Baseball tournament w/ 300 f/2.8

[pigtailpat]

from today - - have no idea if exposure etc. is OK because my laptop monitor's resolution is sooooo bad.

of course I'm hitting myself about the tiny elbow, but I figure I can clone or crop that out without too much difficulty.

This is a shot of my son FINALLY. I was despairing of ever getting a good pitching shot of him. He's a lefty, and his technique is somewhat difficult for me to follow (I guess because I am right-handed). I am having some difficulty with that - any tips for shooting lefties would be welcome.

Did I do any good with this lens? Do it justice??

[dekalbSTEEL]

Well, you definitely froze the action with the 1/8000th shutter speed!

Did you shoot Raw? Also, I noticed in your exif your color space is undefined?

More to follow.....

[joe20d]

the picture looks awquard. maybe you should try to get on the other side of the field...
or more straight on.

[dekalbSTEEL]

Just checked page 63 of the 30d manual, it looks like you have your colorspace set to Adobe RGB in camera



This may be why this image looks washed out on my monitor, how does it look on yours?

[dekalbSTEEL]

Originally Posted by joe20d

the picture looks awquard. maybe you should try to get on the other side of the field...
or more straight on.

It may look awkward to you because he doesn't stride as far with his front foot as we are used to seeing pro pitchers do it.

[joe20d]

yeah, that may be...it looks like hes gonna fall over..

joe

[pigtailpat]

Originally Posted by dekalbSTEEL

Just checked page 63 of the 30d manual, it looks like you have your colorspace set to Adobe RGB in camera
This may be why this image looks washed out on my monitor, how does it look on yours?

Absolutely - I have it set to Adobe RGB - -I'm looking to print the good ones, and I have no editor on this oldie laptop to convert for web - I'm pretty limited in what I can do at the moment in the hotel.

[dekalbSTEEL]

I see. how were the lighting conditions at the field? I see you were at ISO 800, which led to the 1/8000th shutter speed...

[dekalbSTEEL]

How will you PP these using the Adobe colorspace? Is your home monitor calibrated to Adobe RGB?

[asysin2leads]

Here's the EFIX data I got:

# Exposure Time (1 / Shutter Speed) = 1/8000 second = 0.00013 second
# Lens F-Number/F-Stop = 28/10 = F2.80
# Exposure Program = aperture priority (3)
# ISO Speed Ratings = 800

Suggestions:

1. iso should have been at 100 (that will bring down your shutter speed)

[SportsOnFilm]

I agree - there is no reason to shoot at ISO 800 in bright sunlight. At ISO 200 you still would have been at 1/2000 shutter speed, which is plenty fast enough to freeze the action of little leaguers, as well as your image would be a lot less "hazy" with the reduced noise a lower ISO brings.

Other than that it is a nice capture - I know the feeling of getting great images of one's son - here is one of mine from last season.

[pigtailpat]

I'm pretty sure this was one of the earliest shots I took yesterday, but, it was left on iso 800 because the day prior to this, I was shooting very late in the day (early evening like 5:30) in cloudy conditions. I forgot to adjust down from 800, which I did a couple of shots later, I brought down to 400 for a couple, then 200 for the bulk of the game yesterday I think).

My son's pitching stance is very difficult to catch in any event, if I had a slower shutter I'm not that confident I would have caught his arm with the ball in that particular pose. I can't explain it, I have difficulty with him but not others. I'm convinced it has something to do with his being left handed and I am right handed.

[SportsOnFilm]

Oh, do I know about leaving the ISO set high from shooting the night before! It has burned me once too often, so I have changed the display on my 1D and Mark II N to display the ISO as a reminder!

Pat - believe me - 1/2000 would have caught this position just fine. It's a matter of timing, not super fast shutter speed when it comes to capturing the arm in the position you want (notice I said super fast shutter speed - obviously as it has be stated on these boards many times anything below 1/1250 is going to show some motion blur). I have never used a 30D so I do not know if there is any shutter lag, and I am not one to "machine gun" the shutter during a pitching motion. It may take me a couple of pitches to catch the release point, but I can usually nail it in 1 shot and not need to motor drive it. Again, it's all about practice.

Also, have you tried shooting him from the first base side, since he is left handed? I also will take photos of little league pitchers from behind home plate (albeit usually NOT directly behind the catcher because most of these kids do NOT know where the ball is going all of the time) between innings as the warm up (making sure to watch my backgrounds so as not to include the 2B or SS just standing around).

Keep on shooting - practice makes perfect!

[redspyder]

Looks like he pitches a little sidearm which could explain the akward body position.

[apexnow]

I know next to nothing about photography, I am still trying to get pictures off my camera and onto my laptop. But I do know baseball. All of the other comments made about your son's pitching motion are touching on some significant problems he will have if he continues to pitch with the mechanics he has. If he is serious about pitching and/or baseball get him into pitching clinics that emphasize proper mechanics for injury prevention. I am not trying to be critical. Proper pitching mechanics are a learned skill and very much worth the investment.