Shooting my daughter's softball game...

[TamiAz]

I need help with my camera settings..My daughter has a softball tournament today and I'll be taking some pictures... The tournament is all day, so I'll be shooting in full sunlight. I may be sitting in the shade shooting out into the field or standing on the side in complete sunlight. I've been using manual mode and using the exposure indicator to help me, but it seems to be hit or miss..I'm still learning about exposure, so any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you. :mrgreen:

 

[KmH]

To shoot action sports for pay I used aperture priority, spot metering mode, and continuous focus. You don't mention what camea, not what lens(s) you have available to use.

I put my ISO in Auto mode to let it float, and kept a close eye on the shutter speed displayed in the viewfinder to make sure it never dropped below 1/500.

It doesn't matter if your camera is in the shade or in sunlight. The in-camera light meter measures how much light is reflected from where you meter. In the case of Spot metering mode, wherever in the scene it is you place the spot. In the case of Matrix/Evaluative metering the reflected light in the entire scene is averaged.

The key to good action sports shots is stopping motion, sharp focus, having the ball in the shot, and seeing the players faces and the emotion/intensity their faces display.

Set up so your camera is chest high or lower to the players. It makes them seem more powerful and it helps to minimize background distractions. Watch the backgrounds. You don't want a line of porta-potties back there in the shot.

 

[TamiAz]

To shoot action sports for pay I used aperture priority, spot metering mode, and continuous focus. You don't mention what camea, not what lens(s) you have available to use.

I put my ISO in Auto mode to let it float, and kept a close eye on the shutter speed displayed in the viewfinder to make sure it never dropped below 1/500.

It doesn't matter if your camera is in the shade or in sunlight. The in-camera light meter measures how much light is reflected from where you meter. In the case of Spot metering mode, wherever in the scene it is you place the spot. In the case of Matrix/Evaluative metering the reflected light in the entire scene is averaged.

The key to good action sports shots is stopping motion, sharp focus, having the ball in the shot, and seeing the players faces and the emotion/intensity their faces display.

Set up so your camera is chest high or lower to the players. It makes them seem more powerful and it helps to minimize background distractions. Watch the backgrounds. You don't want a line of porta-potties back there in the shot.

Thanks a bunch.. I have a Nikon D5100 and the lens I'll be using is a 55-300mm 1:4.5-5.6 lens that came with it. I'm determined to get at least one good shot today...LOL!!

 

[tirediron]

Keith's advice is sound, but I would suggest for someone with less experience, using a long lens that shutter priority might be a better way to go. Set your speed at least 1/500 which will ensure no lens shake, and if you can, get it up toward 1/1000 or higher. The reason I say this is that too often people get caught up trying to get 'the' shot and fail to pay attention to their camera's settings. This will ensure that you don't have a bunch of blurry images from too slow a shutter speed.

To add to his advice on metering, if it's a brigth day with high sun, then definitely go with spot metering, and use a single focusing point, placing that in the centre of the viewfinder. This will probably result in a lot of images with the subject in the centre of the frame, but youc an adjust that in post.

Good luck!

 

[TamiAz]

Thank you, both... I put my camera on the settings you suggested (continuous focus, spot metering and I used shutter priority). ISO was at 100 and I tried to make sure that my shutter speed did not go below 500, but I think a couple pictures were taken at below that.. Here's a few of my favorites out of over 400 pictures. I just kept shooting and prayed for the best.. I wish the pictures were sharper. Please let me know what you think and how I can improve..Thank you!!

This is my daughter...:heart::heart::heart:

 

[Jarrod268]

I LOVE the first shot!

 

[tirediron]

Good shots.

 

[Erinw417]

These look good. I like the first one the best.

 

[Ballistics]

I'm honestly surprised how good these came out. Good job.

 

[SNBniko]

They make pitchers wear face guards now? Huh. Nice pics!

 

[shootermcgavin]

The first one is pretty cool, the second doesn't look t0 be 100 ISO or it is cropped in too far. Pretty awesome though makes me want to go watch a game.

 

[TamiAz]

Thank you for the comments...I was surprised they came out like they didl!

They make pitchers wear face guards now? Huh. Nice pics!

It's optional... We prefer our daughter wear one now just to be safe. It only takes on line drive to knock some teeth out. When she gets older and her skills improve we'll give her the choice to wear it or not. There is a lot of controversy with wearing masks... I would rather be safe than sorry.

 

[SNBniko]

That must be a 'new' (within the last 8 years) thing... I was the pitcher for our team... we took state way back when, and it wasn't even talked about. It was called 'DUCK AND TURN' haha.

 

[Ballistics]

Thank you for the comments...I was surprised they came out like they didl!

They make pitchers wear face guards now? Huh. Nice pics!

It's optional... We prefer our daughter wear one now just to be safe. It only takes on line drive to knock some teeth out. When she gets older and her skills improve we'll give her the choice to wear it or not. There is a lot of controversy with wearing masks... I would rather be safe than sorry.

There's nothing wrong with that, safety equipment is becoming "cool" these days anyway and to have a line drive hit off of the facemask vs a trip to the hospital, I'm having my kid wear the face mask.

 

[Ron Evers]

To shoot action sports for pay I used aperture priority, spot metering mode, and continuous focus. You don't mention what camea, not what lens(s) you have available to use.

I put my ISO in Auto mode to let it float, and kept a close eye on the shutter speed displayed in the viewfinder to make sure it never dropped below 1/500.

Thanks for this Keith, I will have to give it a try. Only problem is, I would have to shoot with a slow native lens (45-200/4.5-5.6).