Softball strike in 8.5 frames per second

I liked this series though I'm a little ticked I didn't follow the ball after it left the pitcher's hand..ahh well, hind sight is 20/20

Shot #2

Shot #3

Shot #4

Shot #5

Needless to say, I left out a few pictures - didn't want to put too many in the thread

Would you mind posting EXIF?

MK2N
1/4000
f/5.6
ISO 400
200mm (260mm)

Toys,

This sequence doesn't work for me for one main reason. The pitcher, whom you have shot from her back, is in focus, and the batter/catcher/ump are OOF. The batter is the only subject whose face we can see yet she isn't in focus.

The shot closest to working is #4, but this would have been better shot from the third base line.

Generally, shots taken of several people separated by some distance work only if you stop the lens down enough to get everybody in focus, or if you open it up enough to blur the foreground subjects to where you can tell what they are but not necessarily who they are.

Shooting from the outfield can yield some interesting batter images, but I suggest you frame the shot on the batter/catcher/ump only and focus on them.

Pitchers are usually best shot from behind the plate, or from the base line where you can see their face (third base in this case since she is right-handed).

My other question is regarding your title: what is the importance of 8.5 fps to you? Sequences can tell a story, but mostly when one frame leads to the next and tells the succeeding portion of the story - in other words, when each frame leaves you wondering "what happened next", and then you answer it with the subsequent shot. Shooting a sequence just to be shooting a sequence ends up being a movie shot at a low, herky-jerky frame rate, which, once you get over how "cool" it looks, doesn't lead to much other than a bunch of shots.

Just as an example, here's a sequence that flows from one image to the next, with a beginning, a middle and an end. If my flash would have held out and kept firing (it didn't) you could have seen the receiver raising his hands in celebration in the end zone, and this would have been a much better end to this particular sequence.

Hope this helps.

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Nice pix, I so wish I had 8.5 FPS. Thats so awesome.

I hate baseball right now cause the freakin 1st base umps yelled at me to get back behind 4-5 feet from the side of the fence. It was a freakin 14 year old game and I got invited to, I was right on the first base line behind a fence out of everyones way and the kids just wanted pix, but the ump thought he was so high and mighty and kicked me out of my spot

Dim,

I agree 100%, I was shooting for the pitcher's team and her father explicitly asked for this composition (not sure why) so that's why I did it that way. This was my first softball game shot with the MK2N and I thought it was very cool the way I could catch everything and wanted to share - (I really liked how I could movement of a pitch after it left her hands)

I appreciate the comments and they will help me tremendously today when I go back out there. Softball is a new subject for me so your comments will help immensly

Thank you

I've caught the ball on the bat a couple of times, and each time I've done it I was shooting single frame, and relying on my timing. Shoot a few of each batter, learn how fast the batter swings, and figure out when to press the shutter to get the best shot. >>>click<<<

if you rely on 8.5fps, you're unlikely to ever get that shot.

I've got plenty of "on the bat" shot or even "the shot" as you like to refer to it. I was amazed at the way the 8.5 fps could catch the different elements of a strike.