Softball Pitcher C&C Welcome.

Cyotheking · Jun 3, 2013

Went to a friends softball game yesterday and I'm really happy with how the image turned out. Minus the noise. C&C welcome!

Settings:
SS: 1/6400
Aperture: f/6
ISO: 1600

Gear:
Nikon D70
Lens: Tamron 70-300mm

Untitled by Tophuolson, on Flickr

tirediron · Jun 3, 2013

Ahhhhhhhhhh my old friend the D70; great camera! Wish mine hadn't died!

As for the image, it's significantly under-exposed; (was your shutter-speed actually 1/640? I don't seem to remember it going much above 1/4000) and unfortunately from your angle, all the interest is somewhere else. Ideally for these shots we want to be looking toward the action, and even better, seeing the ball in motion. I think from a sligthly different angle and waiting just that extra fraction 'til the ball was released would have made this a great shot - get back out there and practice some more!

Cyotheking · Jun 3, 2013

tirediron said:
Ahhhhhhhhhh my old friend the D70; great camera! Wish mine hadn't died! As for the image, it's significantly under-exposed; (was your shutter-speed actually 1/640? I don't seem to remember it going much above 1/4000) and unfortunately from your angle, all the interest is somewhere else. Ideally for these shots we want to be looking toward the action, and even better, seeing the ball in motion. I think from a sligthly different angle and waiting just that extra fraction 'til the ball was released would have made this a great shot - get back out there and practice some more!

Hmm...I just went and looked back at the original image and apparently it was very underexposed. I thought I remembered darkening the background a bunch to make the subject stick out more. As for the angle, sadly this is all I could get :/ wasn't really allowed any where near the team to get a better angle.

The D70 actually goes up to 1/8000. Not sure why I was shooting at 1/6400 though. Almost all the other shots were 1/1000.

Thanks for the critique! I'll be keeping everything in mind.

ronlane · Jun 3, 2013

tirediron said:
Ahhhhhhhhhh my old friend the D70; great camera! Wish mine hadn't died! As for the image, it's significantly under-exposed; (was your shutter-speed actually 1/640? I don't seem to remember it going much above 1/4000) and unfortunately from your angle, all the interest is somewhere else. Ideally for these shots we want to be looking toward the action, and even better, seeing the ball in motion. I think from a sligthly different angle and waiting just that extra fraction 'til the ball was released would have made this a great shot - get back out there and practice some more!

I see what you mean about underexposed but I think this angle the almost black background helps draw her out more. I think this image would be a good action trading card or a background for a business card for a sports photographer (at the the size on the screen). For both of those, I think you need to totally blacked out.

tirediron · Jun 3, 2013

Huh... it's been a while; I was sure it topped out at 1/4000... cool. Ron makes a good point about the darker background working well in the image.

ktan7 · Jun 5, 2013

Great shot! but I think it is a bit under exposed though. F6 is a bit too high of an aperture. Why don't you lower it and let more light in?

Memorylanephotos · Jun 6, 2013

Very nice job!
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12sndsgood · Jun 6, 2013

i myself like it. i dont see the fence and probalby cars or something cluttered in the background, I just see the girl pitching and the runner about to go. think the main thing bothering me is the fence i can see in the background is crooked.lol other then that though its interesting to me.

The_Traveler · Jun 6, 2013

I think the non-standard crop is distracting.
Aside from that, a bit of brightening and I think it's terrific.

8941645761_8142380fa1_olllll.jpg~original

Cyotheking · Jun 7, 2013

ktan7 said:
Great shot! but I think it is a bit under exposed though. F6 is a bit too high of an aperture. Why don't you lower it and let more light in?

I was zoomed in at 300mm and the apertures lowest setting is f/6 at that point.

The_Traveler said:
I think the non-standard crop is distracting.
Aside from that, a bit of brightening and I think it's terrific.

Non-standard crop? I had originally taken this photo underexposed with the thought process being that I could brighten her later and make her pop more.
guess this wasn't quite the way to go about that. I appreciate the feedback!

esselle · Jun 7, 2013

I really like this... I'm not good with ppl in motion, this inspires me to keep trying.

12sndsgood · Jun 7, 2013

Cyotheking said:
ktan7 said:

Great shot! but I think it is a bit under exposed though. F6 is a bit too high of an aperture. Why don't you lower it and let more light in?

Click to expand...

I was zoomed in at 300mm and the apertures lowest setting is f/6 at that point.

The_Traveler said:

I think the non-standard crop is distracting.
Aside from that, a bit of brightening and I think it's terrific.

Click to expand...

Non-standard crop? I had originally taken this photo underexposed with the thought process being that I could brighten her later and make her pop more.
guess this wasn't quite the way to go about that. I appreciate the feedback!

when I want to go that route I tend to still try and expose them properly and then just darken the backgroun in PP this way I know that my subject will still be lit properly. as for the origonal crop, I like it. but I tend to do some non-traditional crops myself.