Day at the Ball Park.....C&C appreciated

[KHarmon]

It was a hot day in Midland Texas today, but a perfect day for some Minor League baseball. Lighting was tough which is expected in the Texas sun in the middle of the afternoon.

One thing I don't understand and maybe you guys out there can help me. Even using auto focus these pics seem to be soft. Should I be using single point focus or multiple point focus? Granted there is a lot of moving parts when a human pitches a baseball but I would think that with the shutter speeds I was shooting at camera shake shouldn't be an issue. Any comments, suggestions, or help would be greatly appreciated.

1.

baseball 7 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 200 mm
ISO Speed 200
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
X-Resolution 72 dpi
Y-Resolution 72 dpi
Orientation Horizontal (normal)

2.

baseball 9 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1250)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 225 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
Orientation Horizontal (normal)


3.

baseball 12 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr
Exposure 0.002 sec (1/640)
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 214 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

4.

baseball 17 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 240 mm
ISO Speed 400

5.

baseball 20 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/800)
Aperture f/6.3
Focal Length 250 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV

6.

baseball 3 by KHarmon1971, on Flickr
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/400)
Aperture f/10.0
Focal Length 163 mm
ISO Speed 400
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
Orientation Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution 72 dpi
Y-Resolution 72 dpi

[Donald]

One thing I don't understand and maybe you guys out there can help me. Even using auto focus these pics seem to be soft. Should I be using single point focus or multiple point focus? Granted there is a lot of moving parts when a human pitches a baseball but I would think that with the shutter speeds I was shooting at camera shake shouldn't be an issue. Any comments, suggestions, or help would be greatly appreciated.

Kris - We can't see any of the shooting information - Shutter speed, Aperture, ISO setting; Focal Length. All of that would help people formulate responses.

I use spot focus and back button focusing as a matter of course. For something like this you know where some of the people are going to be at the moment of action; e.g. the batsman (is that what it's called in baseball?) and the pitcher. So you can pre-focus on those places, switch off your auto-focus and fire away.

In terms of the field players who are not necessarily going to be in a fixed location but will be running across the field, I'd be thinking about using AI Servo (Canon term) mode to follow the subject and keep him in focus. Do you have that (or equivalent) on your camera?

[dubaiphil]

I think you may have sharpened a bit much here - or at least sharpened the whole image.

That's fine for the subject in focus, but can create issues with out of focus areas.

And depending on the software you use you may be able to pull back on the over exposed areas a tad...

[FootLoose]

Nevertheless, #3 is a great shot.

[KHarmon]

I will get the EXIF data tonight after I get home from work. Flikr is blocked from our internet here.

KHarmon

[KHarmon]

Nevertheless, #3 is a great shot.

That was my favorite as well.

[KHarmon]

I have updated each photo with the EXIF data. I hope there is enough data there. I guess I am curious to know if the softness of the photo's has more to do with the camera or me. I suspect I know the answer, but I want to know what I'm doing wrong.

KHarmon

[Donald]

I have updated each photo with the EXIF data. I hope there is enough data there. I guess I am curious to know if the softness of the photo's has more to do with the camera or me. I suspect I know the answer, but I want to know what I'm doing wrong.

KHarmon

Am at work and not really able to spend a lot of time analysing. But the first thing that jumps out to me is shutter speed. I was reading an article yesterday about a professional sports photographer, who has done Olympics, Superbowls, Soccer World Cup, etc, etc. I noticed that on his images the shutter speeds were never below 1/2000 and more often were at least 1/4000.

[blakemcguire]

+1 on the shutter speed.

[blakemcguire]

You could also be losing some detail in the oranges. This could just be my monitor though, as I know it doesn't get along with reds very well.

May I ask what camera/lenses you are using?

[kdoc856]

I agree that I'd start with a significantly higher shutter speed-easy to obtain on a day such as this. I'd also recomment a larger aperture (F4 or 5.6) as most of these shots (#2 excepted) have no need of and may be less impactful with a large DoF). Sports photogs spend a ton of money ($6000 to $8000 US) to get a 2.8 lense on a lot of focal length, all to get a high shutter and low DoF.

I hope you get back there, Kris. You've obviously got great access and a superb place to practice this, all at minor league prices!

[KHarmon]

I agree that I'd start with a significantly higher shutter speed-easy to obtain on a day such as this. I'd also recomment a larger aperture (F4 or 5.6) as most of these shots (#2 excepted) have no need of and may be less impactful with a large DoF). Sports photogs spend a ton of money ($6000 to $8000 US) to get a 2.8 lense on a lot of focal length, all to get a high shutter and low DoF.

I hope you get back there, Kris. You've obviously got great access and a superb place to practice this, all at minor league prices!

Already checking the schedule for the next Sunday game. The Midland Rockhounds is only an hour drive from here and MUCH cheaper than travelling to Arlington to watch the Rangers. I try to catch 15 to 25 games a year down there.

I don't know that I could ever spend that kind of money on lens....my dream lens is a 400mm F2.8L...but just about any kind of L glass is outside the budget at this time.

[KHarmon]

One question that just popped into my head. How do I obtain the higher shutter speeds without under exposing the images? I was shooting these to slightly over expose (in some cases I know I blew it) so that I wouldn't under expose the face of the players. I was worried that going too low on the F/stop would really create focus issues.

[Donald]

Kris

How high can you go with the ISO on your camera? That's the answer. Open up the aperture and increase the ISO. That allows you to get maximum shutter speed.

[KHarmon]

Kris

How high can you go with the ISO on your camera? That's the answer. Open up the aperture and increase the ISO. That allows you to get maximum shutter speed.

ISO can go up to 6400 expandable to 12,800 on the T3i if memory serves correctly. At a higher ISO with these lighting conditions how much of a factor is noise?

[Donald]

ISO can go up to 6400 expandable to 12,800 on the T3i if memory serves correctly. At a higher ISO with these lighting conditions how much of a factor is noise?

Not a 'real world' problem if you get the exposure right. Under-expose and noise will be a problem.

Take pic #3. From ISO 400 to 6400 is 4 stops. You shot it 1/640, Increase that by 4-stops and you get 1/10240. And you get the same exposure. You see how it works?

So, no need to go as high as ISO 6400 here. Increase it by 3-stops, to ISO3200 and you could get the same shot with a shutter speed of 1/5120.

People make a lot of noise about noise. Get the exposure right and noise is not a real world issue.