Shooting Baseball

[CarolinaMoon]

I shot some daytime baseball yesterday and wasn't entirely happy with the results. I was curious if the forum could answer a few questions about techniques used when shooting baseball.

1. Do sports shooters use a polarizer filter on the lense when shooting daytime baseball to clean up glare from the grass, uniforms, or any other reflections? Or is a UV or protective filter or sufficient enough?

2. Does it make sense to use a ExpoDisc outdoors to get the correct white balance?

3. What mode do you typically shoot baseball? Manual, aperture, time?

4. What shutter speed and aperture are typically using for certain shots (i.e. batters hitting, pitchers throwing, fielding, etc.)?

5. Right now I am using a Manfrotto ball head on my monopod with my 100-400L. Is there a different way to mount the camera and lense on a monopod or is a ball typically used in sports shooting?

Any other tips, advice, or links would also be great. I love shooting baseball and just trying to get better.

Thank you in advance to everyone that helps me out.

[fslshooter]

1. I can't answer for others, but I don't use any filters including UV/protective.

2. I use Auto WB, shoot RAW whenever possible and tweak if necessary in post processing.

3. I shoot manual exposure mode almost exclusively, aperture f/2.8 to f/4 and I prefer shooting in the daytime.

4. IMO 1/1600 is near perfect for all shots. I don't want to shoot so fast that it stops the motion of the ball nor tip of the bat in full swing, and shots under 1/500 usually have too much motion blur to be of use. My preferred range is 1/800 to 1/2500 and I adjust ISO as necessary to shoot within that range. As for aperture, I want to shoot as wide as possible and still nail the focus. Some glass has sweet spots and, if yours does, it best to stay within that range. Wider aperture blurs backgrounds and isolates subjects to give more pop but the DoF can become very narrow depending distance to subject and length of glass.

5. I don't use a ball head myself nor do most baseball shooters I see on the field. I, and most others, mount my monopod to the lens tripod collar ring, then loosen the lock nut and spin back and forth for landscape/portrait mode shots.

You might find information in THIS (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=136949) thread to be of interest

[JeffreyG]

1. Do sports shooters use a polarizer filter on the lense when shooting daytime baseball to clean up glare from the grass, uniforms, or any other reflections? Or is a UV or protective filter or sufficient enough?

I suggest no polarizer, you can't afford a stop or two of light since you want high shutter speed. I generally don't use any other filters for anything.

2. Does it make sense to use a ExpoDisc outdoors to get the correct white balance?

If you can afford the time in post processing, just shoot RAW+JPEG and set WB to sunny. If you don't like the color then you can fix from the RAW no sweat. This is not a good idea if you need long bursts though, in that case shoot JPEG only and go for sunny WB.

3. What mode do you typically shoot baseball? Manual, aperture, time?

Manual if the whole field is in sun, Av if half the field is shaded.

4. What shutter speed and aperture are typically using for certain shots (i.e. batters hitting, pitchers throwing, fielding, etc.)?

Over 500 in general, higher is better, but I stay below ISO800 until I reach the 1/500 barrier and then I'll go higher in ISO to stay fast.

5. Right now I am using a Manfrotto ball head on my monopod with my 100-400L. Is there a different way to mount the camera and lense on a monopod or is a ball typically used in sports shooting?

My two telephoto lenses are pretty light (135L and 70-300) so I tend to shoot everything handheld.

[vetkrazy]

1. No polarizer normally but since I live in the desert on open fields with no shadows I will use one occasionally ( mostly soccer/football). But I do use a UV.

2.No. I almost always leave it in AWB, shoot everything in raw and tweak in post if necessary.

3.AV in the daytime, manual at night. Lighting is almost never a problem here in the desert. But if it is a night game then manual for sure.

4. This depends on the level you are shooting. Little league you might get away with 1/1000 but I mostly shoot college and I prefer to be above 1/2500 or higher. I constantly monitor my ss and adjust the iso accordingly. Aperture is always wide open, ie f/2.8.

5. I have never used a pod with the 100-400. On the other hand is always use a pod with the 300 f/2.8. I have a bulging disk that will pinch a nerve in my back, so with the big lens I always use the pod. As much to keep me up as the lens:lol:. I use a Bogen 3229 head but it is mainly for the quick release as I never adjust the head.

