HS Softball

[Nick Pro]

My first try at Soft ball

SO CLOSE TO BALL ON BAT! GAHHHHHHH :evil:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3248/2458027386_b077b16a93.jpg

2.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2093/2457197173_7e62b2428e.jpg

3.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2150/2457196985_ac39f2aa66.jpg

4.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2340/2457196905_228f311cbc.jpg

5.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2033/2457196805_dbb0e7f7d5.jpg

6.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2220/2457196709_017889850f.jpg?v=0

[Aaagogo]

they look under exposed.

how does the background behind u look? cause of the dumpster

[Nick Pro]

The background is just those 2 dumpsters and then a road and my school.

The histogram was way on the left. Truthfully, I am not sure how to get it to the middle or the right. (Supposed to be in the middle right?) Help!

[alduin]

Either slow down your shutter, open up your aperture, or increase your ISO. You'll probably want to start with adjusting ISO so that you don't lose the shutter speed or DOF.

[Nick Pro]

ISO was at 640 I think.

Thanks for all the C&C! More please!

[Nick Pro]

anyone else?

[Dennis_Hammer]

I shoot alot of softball, and in school settings you get the background you get. Unfortunately they squeeze so many athletic fields into such a small amount of space, and sports like girls softball usually gets the least desired areas. Now football they get the choice real estate. Anyway this is how I start my setup for shooting, I select my lens sharpest aperture usually 2-4 stops above wide open. Then I adjust my ISO to get a shutter speed of no slower than 1/400th in the darkest part of the field usually the catcher's box. Make sure you check this with both the catcher and official in place because they will create shadows and block light. And then go from there now everything I shoot with is 2.8 (the lens not the sharpest setting) or better so I usually have a lot of lee way in my other settings. And depending on the length and time of game you may need to check your setting mid way through.

[tjketa]

Thanks for the info Dennis, that's a big help to a "newbie" like me.

[Gatorboy]

Your images look a bit green to me. What was your white balance set at?

[Nick Pro]

No idea. I believe it was set to cloudy though.

All my shots out of my 1D look like that though. I love it!


Thanks for the tips Tom! We do not have a foot ball team, and this field just got finished 2 weeks ago. We dont even have a base ball field for our team!

[vantsi]

I'm super noob to baseball (and softball); I've never even seen a live game.
I'm asking why do you guys try so hard to get a ball on bat shot. I've seen few done it with success and many very close to it yet any of those shots haven't made me scream "OWOW!!1" my lungs out.
I prefer those ones where players are diving in the air trying make it to the base and sand flying all over.
Still everyone here's trying so hard to get that "BOB" shot. OK, I understand that if there is something unordinary like bat breaking or something like that those are pretty cool.
Does no-one understand my pain?? Am I all alone in this world??

[cargo123]

Pro, If this was your first try, I think you have the right idea. Your action shots include one person versus the entire field. LIke the baseball cards. Maybe through some adjustments in PS, you can lighten them up a bit. You'll make some happy parents. Keep trying.

[Nick Pro]

Thanks! I think im gonna sell my 50 and get a 2X TC. Maybe after prom's over....

[forkball]

I'm super noob to baseball (and softball); I've never even seen a live game.
I'm asking why do you guys try so hard to get a ball on bat shot. I've seen few done it with success and many very close to it yet any of those shots haven't made me scream "OWOW!!1" my lungs out.
I prefer those ones where players are diving in the air trying make it to the base and sand flying all over.
Still everyone here's trying so hard to get that "BOB" shot. OK, I understand that if there is something unordinary like bat breaking or something like that those are pretty cool.
Does no-one understand my pain?? Am I all alone in this world??

The bat on ball shot is a very tricky thing to master. It requires good anticipation skills and impecable timing. Unless you have a 1D and can shoot a 12 frame burst from pitcher release until the ball is in play. Even then... at 50-95 MPH depending on how hard the ball is thrown... it's still pretty hard to get. This is as close as I've ever come. 30D 5fps with my old 70-200 F4L

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/5629/gamewinnerqg2.jpg

[carpenter]

The bat on ball shot is a very tricky thing to master. It requires good anticipation skills and impecable timing. Unless you have a 1D and can shoot a 12 frame burst from pitcher release until the ball is in play. Even then... at 50-95 MPH depending on how hard the ball is thrown... it's still pretty hard to get. This is as close as I've ever come. 30D 5fps with my old 70-200 F4L




FPS isn't really a factor when trying to capture BOB shots.

