More Baseball C&C feedback wanted

A few baseball shots from the past week or so. And two soccer photos for good measure. Let me know what you think.

All shot with the Sigma 100-300mm f4 and the 20d.

1. Notice the 3rd basemen missed the ball.

Some nice action grabs.

I like the ball in the air on #3.

Great pics and #1 is just awesome, the slide, the dirt flying up, everything is sharp and crisp. I also really like #4, the kids facial expression is very serious.
Great as always man.

Thought I would add a few more to this thread and see if I could get some additional feedback.

All shot with my Sigma 100-300mm f4.

1.

Love the tight framing and good action. 300mm @ f/4 looks especially good when framed tightly on these smaller subjects!

Criticism:

1.3 Looks underexposed.
1.4 Is too much of a crop for my liking, even at web size.
1.5 Probably my favorite! If only the little guys would keep their eyes up!

2.4 Shutter speed looks low, WB is too warm.
2.5 Looks a little over exposed and the same comments as 2.4. Crop works for me here.
2.6 Not a huge fan of negative space. This crop doesn't do anything for me.

Sorry they're mostly negative comments. Shots look great!

Scott:

The lens is working well for you! All shots are crisp and clean. My only comment would be on the crops. You are cropping nice and tight which is great, but you have some weird crop dimensions happening. Try and keep to some standard crop dimensions such as 4x6 (or 2x3), 5x7, or 8x10 (4x5). Then crop in as tight as you can with those dimensions. This helps any potential buyers (eg parents) know what final prints might look like too.

cstewart,

i totally understand on the crops. The last two I was going for something different. Guess it isn't working. I'll re-crop them tomorrow and re-post.

I use Qimage for cropping and printing so I normally am pretty close when I make a print for a parent. These are for web so I am probably going a little overboard. On most prints there is more "space" around the edges.

I was shooting with the sun behind me for a change yesterday and it really helped. I probably overexposed a couple as mentioned in the post before yours. But I am going for faces in focus and if I underexpose, the lens sometimes misses focus.

It is a great lens and I love it. It is worth every penny to me.

Thanks and keep the feedback coming.

Scott

Man, the 'ole classic can produce some nice images!

Great shots!

#4 in the first group is my only complaint, the kid in the background doing nothing shows its warmups and kills it. And is the one kid playing baseball or getting ready to raid a house with the SWAT team?

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #10259966
#4 in the first group is my only complaint, the kid in the background doing nothing shows its warmups and kills it. And is the one kid playing baseball or getting ready to raid a house with the SWAT team?

That is too funny man!

What's the deal with those gooffy little shoe lace necklaces all the baseball players wear? Even kids are doing it now?

You know, they are a pain in the a$$. I went to about 10 stores before I found one for my son. And it was the last one!

Josh Beckett of the Red Sox has worn one for a long time and so does AJ Burnett of the Yankees.

Anyways, they are some kind of energy thing, I really don't know what they are called. But it cost me $20. And he always forgets where he puts it at night because I refuse to let him sleep with it on.