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View Full Version : First Outdoor Paintball of the Season

BenJohnson
29th of March 2009 (Sun), 21:16
It's been over 6 months since my last outdoor shooting, but it is finally warm enough for
outdoor sports! When I got to the field it was in the 20's F, but by afternoon it was into
the low 40's and sunny.

There wasn't a single cloud in the sky so I had a bit of a hard time with the harsh
lighting. These shots were all taken within 2 hours of noon, so lighting was basically
overhead. I didn't realize that the sun was coming slightly from the southern sky until I got
home and saw that my shots into the sun looked quite a bit darker (shadowed) vs. the
ones with the sun at my back.

This was just practice/open play so there wasn't nearly as much action as a tournament,
but it was still a good time, and I think I got some decent shots.

Comments and suggestions are welcome!

Shots taken with my 400D and 70-200 2.8 IS lens. Manual mode, ISO 200, f/4, 1/1000sec

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501483142_R3Ch3-M.jpg

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501486452_293wC-M.jpg

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501487241_wbK4W-M.jpg

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501494437_7H7iG-M.jpg

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501496704_8d4R9-M.jpg

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501506343_bRbC8-M.jpg

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501482953_RwJtV-M.jpg

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501483705_mX2Tc-M.jpg
dsul413
29th of March 2009 (Sun), 21:55
I can't wait until I get back outdoors.

Nice shots man, some nifty slides.
BenJohnson
30th of March 2009 (Mon), 22:14
Any recommendations for how to make these photos better?

Anything I could do about the (too) high contrast due to the lighting?
Is Aperture Priority a reasonable way to deal with people moving in and out of shadows?
Is the WB too warm? Best way to adjust this with JPEG's (in CS2)?
Aperture setting? Too wide or not wide enough?

(I'd like to go as wide as possible and still keep all the players in focus at the start of the game):

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501512344_VeaER-M.jpg

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501485254_x5xN9-M.jpg

Any comments are appreciated! (especially ones on how I can improve)

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501505859_DMWxn-M.jpg

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http://benjohnson.smugmug.com/photos/501490253_WMbV5-M.jpg
troybal
30th of March 2009 (Mon), 22:21
I think you have some great pics here Ben
dsul413
31st of March 2009 (Tue), 17:07
Is Aperture Priority a reasonable way to deal with people moving in and out of shadows?


I use it for it, and it works well for me.

Also, when you go wide, try to keep the dead sapce above the players to a minimum; you have a lot of deadspace in your breakout shots that doesn't add anything to the photo.

Real nice shots though, imo.
BenJohnson
1st of April 2009 (Wed), 15:35
Also, when you go wide, try to keep the dead sapce above the players to a minimum; you have a lot of deadspace in your breakout shots that doesn't add anything to the photo.

Real nice shots though, imo.
I normally use center point AF only and try to get someones head in the center of the shot. This leads to the "dead space" on the top of most of my wider shots. Any way around this, or do I just have to crop? I do crop some photos, but I try to stick with "normal" proportions for printing.
dsul413
1st of April 2009 (Wed), 16:48
At that length I don't think you are going to get a problem with focus if you focus on the player's body to have a better framing of the photo - not if you are not cropping, your depth of field will be large enough that it will all be in focus. That's what I do - or you could quickly change your focal point, especially off the break when you have a few minutes to setup.

I take shots much like yours, with the dead space above because I don't change my setting - I try not too though, so I'll focus on their midsection.
BenJohnson
2nd of April 2009 (Thu), 15:50
At that length I don't think you are going to get a problem with focus if you focus on the player's body to have a better framing of the photo - not if you are not cropping, your depth of field will be large enough that it will all be in focus. That's what I do - or you could quickly change your focal point, especially off the break when you have a few minutes to setup.

I take shots much like yours, with the dead space above because I don't change my setting - I try not too though, so I'll focus on their midsection.
I'm probably just too used to low light and inferior equipment. With the 55-250 I HAD to
focus on their face to get any type of AF in low lighting. Especially since a lot of the
guys will just wear solid (dark) colored long sleeve tshirts. No light, no contrast, no AF.
With the 70-200 it can do a MUCH better job of tracking AF, even on a solid black shirt
and a running player. I'll definitely work on my framing next time out.
dsul413
2nd of April 2009 (Thu), 15:51
You bring out a good point about AF though, something I didn't think of.

70-200 should do fine.