[forkball]

FPS isn't really a factor when trying to capture BOB shots.

aparently you didn't really read what I had to say...

I said, it requires good anticipation skills and impecable timing unless you have a high FPS machine... and even then it's hard to get... meaning high fps still won't assure you of a BOB shot because of the speed the ball travels.

[carpenter]

aparently you didn't really read what I had to say...

I said, it requires good anticipation skills and impecable timing unless you have a high FPS machine.

there is no UNLESS about it. It requires good anticipation and impeccable timing no matter what camera you have. 12 FPS or 3.5. Doesn't really matter. It's still about pressing the shutter at the right instance, not spraying. It's timing with a single shot.

[alduin]

So in other words... UNLESS you have good anticipation and impeccable timing?

*ducks* =)

[forkball]

there is no UNLESS about it. It requires good anticipation and impeccable timing no matter what camera you have. 12 FPS or 3.5. Doesn't really matter. It's still about pressing the shutter at the right instance, not spraying. It's timing with a single shot.

:ROLLS EYES:

So, then you are saying that nobody has EVER captured a BOB shot by getting lucky with a high frame rate sequence?

C'mon... I said that it required good anticipation, and timing (you even quoted me for crying out loud)... and I meant that as the RULE and I'm pretty sure that was obvious. But I still maintain that getting lucky with a high FPS burst is definately possible... It's not a Guarantee you'll get one, and it should be considered the exception to the rule, but at 10.5 FPS... you and I both know it's possible... and even PROBABLE that you'll end up with at least one BOB shot with it.

Now that said... you are right. If you can learn to get the timing down... you can capture the elusive "BOB" with more reliability, and with more frequency and should be considered the PROPER way to acheive that. I'm not there yet. But I'm close. What I've been doing is using my left eye for the viewfinder, and my right eye for the pitcher... and using that technique tonight, I ended up with a few shots tonight that WOULD have been BOB if the batter actually made contact...hahaha.

So in other words... UNLESS you have good anticipation and impeccable timing?



*ducks* =)

haha. :lol:

[Nick Pro]

When USA today has the 30 fps for barry bond's home run record, they still didnt get the BOB shot.

[DDCSD]

When USA today has the 30 fps for barry bond's home run record, they still didnt get the BOB shot.

Yep, that thing was the biggest waste of 3 Mk3's and 600mm's I've ever seen. 2 well times shots would have yielded better images than that thing. Or 3 good photogs with the gear instead of super spray and pray.

[DDCSD]

I'm super noob to baseball (and softball); I've never even seen a live game.
I'm asking why do you guys try so hard to get a ball on bat shot. I've seen few done it with success and many very close to it yet any of those shots haven't made me scream "OWOW!!1" my lungs out.
I prefer those ones where players are diving in the air trying make it to the base and sand flying all over.
Still everyone here's trying so hard to get that "BOB" shot. OK, I understand that if there is something unordinary like bat breaking or something like that those are pretty cool.
Does no-one understand my pain?? Am I all alone in this world??

It is more about the difficulty of doing it. The "thrill of the chase".

Honestly, BOB shots are usually pretty boring shots. Faces before the swing and after the swing are usually much more interesting.

[Strnge]

yup

[DDCSD]

Here's an example of what I mean. These are from my first and only attempt at shooting softball last year, shortly after getting my 20D. All I did was cropped and resized these. I find the BOB shot pretty boring, especially from this angle (not taking into account the missed focus, WB issues... ;) ). The second shot to me is much better, even though the ball is nowhere to be seen, because it actually shows something. I wasted about 200 shutter actuations to get a couple of BOB's.

Unless someone tells you what happened with a BOB shot, all you know is that the bat made contact with the ball and the general direction the ball went, if it was a foul ball, homerun, pop-out... you have to be told.

1
http://derekcecil.smugmug.com/photos/289373979_roSBp-XL.jpg
2
http://derekcecil.smugmug.com/photos/289374076_2rz56-XL.jpg

[forkball]

When USA today has the 30 fps for barry bond's home run record, they still didnt get the BOB shot.

Yeah... in order to get the BOB shot with a high FPS sequence you have to get lucky. You would think 30fps would do it, but I'm sure it's like 1/100 of a second to nail the moment of impact which would mean you'd need 10 of those cameras set up for 100 fps. Anyway... I agree with what's been discussed further, and it was actually the point I was trying to make originally was that the lure is all about the thrill of the chase since it is so hard to capture. More interesting shots come after the ball is put into play. I like getting the batters as they discard the bat and start running down the line... or the reaction to a well struck ball.