[tim1960]

1. I use a UV for protection

2. Mostly AWB but sometimes set the WB accordingly

3. I change between AV and TV.

4. I keep close check on the shutter and very seldom go below 800. I keep my aperture wide open - 2.8

5. I don't use a monopod. I shoot with a 70-200 f2.8 and sometimes use a 1.4 extender

[Phil Light]

I shoot sports a lot and I agree with just about everything everyone said above. I will say that I usually don't shoot with a monopod though. I just can't seem to move fast enough with it. As far as ISO, I use as low as I can get away with and still be able to shoot at least 1/800 sec or faster. I don't hesitate to set the ISO to 3200 if I have to.

[markymark06824]

How would your advice change if you were shooting baseball at evening into night at a professional stadium?

[fslshooter]

How would your advice change if you were shooting baseball at evening into night at a professional stadium?

As ambient light diminished, I'd be opening aperture if it wasn't already wide open, dialing ISO up, and slowing shutter speed more or less in that order but juggling back and forth between SS and ISO when SS dropped below 1/1000 and ISO approached 1600. When I reached ISO of 3200, aperture of f/2.8 and couldn't get proper exposure below 1/500 SS, I'd pack my gear, have myself a beer and enjoy watching the rest of the game.

[Phil Light]

How would your advice change if you were shooting baseball at evening into night at a professional stadium?

I shoot mainly at high school fields. If you're shooting at professional stadiums you're bound to have better light than I can get. Do you use any noise reducing software? Once I started using Noiseware I never worried about noise in the image again. Noiseware Community Edition (http://www.imagenomic.com/download.aspx) is free and fully functional. The only drawback to it is that you can't batch process with it. As soon as I tried the free version I immediately purchased the Standard Edition. I've been very happy with it from day one.

As ambient light diminished, I'd be opening aperture if it wasn't already wide open, dialing ISO up, and slowing shutter speed more or less in that order but juggling back and forth between SS and ISO when SS dropped below 1/1000 and ISO approached 1600. When I reached ISO of 3200, aperture of f/2.8 and couldn't get proper exposure below 1/500 SS, I'd pack my gear, have myself a beer and enjoy watching the rest of the game.

I can't disagree with anything fslshooter said. once you get below 1/500 of a sec, it's not easy to get many keepers.

[markymark06824]

I'm a newbie, so I have not yet started editing images through the computer. I'm using a Sigma 70-300 ADG DG on my XTi tomorrow and am hoping to capture some decent shots. I'm field level, 4 rows back. I believe my top ISO is 1600, so as the ambient light dims, I'm probably going to be somewhat out of luck.

[Phil Light]

I'm a newbie, so I have not yet started editing images through the computer. I'm using a Sigma 70-300 AGO DG on my XTi tomorrow and am hoping to capture some decent shots. I'm field level, 4 rows back. I believe my top ISO is 1600, so as the ambient light dims, I'm probably going to be somewhat out of luck.

Still, you'll never get better if the camera stays in the bag. :p

[markymark06824]

Still, you'll never get better if the camera stays in the bag. :p


Sorry, hit the wrong emoticon on the last reply. My last post was not out of anger.

Phil Light, knowing what lens I will be using and the location of my seats, can you tailor your advice to my set up? I'm thinking 800 or 1600 ISO from the start. opening the appeture to f/4 and reducing the shutter speed as much as possible. At the end of the game, when the team walks off together, I want to use the 18-55 to get wide angle shots to get some depth of field. Thinking of closing the appeture to 5.6 with a slower shutter speed while keeping the ISO up. What do you think?

[Phil Light]

For a shot like that you are correct, you won't need a super fast shutter speed. And it sounds like your logic will work for you. Unfortunately no one can realistically suggest all of the settings because it depends totally on how much light there is at that particular moment and whether you are shooting into the light, or with the light to your back, light subject, dark subject, etc. I know this really doesn't help much but anyone who tells you all the settings to use without metering that specific environment doesn't really know what their talking about. One thing you could try if you don't do this already, is to shoot raw. This won't help with focus or blur, but it will at least give you some room to play with them if the exposure is a little to dark or light. In fact if you shoot raw and bracket your exposures, you'll have lots of freedom with exposure.

One suggestion that might help you tremendously though in that situation is using a monopod if you can. If you can't do that, see if you can prop the camera against something solid like the railing or maybe the back of a seat or something like that.

[markymark06824]

For a shot like that you are correct, you won't need a super fast shutter speed. And it sounds like your logic will work for you. Unfortunately no one can realistically suggest all of the settings because it depends totally on how much light there is at that particular moment and whether you are shooting into the light, or with the light to your back, light subject, dark subject, etc. I know this really doesn't help much but anyone who tells you all the settings to use without metering that specific environment doesn't really know what their talking about. One thing you could try if you don't do this already, is to shoot raw. This won't help with focus or blur, but it will at least give you some room to play with them if the exposure is a little to dark or light. In fact if you shoot raw and bracket your exposures, you'll have lots of freedom with exposure.

