Little League T&I

[jhuckelberry]

I took some T&I pictures of my nephew's little league team last night mainly for practice and b/c the the guy who took theirs originally did a really bad job. They know I'm just starting out and we set this up to happen right before their last game.

I'm pretty sure I need to calibrate my monitor. This'll be the first time I've printed pictures I've taken. Everything up till now has just been to keep digital. Once I decide what lab I'm sending them to (pretty sure Costco at this point) I'll get their profile set up.

Any comments would be helpful. I know I found that I'll have to re-do the pp once I get the profile set. I installed the profile for Adorama last night just to play with it and it changed the look quite a bit. PP for printing is quite new so it'll be fun learning it.

Anyway, enough of my yammering. Here's a couple that I played with real quick before going to bed last night.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3045/2549674929_9ef6f0aa19.jpg
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 29 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired, red-eye reduction

Cloned out the glove on this one. If it works, all will be done.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3072/2550501502_736ab28ca6.jpg
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 34 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired, red-eye reduction

This one is same as the first picture, just processed more like the 2nd one.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3134/2550494408_03aaa226e4.jpg
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/8
Focal Length: 29 mm
ISO Speed: 200
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired, red-eye reduction

Thanks for taking the time to look.

[gromeo]

Exposure looks ok, background is just to busy. I would have moved players to a cleaner BG. With individual shots like these you want the player to be isolated and the main focus not the BG, as far as cloning things in and out, I feel get it right the 1st time, be aware of the surroundings and what will be in the picture when you make it, but thats the editorial part in me. just my 2 cents

[jhuckelberry]

I agree on the location, we just had no easy control on that. All fields were in use so we found the emptiest area we could. I had to wait a few times to take the picture b/c people were on the field on the other side of the fence.

The glove was bonehead on my part definitely.

[KR4SC]

The shadow from the flash is distracting to me as well as the background. It would take some work but you could replace the background and these would be 100% better and IMHO would be OK for a posed shot. I also think you could lower your vantage point some to bring yourself down to their level.

Thanks for sharing.

[bobbyz]

I haven't done T&I stuff but why are you shooting from a higher position? Also same commenst as others in regards to bg. I would also use a little longer focal length.

[docfav]

I think would look a little better if you got down to there level. It almost looks like you are looking on a down angle towards them.

Otherwise nice poses. I like the idea.

Doc

[jhuckelberry]

honestly the higher angle is from lack of experience. We did the team shot first and most things I've seen around here talk about shooting a group shot from a little higher up. I didn't drop my tripod down when we started the individuals.

[Sledhed]

Others have said it and I agree, background is HORRIBLE! You also need to shoot from their level so your not looking down on them. Honestly, I would reshoot. Open the lens up for more DOF and that will give you more separation between subject and background and shoot lower.

[jhuckelberry]

thanks for the advise and comments from everyone. It's funny how many things I could tell you right now of what to do that I forgot all about last night. It was a good learning experience. It's not too often I can do a real-world shoot for experience without facing the critics (the customer).

I'll update with the team shoot tonight sometime once I get home and do some work on it.

[bobbyz]

Since you have 70-200mm f4, I would use that for individual shots. Are you using on camera flash? If you can manage off camer flash with an umbrella, it will make a big difference. You can use flash in manual mode with a cheap pc sync cable.

[MJPhotos24]

Others have said it and I agree, background is HORRIBLE! You also need to shoot from their level so your not looking down on them. Honestly, I would reshoot. Open the lens up for more DOF and that will give you more separation between subject and background and shoot lower.

I concure...I do a lot of T&I in youth and pro basebll and would re-do them if at all possible. Chalk it up to learning experience. Get them away from the fence and that sign, parents want the focus to be on there kid for these shots and not the background. EVERY year the first comment I get is "how did you make him stick out so much" (low DOF) or something similar. Using tighter crops (but still enough room around the kid to put it in a frame and not cut any of him/her off) also seems better than the whole body shots...

http://www.knockoverrecords.com/March02.JPG


Not every kid wants to be with a bat, some want there catchers gear on, some want it like they're ready to pitch, some want in defense, this is one the kid saw me doing another shot similar and then wanted to do the same - we changed it a little bit for being a lefty but still one of my favs from this year.
http://www.knockoverrecords.com/March01.JPG



Things you'll find with a lower DOF though is sometimes you miss focus! CHECK THE IMAGES IMMEDIATELY to make sure! Usually as I'm walking up to the kid to show him and record his name I'm zooming in to check them out and make sure. I made the mistake of not doing it earlier this year and now have to find 6 girls on 3 different teams to re-shoot.



ALSO - the first edit you have is the best that shows the true colors of the uniform. I'm the photographer for the real Muckdogs and they are the same colors as the Cardinals/Phillies (red) and not that darker maroonish color.

[jhuckelberry]

Since you have 70-200mm f4, I would use that for individual shots. Are you using on camera flash? If you can manage off camer flash with an umbrella, it will make a big difference. You can use flash in manual mode with a cheap pc sync cable.


On camera right now . I plan on going off-camera this summer once I pick up the umbrella/cord etc.

[jhuckelberry]

MJPhotos, great advice. I have a couple images of each kid so I can play around with the tighter crops tonight.

As far as the color, I like the first one better as well. Part of the problem is that the team bought their jerseys from a 3rd party group so the color is actually darker than it's supposed to be. My brother is one of the coaches on the team as well and he bought his shirt directly from the Muckdogs. You can see the color difference in the team photo (not posted yet) between his and everyone else's.

[MJPhotos24]

MJPhotos, great advice. I have a couple images of each kid so I can play around with the tighter crops tonight.

As far as the color, I like the first one better as well. Part of the problem is that the team bought their jerseys from a 3rd party group so the color is actually darker than it's supposed to be. My brother is one of the coaches on the team as well and he bought his shirt directly from the Muckdogs. You can see the color difference in the team photo (not posted yet) between his and everyone else's.

Interesting, tell him to buy from the team - we went backrupt last year and need the help! New ownership though came to save the day luckily or else we wouldn't even have a team. I noticed some coaches did the same, we have a lot of Yankee teams out here so sometimes the jersey the kids wear doesn't match the jersey the coach wears since he went and got it back in 1996...and by jersey I mean those t-shirts they get.

[jhuckelberry]

Interesting, tell him to buy from the team - we went backrupt last year and need the help! New ownership though came to save the day luckily or else we wouldn't even have a team. I noticed some coaches did the same, we have a lot of Yankee teams out here so sometimes the jersey the kids wear doesn't match the jersey the coach wears since he went and got it back in 1996...and by jersey I mean those t-shirts they get.

I'll let them know. I'll guilt them into it if nothing else. :)

[MJPhotos24]

I'll let them know. I'll guilt them into it if nothing else. :)
I'm not sure how they do the youth stuff, I know they work with a lot of teams but that's beyond what I know except it deals with t-shirts, hats, helmet stickers and the like. All new staff this year so not positive who does what, only two returned from last year total I think - grounds crew guy and me, though my contract isn't in hand yet so maybe just the grounds crew guy, ha.