Tigers

Here are some pictures from the Tigers game last night. I'm a noob to DSLR after many years of P&S, and would welcome any helpful comments; this is my first picture post - 20D w/ Canon EF 70-200mm f/4 L & 1.4 TC; no post processing.

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Welcome to the forum -- you got some good stuff. Negative criticism always helps me more than positive so please forgive me for being negative. First either your focus is off or you've got motion blur -- I suspect you shot wide open in low light conditions and if so you probably did the best you could. #1 is good but a split second later you might have captured a take out which I consider to be much more interesting than a shot of the runner's backside. Plays like #2 and #3 are rare and difficult to capture. If you had nailed the focus they would have been great shots. #4 would have been much more interesting if shot from the third base line. #5 and #6 don't do much for me other than who they are -- it's just a personal thing and it might be because it's not the sort of stuff I shoot. They are great photos for your scrapbook though because I bet you remember the moments.

You are correct that I was shooting wide open. Would I be better off shooting at, say f/8 or so?
In #1, I did get the shot a split second later, and have included it here - he was called out.
#5 was shot as Trammell argued a call with the ump, and #6 was Pudge going out to congratulate Farnsworth for the save.

I also agree that negative criticism is better than positive because you can learn from it - as long as there is some instruction with the criticism, which you have provided. Thanks for your input.
More input is gladly welcome to help with my learning curve...

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Nice shots. Your Tigers gave my O's a run for their money. Split the series though. Good luck with your clicking .

That depends -- here are some generalities that you might want to consider so that you can decide for yourself. You'll probably find AV, Aperture-Prioroty mode, best for shooting sports. In most sports shots you want to totally stop the action so you need to select an aperture value that will do that. I consider 1/500 or faster with 1/1000 to 1/1600 to be the best shutter speeds to stop the action in baseball. So you need to select an aperture value that will yield the best shutter speed. Dial in whatever ISO value you need to achieve these. Most lenses have a sweet spot or aperture value range that yields the sharpest focus and it's usually stopped down a bit from wide open. You can determine that sweet spot yourself by shooting stationary targets with the lens at various distances. You'll get the sharpest images with that lens when you shoot in its sweet spot range. Depth of field is improtant in some shots and, if it is, you need to select an aperture value that will achieve the desired results -- usually an out-of-focus background.

I had previously given the same advice that fslshooter shared in a thread a few weeks ago - but then gmen chimmed in letting us know he shoots as wide open as possible. If you look at his images he posts, the subject does pop just that much more. So I have tried to follow his advice trying shoot as open as possible and adjuct ISO to keep shutter speed up where it needs to be. It sure has forced me to be even more dilligent with my focusing as every little error in this area is amplified now - stopping down gives you room for error - a crutch I used too often. Last little item here though is with all that said - you were shooting from a distance where I don't think you would gain the full benifit of shooting wide open. The effect of DOF helps much more when you can fill your frame with the subject.

Shooting Baseball has made going to games a lot more fun again... enjoyed the shoots... keep it up!

Croasdail is spot on and I'll certainly not disagree with gmen -- his stuff speaks for itself. Key words in Croasdail's note are "he shoots as wide open as possible." If you have a lens that will not achieve focus wide open at the distance that you're shooting then you have to stop down if you want sharp images. My Tokina f/2.8 yields a soft focus between f/2.8 and f/4 at distances beyond 50 feet or so. That's why you need to know your lens' sweet spot for the distance you're shooting. That's also why I have a Canon 300mm f/2.8 now and I'll be selling my Tokina f/2.8.

I have been shooting in manual mode and usually have a shutter speed of over 1/1000, with an ISO of 400-1600 - I set the ISO, then the aperature, then dial in the shutter speed, looking the fastest shutter speed I can get for sports.

Being new to DSLR, I attempt to put into practice what I learn here and other places. I had heard about, and knew that the sweet spot of a lens was important, but failed to find it for the 70-200mm f/4 L, or to put it into use as a regular practice. This is something I will look more closely at; I had gotten into the habit of shooting wide open, but realize that the DOF benefits of shooting this way only come into play when you have the subject fully in the frame, and have a seperation between the subject and the background. I now will work toward finding the sweet spot of all my lenses, and using that information for better photos.

Is there a way that you know of to get a shallow DOF from the distance I was shooting? - I was on the first base line above the dugout, about 20 rows up.

Thanks for the response Croasdail, I am learning about the benefits, and downfalls of attempting to get the right DOF, and have learned a lesson about makinig sure the frame is filled with the subject in order to get the out of focus background desired in some pictures. Next game, I plan to try to try different aperatures in order to find my lenses sweet spot for shooting baseball at this distance.

It's amazing the amount of fun that is added to a baseball game by simply anticipating the plays in an attempt for that "great shot." It's also brings comments from surrounding fans when they see that long L glass on the camera; I had one fan ask me if my lens was legal, and asked if I was shooting for Topps or something, too funny. It's not bad for instant replay either...

One last thing fslshooter, I looked at some of your recent posts - great pictures by-the-way - and saw that they were crisp even when zoomed in on. My pictures were much, much crisper before I resized them for the web. What process do you use to keep them crisp while downsizing them? I have PSCS2, Breezebrowser Pro, and the free version of Raw Shooter.

Thanks for the comments and, as always, I welcome any feedback that will increase my knowledge and hasten my learning curve.

Not with 200mm glass even with an extender. You probably need a 400mm f/2.8 lens plus an extender to get background blur from that distance. IMO #4 and perhaps #3 are the only ones where background blur would be an issue anyway because of the angle you shot. When grass and dirt are the background, shoot with a wide DOF whenever possible -- nail the focus and exposure because the grass and dirt will probably look blurred enough anyway.

I use PSCS -- resize, shadow/highlight, unsharp mask in that order. A lot of folks here achieve much better results than I do. Perhaps they'll share their secrets.

Thanks Jerry, I will try your suggestions the next time out.