First time shooting Baseball, how did I do?

[Flea77]

I shot football games out the wazoo (over 20 years ago) but never baseball, so I thought I would give it a try. Any and all comments welcome!











Allan

[ryeatts]

Be careful using just the center point focus. Change you focus point while shooting for composition. Overall they are quite nice. Baseball can be tricky and dangerous

[Flea77]

Actually I use the 3D focus, point the center point at what I want in focus, then move the frame to the composition I want and CLICK! You also don't have to tell me about the danger, check this out:



Note the umpire is not looking at the pop fly, he is also not looking at the third baseman trying to catch it running directly towards me, he is looking at ME! I ran away like a little schoolgirl!

Allan

[ryeatts]

Cool, I don't anything about 3D focusing. I doubt Canon will ever adopt a similar technology. Do you have to crop your images when shooting sports in 3D mode?

[Flea77]

The only reason I crop the images is to get closer to the action, or because I was a dufus and got something in the shot I should not have. Maybe I should explain the 3d focusing a bit better....

I put the person I want in focus dead center, press the shutter half way, then recompose. The camera can tell it is a person and tracks that person (you can see different focus points light up as you move the frame around, whichever focus point is on the person). In tracking, it sees if the person moves in the frame, as well as switches to continuous focus mode should they get closer or farther away (since I am in AF-A mode). I find it great to lock on to a runner on 2nd when I am on the 3rd baseline, then as they move and/or run to third, they are always in focus regardless of what else is in the frame (unless the third base coach decides to step in front of me, ARG!). I can move the frame to the right to get the third baseman catching the ball, or to the left to get the second baseman throwing it, all without losing focus on the runner.

Hope that helps.

Allan

[Tom]

Shoot tight, crop tigher. Good action caught.

[Flea77]

Originally Posted by Thomas Campbell

Shoot tight, crop tigher. Good action caught.

Thanks Thomas, I will take that as high praise from you I will try to crop a little tighter (will help once I get my 1.4x as my 80-200 has a hard time getting the outfield) from now on and see how that goes. Sometimes I am afraid to shoot too tight as I might leave out something that helps "tell the story", still learning you know.

Allan

[Tom]

Even with my 300, I completely ignore the outfield. You really need 500-600mm to cover the outfield. You are at least 70 yards from those guys.

[GUER03]

Originally Posted by Thomas Campbell

Even with my 300, I completely ignore the outfield. You really need 500-600mm to cover the outfield. You are at least 70 yards from those guys.

Ditto on what Thomas said, especially the shoot tight, crop tighter and on the outfield. The only way I will shoot the outfield is to put a TC on my 400 and then it's only if I'm really needing that player in action.

The second shot I really like. Try to shoot it from a lower angle as well and see how you like it. Try different angles for a different look. I spent an inning for shots like these below:




Thanx for sharing and looking forward to seeing more of your work.

[garykohs]

Shooting the outfield is tough if you're using the same lens as the infield shots. I guess it depends on why you're shooting in the first place. If you're looking for "money" shots then they're not coming in the outfield. Of course if you're shooting a game and the parents of that outfielder are your clients, then it's a "money" shot, even if it isn't as tight as you'd like.

[Flea77]

Thanks for the input guys! Albert, LOVE the first one you posted, awesome shot.

Allan