One suggestion that might help you tremendously though in that situation is using a monopod if you can. If you can't do that, see if you can prop the camera against something solid like the railing or maybe the back of a seat or something like that.


Thanks, Phil. Took a lot of photos last eve and will try to post one or two here tomorrow. Didn't get your email to shoot RAW, so that will have to wait until next time.

This may be a silly question, but at one point in the game, I could not open the apeture past 5.0. I switched out of Manual mode to AV mode to try to prioritize the apeture, but it still wouldn't drop any further. Is that because it was too dark to open it any further or is it the lens?

Most shots were taken at 1600 ISO with the apeture between 4 and 5.0. I let the camera dictate how quick the shutter speed should be. First time shooting in anything other than Auto and it felt GREAT!

[In2Photos]

As ambient light diminished, I'd be opening aperture if it wasn't already wide open, dialing ISO up, and slowing shutter speed more or less in that order but juggling back and forth between SS and ISO when SS dropped below 1/1000 and ISO approached 1600. When I reached ISO of 3200, aperture of f/2.8 and couldn't get proper exposure below 1/500 SS, I'd pack my gear, have myself a beer and enjoy watching the rest of the game.
I should have used this advice the other night. :lol: I shot some softball for the league i play in and used f/4, 1/200, ISO1600 and still had to raise exposure in post. And WB is still an issue. I have shots that are taken from, and to, the exact same spot and the same temp/tint combo yields different results. I enjoyed it still though. Here are a few of the shots which don't look that bad after a little NN and resized for web.

1.
http://www.mdsportsphoto.com/photos/197573530-L.jpg

2. Lots of blur!
http://www.mdsportsphoto.com/photos/197584208-L.jpg

3.
http://www.mdsportsphoto.com/photos/197595615-L.jpg

4.
http://www.mdsportsphoto.com/photos/197552491-L.jpg

[Phil Light]

...This may be a silly question, but at one point in the game, I could not open the apeture past 5.0. I switched out of Manual mode to AV mode to try to prioritize the apeture, but it still wouldn't drop any further. Is that because it was too dark to open it any further or is it the lens?

If you're using the 18-55 kit lens the aperture range is 3.5 to 5.6. This means that when you're shooting at 18mm you can use 3.5, but when you're shooting at 55mm the lowest you can take the aperture is 5.6. This is why you'll sometimes hear a lens such as a zoom that has a fixed aperture of 2.8 referred to as a "fast" lens. That aperture allowes you to shoot a faster shutterspeed at all focal lengths.

Most shots were taken at 1600 ISO with the apeture between 4 and 5.0. I let the camera dictate how quick the shutter speed should be. First time shooting in anything other than Auto and it felt GREAT!

Fantastic! You'll learn much faster leaving it out of Auto. Keep at it and don't hesitate to post some shots!

[markymark06824]

Ok, guys. Sorry for the delay. Just trying to learn about PP. Here are my first shots at the Yankee game the other night. Only PP was reduction in size and addition of watermark. CC welcome.

[In2Photos]

Ok, guys. Sorry for the delay. Just trying to learn about PP. Here are my first shots at the Yankee game the other night. Only PP was reduction in size and addition of watermark. CC welcome.
Not a bad first attempt but let me pont out some things.

1. There is too much dead space. Shoot tight and crop tighter. The background detracts from the image.
2. With as much dead space as you have there is no reason to cut off anything. The feet are cutoff in both shots.
3. Where are the faces? The second shows the face slightly so maybe a closer crop would help bring it to life. Faces often tell a much more powerful story than anything else in the image.
4. Shoot vertical on the second shot.

[markymark06824]

Not a bad first attempt but let me pont out some things.

1. There is too much dead space. Shoot tight and crop tighter. The background detracts from the image.
2. With as much dead space as you have there is no reason to cut off anything. The feet are cutoff in both shots.
3. Where are the faces? The second shows the face slightly so maybe a closer crop would help bring it to life. Faces often tell a much more powerful story than anything else in the image.
4. Shoot vertical on the second shot.


Thanks for the input. The original photo was cut at the bottom because I was shooting over someone's head. Tough shots to get. Where the seats were positioned, the faces were tough to get. I will try recropping the second one to see if I can get more.