Little League - CC Help!!!

All,

Thanks in advance for all your help. I'm a newbie to 'semi-serious' photography and I just purchased (both used) a 40D and a 70-200 f4L (non IS) and thinking that my pics should sharper than they are (especially the face). Is it the equipment (as I haven't had the lens/body professionally checked out) or me. I think more than likely me!!! Also, how can I really tell whether my lens is a sharp as it could be? It's much better than my wifes camera (olympus e-510 40-150 kit lens), but how can I tell whether it should be as good as it gets?

Any tips is greatly appreciated.

There are 2 pics (1 jpeg and 1 raw) with setting:
f/5.6 1/750s ISO 200,70-200 @ 135mm

Both pics are not cropped. I did not use a tripod

The 1st pic is the jpeg straight from the camera (resaved to fit POTN guidelines only)

The 2nd pic is RAW (regular, not small) that I did a little PP:

temperature: 4700
Tint: -2
Exposure: 0.00
Recovery: 39
Fill Light: 45
Brightness: +55
Contrast: +57
Clarity: +65
Vibrance: +10
Saturation: +6
Sharpening
Amount 36
Detail 25
Masking 41

Thanks Again

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I think the first shot is better. I would change to f/4 and try to increase the shutter speed, but 1/750 is pretty good. There are some harsh lights from the sun and it appears you have a little motion blur. I would get a monopod to help hold the camera still. As far as sharpness, that lens is suppose to be one of the sharpest that Canon has on the market. I would take a portrait shot and see how it looks at 100%.

Also use center point focus and spot metering. Keep shooting and posting. People here are really good at helping you out.

I think the first shot has better contrast than the second one. I would say like tmalone893 to use a more wider aperture to remove the distracting background. plus a better peak moment is when the ball strikes the bat then i would say a better baseball shot...
also tips from tmalone893 is suggested... for this photo...like i was going to suggest too.

Why not crop out as much distraction as possible. First one is a nice shot. Whatever your processing on the RAW image was, it isn't good.

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The background is horrible so you need to try and minimize its affect as much as possible as it's just too distracting right now. The first one looks too dark, the second looks to light - watch your histogram and trust that over you LCD. As for the face vs. BOB (ball on bat) - FACE always wins out when it comes to parents and even companies that buy pro level shots, which I know greatly. I've had amazing, in my mind, action shots hit the cutting room floor for just a nice shot of a players face.

Blow the photo up and check the sharpness, if it's not sharp at your focal point across the board (i.e. a good percentage of your shots) it may need to be checked out. I just bought a 400 and thought it was off during my test shots, turned out it was me and not the lens. Take some pics of stationary objects with no camera shake and see what you get.

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #7355562
thought it was off during my test shots, turned out it was me

I always knew you "were a little off" Mike

Sledhed wrote in post #7355579
I always knew you "were a little off" Mike

I blame my trips to Chicago, that place seems to create the "off" button in most people

Hey, watch it with the Chicago comments. We outnumber you NY guys.

I agree that the background is horrid. I would have moved to a different location, it's so bad. Also shoot as wide open as possible, as already suggested.

It looks like you did a lot to the photo. When I develop photos like this, I generally crop, adjust white balance if needed, add some fill light, decrease exposure, and recover. I get lighter shadows and fewer blown out highlights. I will then frequently increase saturation and contrast. Concentrate only on your subject (the batter) and don't overdo it.
As far as sharpness of the face, you do not have great lighting on the face and boosting the fill light will reveal noise in the shadows. I bet in optimized conditions (good light and still camera) you will get better sharpness.

thanks all for your responses.

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #7355562
I just bought a 400.

Congrats.