Noobie Sports shots

[photo4fun]

These are pictures I've taken of my son. Nothing really to scream over... and I have A LOT to learn. So far though love taking sports pictures.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m27/myboydsbears/P5027750.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m27/myboydsbears/P5027741.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m27/myboydsbears/P4307540.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m27/myboydsbears/P4257448.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m27/myboydsbears/P5027844.jpg

[MarieJasmine]

I really like the last one :)

[Homer]

Are you shooting through the fence, if so you did a great job avoiding the fence.

Two things to work on, which will add a lot to your shots are capturing their faces and getting a lower perspective. Getting the faces will all depend on where you can stand. Is there a fence around the whole field? On some fields there is usually an opening depending on the level just past the dugout. This is a great spot to position yourself to get face shots of the catcher and batters. As for being low, try kneeling when shooting.

That last shot is great. Show some good action, but really needs a much tighter crop to put the emphasis on the action and not the activity occurring in the background.

Jim

[photo4fun]

Thanks for the feedback... Yes I was shooting through the fence. I don't hold league credentials to be on the field and there is a "home" sports photographer that is the only one allowed on the field :(. As for kneeling I do have some with me doing that I didn't post them though. As for the opening... only in the dug out otherwise surrounded by a chain link fence all the way around...

I'll crop the last one and repost to see if I got it right.
Thanks again. :)

[photo4fun]

Tighter crop for action? Was I successful? Or failed miserably.. lol :)

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m27/myboydsbears/TylerSafeatHome.jpg

[photo4fun]

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m27/myboydsbears/TylerSafeatHome-1.jpg

Played around with the cropping more. I like this one better then the previous personally. I might have to try m y hand though at removing the legs of the runner and blue just to the left of the pitchers head. Any thoughts on that?

[Lilikoi the cat]

I used the clone tool but I really don't know what I'm doing :crazy:

[photo4fun]

Clone tool...that's a photoshop thing? I'm using Microsoft Digital Image Suite. I'll have to play around and see if I can figure that out there. I do like it better minus the legs. Thanks! :)

[Lilikoi the cat]

My pleasure!
it is photshop elements which came with the camera, probably the cheapest they sell at ~$40+

[Abel]

hey there carrie... what lens are you using.. i noticed in one of the shot you ere shooting at f7.1 which yields a deep depth of field. my advice is to shoot your lens at the largest aperture to help isolate your subjects and help throw the background out of focus which makes it a bit less distracting etc.

[Lilikoi the cat]

Kinda ends up like this.:crazy:

[photo4fun]

Thanks for the feed back. That is one of my goals to play with more. I have some flower pictures that I played with the aperture on which I think could use more fine tuning. I'll post some of those in the Nature area for feedback.

The lens I used is my 40-150mm lens. Nothing fancy. But I do understand what you are saying about the aperture. Here is one baseball picture where I did play with the aperture.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m27/myboydsbears/P6028469.jpg

[Lilikoi the cat]

Yup. If you could recognize the kid in the background then it would be a distraction.

[photo4fun]

Got it! Thanks!

Here's one that I had changed the shutter speed on. It's kinda dark but I like the chain link fence in the background...faces are very distorted.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m27/myboydsbears/P6028510.jpg

This one I played with the aperture too....I really like it though for the reaction in my son's face and the muscle in his arms (not much there lil skinny guy :) ) but it's intense. Oh yeah and got the ball just off the bat... not hitting it but still cool.

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m27/myboydsbears/P6028500.jpg

[Lilikoi the cat]

That first one needs a dose of blur tool on the fence or when you shoot it, use a smaller aperture to reduce the moire

[RLawrence]

Shoot tight to the action in the camera, shoot wide open, SS no lower than 1200-1500 for this age (stops the movement), faster for older players. At this SS you still may get some bat and ball blur, but sometimes that is OK. If you want to stop it all, bump your SS above 1500. Get faces. Sometimes you have to expose for the faces. Since the faces are under shadow from the caps/helmuts, you may end up overexposing the background to get good exposure on the face. That's OK. Adjust exposure with SS and/or ISO (to keep your minimum SS). Keep the aperture wide open to better isolate your main subject (sharp subject blurry background). Get low, on your knees or on your butt. This improves the perspective of the shot. I would set the camera to aperture mode (AV for Canon) and let the camera adjust the SS as needed. Keep an eye on it though as you may need to adjust the ISO for adequate SS if the lighting conditions change.

[windrivermaiden]

I'd say you are getting some great advice here and combined with your enthusiasm...and seeminly natural ablility to see an interesting moment before it happens...I think it wont be long before you might just have to apply for that "home" photographer spot.

[photo4fun]

I watched a youtube video on ISO for my camera. They made the ISO 3200. Is that something you would suggest for sports? Or that high of an ISO just for.....? I did read that ISO 400-800 for nighttime photography....which I had not done during night games at the field. The video I watched didn't really say why ISO 3200 but its definitely a hard setting to get to. I also searched the forum and found some info as well. I currently have my ISO set to auto.

I do have more recent ones I could post of me sitting on the ground almost in the dug out...as close as the blue would let me get to the kids... they wanted me to talk to them and that wasn't allowed during tournament... but my reward for sitting on the ground was a big wad of bubble gum. after thought I should have taken a picture of that.... :) heehee

[RLawrence]

I would not suggest ISO 3200 unless you are starving for light. You have to be dead on with exposure to control noise even in camera that do well in high ISO. As for night games, unless you have a fast lens you are probably not going to be happy with your results. Even then, recreation fields have such poor lighting that even with a fast lens you will be short on exposure. I'd do some experimenting with it so you get a good feel for how your camera will handle low light, high ISO action. I would use the lowest possible ISO to maintain your SS and the wide open aperture. ISO is basically how sensitive your sensor will be to light.

ISO - sensitivity to light for sensor
Aperture - amount of light to sensor - or volume
Shutter Speed - How long the sensor will be exposed to light

Every camera handles noise differently but you will still have lass noise in the lower ISO settings than you will in the higher ISO settings. It goes back to experimenting with your camera to see how it handles the high ISO in low light settings (or more specifically the typical lighting level on the ballfield) so you know how far to push it when you're out there

[photo4fun]

Thanks! That was very helpful and I will continue to play with the settings to figure this all out!! I really appreciate the feedback!!!

[RochinPhotography]

Jim nailed it. The first thing you want to do is try to get faces next would be lower angle (makes the little guys look bigger too)