Fastpich Sofball First shots with 40D

Much better. Just takes practice from here.

Up the ISO to 400, then rely on the sunny 16 rule which says in a clear sky on a sunny day with the sun well above the horizon, shoot at f/16 @ 1/ISO (in this case, actually 1/500). Now, you want to up the shutter speed. Open 1 stop every time you double the speed. When you go to 1/1000 you will want f/11. 1/2000 work with f/8

You don't need to work manually. Work in AV mode, because it is very comfortable in this type of environment. See what the shutter speed is at f/8 and f/11. You get the speed control you want, and the added depth of focus gives a sharper image. Also, the lens is more likely to be working in its sweet spot for peak performance.

Similarly, if it is more comfortable for you, work in shutter priority, choose the shutter speed, and see what the f stop looks like.

Also when you use the camera light meter, make sure you aren't tricked by the bright shirt or a back light.

ISO 400 will give you a little more noise, but that is easily removable in post processing. For comparison look at the water polo pictures I posted in this forum. I was faced with a similar problem. I decided in my last go around to work with manual exposure, but I worked exactly as described here to you.

Bignerd thanks for the tips I will let you know how it works out next weekend. I really appreciate the time fellow members are willing to take in helping educating me.

Jim

Can't say I agree with Bignerd. Shooting sports with an aperture of f/8 or f/11 will serve to bring the background into focus. And for me that is the last thing I want. Backgrounds at most fields are messy at best and most times horrendous. I want only the player in focus. And of that I only care that the face is sharp. At 50 feet from your subject using 200mm, f/2.8 you have a focal plane of a little more than 1foot in front and 1 foot behind that is in focus. At 100 feet that changes to 5 feet either way. and if you use f/11 your focal plane is now 16/24 feet.
When I shoot sports outside I am in AV ( because of the changing light conditions ), wide open ( f/2.8 ) to maximize background blurring and shooting as fast as I can. That means I am constantly adjusting my iso to match conditions. Try several diiferent methods and see which works best for you.

Vetkrazy what SS are you looking for?

Is it me or does the first girl look like Giada de Larentis (sp)?

I shoot both baseball and softball at the college level. The two fields are quite different in lighting. For baseball I am around 1/6400 most of the time and softball gives me fits as it is 1/2500 at the plate and 1/6400 for the field ( normally iso 200 ). I am always balancing between to slow or blown out.
This was shot at f/2.8, iso 200, 1/2500 at 160mm. My focal plane was 2 feet on either side. As you can see they batting gloves are still in focus but the bat head is not and the background is blurry.

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ScottishRite wrote in post #5735557
Is it me or does the first girl look like Giada de Larentis (sp)?

Hahaha, that's exactly what I was thinking.

You can use the Sunny 16 rule, but you need to adjust your exposure value to get your apertures open to a wider setting than f/11. For example, if the Sunny 16 tells you f/16, ISO 400 and 1/400s, you could bring your aperture down to f/4.0 (which is 4 stops faster) bring your shutter speed up to 1/3200s which is 3 stops slower and ISO to 200, which is 1 stop slower - or any other combination the results in the same exposure value.

Also, IMO, you shouldn't choose shutter priority unless you want to end up scratching your head and wondering why your shots aren't much better than what folks are getting with their P&S cameras - your apertures will most likely end up WAY too small and your backgrounds will likely be more distracting (due to too many things being within the DOF) than you would like. Choose Av if you like an auto-type mode (I shoot a lot of baseball and actually am in Av most of the time during the day).

Again I agree with vetkrazy on post 19 an 22 don't be afraid to "shoot wide open" I began shooting college baseball and softball this year and was talking to the the team photog and he told me the same thing.

vetkrazy wrote in post #5735137
Can't say I agree with Bignerd. Shooting sports with an aperture of f/8 or f/11 will serve to bring the background into focus. And for me that is the last thing I want. Backgrounds at most fields are messy at best and most times horrendous. I want only the player in focus. And of that I only care that the face is sharp. At 50 feet from your subject using 200mm, f/2.8 you have a focal plane of a little more than 1foot in front and 1 foot behind that is in focus. At 100 feet that changes to 5 feet either way. and if you use f/11 your focal plane is now 16/24 feet.
When I shoot sports outside I am in AV ( because of the changing light conditions ), wide open ( f/2.8 ) to maximize background blurring and shooting as fast as I can. That means I am constantly adjusting my iso to match conditions. Try several diiferent methods and see which works best for you.

I accept your correction in terms of desired DOF. I do think a shallow dof can give a more dramatic shot, bringing all attention to the person in focus. I have seen this particularly in football pictures, where players are often in close proximity to one another. I have not photographed baseball or softball, so I do not know how much dof is a critical issue.