MLB:White Sox vs. Yankees

[Damen Jackson]

Evening. Any thoughts or feedback is appreciated. These are from the 8/1/09 White Sox vs. Yankees game. Enjoy.

http://www.cubbienation.net/multimedia/080109-2.jpg
Jorge Posada misses the tag on Mark Kotsay, allowing him to score.

http://www.cubbienation.net/multimedia/080109-3.jpg
Chris Getz steals second base under the tag of Robinson Cano.

http://www.cubbienation.net/multimedia/080109-4.jpg
Mark Teixeira is thrown out attempting to stretch a hit into a double in the first inning.

http://www.cubbienation.net/multimedia/080109-5.jpg
Bobby Jenks picks up an inning of work in the ninth against the Yankees.

http://www.cubbienation.net/multimedia/080109-6.jpg
Chris Getz beats the throw home to score, as part of a six-run second inning.

[dmwierz]

Damer,

These aren't bad considering your situation. I presume you used a 200 and a 1.4X with these. They look like severe crops, and aren't that sharp and show quite a bit of noise.

The first shot is a cool moment - I was watching the game and thought this would make an interesting photo. It's a very noisy image, though and would have been better from farther down the line and lower, but you couldn't do much about where you were.

The timing on the second one is good. but it's just past the moment of peak action. Better would be Beckham stretching out for the base (but then you might have not gotten the ball in the frame).

The third shot is late. Not much tension or anything of particular interest. How does the photo show that he was out?

Jenks' capture is OK. I'd prefer it without the ump in the background, and again it shows the effects of being a heavy crop.

The Getz/Posada play at the plate is too early. Ideally we should see his hand sweeping across the plate, or Posada's swipe tag while he's reaching for home.

All in all you did fine. Thanks for sharing and hope this helps.

[Sledhed]

I agree with Dennis on these, I like #1 and #2 the best. All are very noisy, where they under exposed and you adjusted them? That will bring out noise, I thought the ISO performance on a 50D is better than this. I worked the Yankees at Sox last Thursday.

[dmwierz]

I got a PM from a member stating my comment on the Jenks shot was "a bit harsh. The OP couldn't control the fact that the umpire was in the background". Well, welcome to the World of sports photography, mate. Any idea how many of my otherwise acceptable shots have been ruined by umps, referees, line judges, other players, coaches, fans, et. al. being in the way or "annoyingly" in the background of my captures, in almost every sport I have covered? Too many to even remember, and since these shots are deleted, I don't even have examples of this type of photo.

It is correct that the photographer can't control where the officials (or frequently other distractions and moving obstructions) are at any given time - however you CAN control when you take a shot, and unless the image is of a unique occurrence (the Jenks shot was not, and could have easily been re-shot when the umpire was not in the background) try to choose images that have the absolute best, cleanest backgrounds possible.

OK?

[Damen Jackson]

Well, thank you both for the feedback. I'm not certain that I see the noise as much as you, but I'll sit down and take another look.

Dennis, there were a couple of shots in that first sequence. Personally, I preferred an open glove, and "A Ball in the Hand", so to speak.

Not sure what was said to you privately, but I didn't have an issue with any of your original comments. Your public reply to the private PM, well....

[dmwierz]

.Not sure what was said to you privately, but I didn't have an issue with any of your original comments. Your public reply to the private PM, well....

Well, actually it was an email, and personally I have no issue with using it as a "Teaching Moment" (thank you, Mr. President) as I didn't even come close to divulging the sender.

[dmwierz]

Damen,

Something else you might want to watch out for is your white balance. Check out how different colors are in the Teixeira shot Vs. the others, and even the Getz play at the plate. On my monitors there is a definite blue cast to the shots.

Regards,
Dennis

[Damen Jackson]

Damen,

Something else you might want to watch out for is your white balance. Check out how different colors are in the Teixeira shot Vs. the others, and even the Getz play at the plate. On my monitors there is a definite blue cast to the shots.



Yeah, I'll do that. Thanks.

[slkfis]

Sledhead, Use this as a learning tool, would you please point out where the noise is in some of the shots you mentioned. Being a newbie I thought they looked good. I guess I really don't understand noise.

thxs

slkfis

[Sledhed]

Sledhead, Use this as a learning tool, would you please point out where the noise is in some of the shots you mentioned. Being a newbie I thought they looked good. I guess I really don't understand noise.

thxs

slkfis


Do you see the grainy look to the pictures?

[dmwierz]

Below is a cut-out from one of the shadow areas of one of the images. Honestly, when you under-expose and aggressively crop you get more noise from under-exposing and then this grain/noise is amplified by cropping. This link has some good examples (I am not affiliated with Picture Code nor Noise Ninja, though I do use it all the time, and love the product): http://www.picturecode.com/nn_samples.htm