Took Advice From Last Thread

[depack]

After some tips, from my last post I tried to #1 get a ball in the picture #2 take vertical shots. This was my first time taking vertical shots and it felt strange but I want to get better and all of you know way more than I do so I tried it. The shots I took actually had most of them shooting with a ball somewhere in the picture. I was happy about that but some of my pictures were blurry but I'm sure with practice that will improve. Thanks for your tips, I do appreciate your comments.

[dhyravy]

These look pretty good. It looks like you were shooting wide open with the shallow DOF which helps separate the players from the background. The slight blur you see is probably a combination of two things, the ambient light and the shutter speed.

[JSPhoto]

Definate improvement. :thumbsup: Keep on practicing, your getting the hang of it. Now if I can figure out what the first event is I am supposed to shoot tonight is.... doh!

JS

[dhyravy]

I have tonight off. But, I do have games tomorrow and Saturday. The "honey do" list is getting shorter today though!:cryin:

[JSPhoto]

Well I figured out where #1 is, just not "what" it is...maybe wrestling. Then I have an intercounty basketball game, one of two this week Those are rougher than football

JS

[BFiredup]

Great shots....
What is your setup???

[depack]

Thanks, this is the first time anyone asked my settings!! Maybe I am getting a little better. I have a Nikon d50, used my 85mm 1.8 lens, using M , ISO 1600, f 1.8, 1/320

[depack]

dhyravy,
Thanks for looking at my pictures, could you explain a little more what I could do with the ambient light? My shutter speed was 1/320

[gryphonslair99]

A couple of nice shots there. You are definately getting better. As for some shots being blurry, it happens to everyone. Some are keepers, some are learners and some just go in the trash. That is the nature of shooting fast sports in low light. Keep shooting and having fun.

[dhyravy]

The only thing to do about the ambient is to go to some type of strobe setup. From the look of the light you had for these, I think I would push to 1/400 and see how the exposure looks. That's as fast as I use for BB generally and should work fine. Another thing that could have played into the equation is the 85mm losing focus or being slow to correct. With a 1.8 lens, the DOF is very shallow which can cause the appearance of slow focusing. In reality, very slight changes in distance can cause the subject to go slightly out of focus. As has been said many times here, shoot and shoot some more and you will get a handle on what works best for you.

[depack]

Thanks Daniel, I am shooting tonight and I will set the shutter to 400 and see what happens.
You have been very helpful:thumbsup:

[Mule]

You have a lot of good feedback already. I would echo that you should try to get used to using manual focus. It may be worth an experiment or two at underexposing the image and see what you gain or lose in your image after you make adjustments in managing your software. You will find that the ball actually has moments of time when it is moving slower. Because people look for the ball in the shot, you will find many images show the ball in the player's hand at the top of the arch during the dribble - or when getting ready to release the shot. This is a finer point and sometimes harder to catch but helps with the final image. I agree with earlier posts that this represents a significant improvement from your last effort. Keep shooting!