Softball pictures... C&C please!!

TamiAz · Nov 20, 2011

My daughter had a tournament yesterday and I took some pics... I was limited to where I could get pics, which was frustrating. I had to shoot from behind a fence to get some sliding shots, which is why I didn't get a whole lot. I think I had my camera on all the correct settings. :blushing:

1)

This is the only sliding shot that came out.

2)

3)

imagemaker46 · Nov 20, 2011

Nothing wrong with these. You shouldn't be making apologies about not getting a lot of photos, be positive. Looks like everything was set just right.

tirediron · Nov 20, 2011

I agree; you might not be quite ready for the cover of SI, but these are good shots nonetheless. You've got the key elements (player, ball) in each one, and you did the best you could given that you didn't have free access (FYI - next time, ask; I've found that frequently if you offer to give the team/organization a few shots for their website they're not adverse to granting better access). While some may disagree, I like the fact that the ball and bat in #1 are slightly motion-blurred imparting a sense of movement.

bazooka · Nov 20, 2011

Solid shots, good exposure, few if any blown highlights but still good shadow detail. Particularly #3... you have whit lettering and black pants and both are exposed well. Plus no camera shake or subject movement except in the fastest moving parts of the scene (bat/ball in #1, foot in #2). Not bad at all. (Just read TI's post, so sorry if repeating...)

creisinger · Nov 20, 2011

Using the lowest f-stop is the way to go with pictures like these. Exposure times are good.

The 50mm will give you great sharpness but shooting that distance you won't get very shallow depth of field.

It's much better using a telephoto lens that allows you to go down to 2.8 then you'll get a real nice bokeh and emphasize the subject a lot more. I know those things don't come cheap but maybe you can rent one, one day and play around with it.

Next time you can try using your 300mm tele and shoot on shorter distance but zooming in to about 250mm (not all the way, the lens will get soft) with f5.6 that will help to throw the background more out of focus.