First Little League Shoot

[TheNevadanStig]

First time I have done baseball of any type so far.

197 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

077 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

036 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

007 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

037 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

172 by TheNevadanStig, on Flickr

 

[gsgary]

The backgrounds are killing them, a bigger aperture is needed to blur the background, here's one with a bad background http://gsgary.smugmug.com/Sports/Sports-Portfolio/i-RPGHJrN/0/XL/be0c3505-after-XL.jpg

 

[TheNevadanStig]

The backgrounds are killing them, a bigger aperture is needed to blur the background, here's one with a bad background http://gsgary.smugmug.com/Sports/Sports-Portfolio/i-RPGHJrN/0/XL/be0c3505-after-XL.jpg

I am not sure if you are unfamiliar with baseball, but there is no way to get close enough to the subject to get a background that OOF regardless of aperture.

 

[imagemaker46]

The backgrounds are killing them, a bigger aperture is needed to blur the background, here's one with a bad background http://gsgary.smugmug.com/Sports/Sports-Portfolio/i-RPGHJrN/0/XL/be0c3505-after-XL.jpg

I am not sure if you are unfamiliar with baseball, but there is no way to get close enough to the subject to get a background that OOF regardless of aperture.

100% wrong

 

[imagemaker46]

Here are some baseball images I shot last year. Clean backgrounds can be found at any level of baseball or softball. The biggest problem is that people fail to see past the subject, they look at fences as something that can't be shot through. Anything is possible shooting any sport. It doesn't always require the best gear, it requires the knowledge to use the gear they have.

 

[W.Fovall]

what was your lens? and what did you set It at?

 

[imagemaker46]

It looks like these were shot between f11-22 Separate the subject at 5-6-6.3 in sunlight.

Your kayak stuff looks great, at a high level of skill, but the baseball falls way off.

 

[W.Fovall]

just saw on his flickr it was a f8 iso400 on a 70-300 f4-5.6

It looks like these were shot between f11-22 Separate the subject at 5-6-6.3 in sunlight.

Your kayak stuff looks great, at a high level of skill, but the baseball falls way off.

 

[W.Fovall]

going through your flickr it seems your fairly set at just f/8 most of the shots.. reason?

 

[Mel_Snyder]

Nice stuff, Scott. Love the isolation.

One of the nice factors about baseball is that the sites of action are very know-able. Back in the 1940s, I believe it was the St Louis Post-Dispatch that first began shooting the sport with its 4x5 reflex "Big Bertha" Graphic. Many of these monsters were lever-focused, with "stops" labeled as "1st-3rd" and "2nd" and "home." Long lenses shot from high up made grass the background.

Today, mirrorless cameras allow use of cheap old manual-focus lenses like the $50 Nikkor 70-210mm f4/f5.6 https://www.flickr.com/photos/melsnyder/13943225046/in/set-72157644253319263 to capture "knowable" action locations just like they did with the Big Bertha. For the Boston Marathon, I just focused on a traffic marker in the asphalt, and shot runners as they hit it. AF is SO over-rated when you can predict precisely where the action is likely to occur and prefocus for it. That allow use of apertures and focal lengths that subdue offensive backgrounds.