Any body shoot Little League Baseball?

[OviV]

My wife and I have been shooting LL for the last couple of months. Most of our shots are shot with a long tele zoom lens on a tripod. One of us shoots from the first base line and the other from the third base line. Most of our shots tend to look like this:

http://www.shareapicture.com/veronaphoto/bb20041002PRedSox/_mg_6549_std.jpg

We want to try to get more action shots so we were thinking that maybe one of us should shoot hand held and we should get a faster lens for this purpose. We were thinking maybe the Sigma or Canon 70-200 2.8. I know they are heavy but that would not be a big deal for me since I am a big guy.

Here are my questions:

1) Is it worth it to try to get these types of shots? The parents seem to like what we are getting right now and we are getting a good number of orders. As a parent that has a boy playing little league I think I would really prefer action shots but I don't know if this is a general concensus with parents. I would also get a great deal of satisfaction as a photographer to get these kinds of shots rather then the static ones.

2) Would we be successful with this lens or is it too short?

By the way, we shoot with a Digital Rebel and a 20D. We currently use a Sigma 170-500MM and a Canon 100-300. Both of these lenses tend to be too slow for handheld action shots even at 400 ISO unless it is blindingly bright.

Ovi

[cmM]

I shot a few LL baseball games. If the parents like these shots, then I tell you that they will LOVE a picture of their kids stealing a base or scoring a homerun, or any other action shot. The Canon 70-200 f/2.8 should get the job done, plus the larger aperture will help you isolate your subject better and that looks awesome in action shots.

Good luck!

[OviV]

Thanks Chris. We are leaning towards the Sigma 70-200 since it is more affordable for us.

Ovi

[cmM]

have you considered the Canon 200 f/2.8?
In basball most of the interesting action happens around the bases, so a prime is useable. And as far as sharpness goes... it's an L prime :lol:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=129190&is=USA

$659 ;)

[Adam Hicks]

Looks great, but are you shooting in shutter priority or something? I would think that you could make more attractive images by shooting Av in wide open aperture mode to help seperate the subject from the background. So much background information there that it's hard to stay focused on the hitter.

I don't shoot a lot of baseball, but staying ready for action around first and third was always good. Of course home base is fun but not a lot of action there generally. If you're taking these to sell, then each parent is going to want a nice shot showcasing their kid in action when possible. I'd definitely think that the 70-200f4 would be a good buy for this, or maybe something like a 200mm 2.8 fixed if that focal length worked well where you sit and shoot...

Adam

[OviV]

Chris,

I thought that lens was more expensive then that. That is definitely a good possibility. Thanks for pointing it out.

Adam,

The dugout is so close that I doubt that even 2.8 would blur it out. When the parents order a print, I have been resorting to blurring out the background in PS. I am shooting at the maximum apperture most of the time since I am trying to get the best shutter speeds that I can.


Ovi

[Xtreme02]

I shot couple of LL games. One from behind the backstop and the other from the fist base line. I used the 100-400mm lens on both pictures and the first one is on a monopod while the second one is handheld. Having a faster lens would be great if you're shooting night games or when its over cast. I've had no problems shooting at iso 400 or even 800 at a shutter speed of 1/200 with this lens. Hope this helped...
http://strictly-s.org/baseball2.jpg
http://strictly-s.org/baseball3.jpg

[olladaa]

Howdy!

Hey, I've been pretty successful shooting the players in their positions on Defense. You want the largest aperture possible, focus on the player just before the hitter hits the ball, and they will always move just a tad in the direction of the ball, even if its not their ball. This usually gets them in motion, but its a really easy shot to get. Sometimes you get lucky and the play is actually to the guy/gal you are focusing on.

I do it this way to start, to make sure that I get shots of every player, and then I just concentrate on the game, taking pictures where the action is.

I shoot handheld. D60 with the 70-200L usm is.

-AO

[DAMphyne]

I've shooting LL for a couple of years, with pretty good results from my 75-300 IS zoom, I think 200mm is a little short and it's nice to zoom back for photos of the bases close to you.
Here are some samples
http://damphyne.com/albums/BaseBall/BrCoachPitch_054.jpg
http://damphyne.com/albums/BaseBall/CBB_Youth_027.jpg
http://damphyne.com/albums/BaseBall/Concord_Major_BB_110.jpg

Hope you have as much fun "Shooting Kids" as I do, I especially enjoy the T-Ball.

[OviV]

Extreme,

Those are great. I wish I had that angle to the pitcher. I am able to get onto the field but to the outfield side of the bases and up to the line. I find my self shooting mostly in the 200-300 MM range. That 200 2.8 is starting to look very attractive.

Ovi

[Transfix]

I can't count the number of little leage games I've shot. Generally when I shoot them this is what I take.

Canon 1D Mark II, 300 2.8 IS L, 24-70 2.8 L
70-200 2.8 IS L, 1.4 type II TC, 550 Speedlite

I've found that parents will always buy the 'typical' action shots of their kids once or twice a season. Thus I like to proivde images they can't get anywhere else. Check out image numbers 4, 6, and 7 on my sportsshooter portfolio. http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=1488

[rya794]

Ive also been interested in shooting little league games in my area. I was curious how much you charge and how you go about selling the pictures.

[OviV]

In my area the pictures pretty much sell themselves. I went to the first game with no intention of selling anything. I just went there to take some quick pictures for the sake of shooting. As soon as the parents saw the big lens, they began to approach me to ask for prints and to point out which one was their kid. I went home that night with about 5 or 6 names of parents that wanted prints. I e-mailed then a link to my site where they could see the pictures and set the prices fairly low since I wanted to get my name out first. My prices are $5 for 4x6, $8 for 5x7, and $10 for 8x10. I take a dollar off each picture if they order 5 or more. I am printing my pictures at Costco so my cost for printing is minimal. I am now going to start offering Trading Cards (Available from www.proshooterdirect.com ) as well. I usually shoot on Saturdays since the only game I shot at night did not turn out well. I then visit the games on their night game day (Teams here play two games a week, 1 on Saturday, and a night game during the week) and bring contact sheets with the pictures I shot the previous Saturday for the parents that do not go on the net to see them. This is where I get most of my orders.

Ovi

[Xtreme02]

thats cool, you should also be aware of selling prints, you should check with your local little league president first, I am also a LL coach and in the rule book they give us it prohibits selling of pictures due to the little league logo the players have on their shirts, You could ask if you can sell prints and send like $1 of every $10 you make to the league. might grease them um up a little, but other than that thats great that you are selling prints. I hope the Lens selection is coming along great, you should also consider the Sigma 70-200mm 2.8 lens. Even though theres no IS I think the 2.8 will make up for it.