0)
* Exposure Mode = auto exposure (0)
* White Balance = auto (0)
* Scene Capture Type = standard (0)
* Unknown tag: Tagnum = 0xa500 ===> data = 22/10

2) the other one just milling about with #20 in white
Exif IFD0

* Camera Make = Canon
* Camera Model = Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi
* Picture Orientation = normal (1)
* X-Resolution = 720000/10000 = 72.00
* Y-Resolution = 720000/10000 = 72.00
* X/Y-Resolution Unit = inch (2)
* Software/Firmware Version = Adobe Photoshop CS3 Windows
* Last Modified Date/Time = 2007:11:14 21:48:30
* White Point Chromaticity = 313/1000,329/1000 = 0.313, 0.329,
* Primary Chromaticities = 64/100,33/100,21/100,71/100,15/100,6/100 = 0.64, 0.33, 0.21, 0.71, 0.15, 0.06,
* Y/Cb/Cr Coefficients = 299/1000,587/1000,114/1000 = 0.299, 0.587, 0.114,
* Y/Cb/Cr Positioning (Subsampling) = co-sited / datum point (2)

Exif Sub IFD

* Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/320 second = 0.00313 second
* Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 28/10 = F2.80
* Exposure Program = shutter priority (4)
* ISO Speed Ratings = 1600
* Exif Version = 0221
* Original Date/Time = 2007:11:13 21:49:43
* Digitization Date/Time = 2007:11:13 21:49:43
* Components Configuration = 0x01,0x02,0x03,0x00 / YCbCr
* Shutter Speed Value (APEX) = 545386/65536
Shutter Speed (Exposure Time) = 1/320.00 second
* Aperture Value (APEX) = 194698/65536
Aperture = F2.80
* Exposure Bias (EV) = 6/3 = 2.00
* Metering Mode = partial (6)
* Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
* Focal Length = 148/1 mm = 148.00 mm
* FlashPix Version = 0100
* Colour Space = 65535
* Image Width = 216 pixels
* Image Height = 144 pixels
* Focal Plane X-Resolution = 3888000/877 = 4433.30
* Focal Plane Y-Resolution = 2592000/582 = 4453.61
* Focal Plane X/Y-Resolution Unit = inch (2)
* Custom Rendered = normal process (0)
* Exposure Mode = auto exposure (0)
* White Balance = manual (1)
* Scene Capture Type = standard (0)
* Unknown tag: Tagnum = 0xa500 ===> data = 22/10

[JSPhoto]

Well seeing what Paul just posted he's shootong in Aperature priority mode, and could go down a bit on the shutter speed a bit , but the biggest thing is the Rebel and it is very slow focusing in this kind of light which is part of the blurr issue.. Get him in manual mode, and he will need to anticipate things better and pre focus , make sure he's on Center point and keeping the camera level. Watch him take a few shots, especially looking for how he's holding the camera and if it moves when he pushes the shutter button.

JS

[VinnyC01]

If you could post the exif data, that could help. and everyone else --

Sorry Jorge, i thought I did post the exif. You can view it on Flickr if you read this before I post -- edit #2 -- and i see they posted it. I do have firefox et al. My problem is that I learning and I cannot teach while I am not sure. I always shoot video while he is on the field.

Thanks again for the advice and I may just ship him out - he'll have to work off that $400 plane ticket. I enrolled him in an online course - which i can mooch off of,

The worst part is that all outside sports - except football are over. I can not make money on football since every free lance in NJ goes to these state games.

We'll be shooting indoors (gyms and hockey) before we know it. I am getting a D40 within a few weeks, unless you guys have any advice. My budget is tighter than i thought now since all our teams lost and I lost A LOT on video profit that I would have generated if they won. I bulked my credit with video eqpt.

[JETA]

Somewhere on this board there are some really good tips on how to pan from JS. If I find them I'll bump them up or pm you the thread.