Since these are your first shots I would like ask a few questions and offer a few suggestions. Please take what I am about to say as positive criticism.
What camera and lens are you using, due to the depth of field and the blurry out of focus images you needed a much faster shutter speed.
Color looks fair but I would crop the images to contain the action and not everything else, lots of dead space.
Work on composing only the image you want and keep it in the viewfinder, it just takes practice, thanks to digital you can keep practicing until you get exactly what you want almost every time.
I would reccomend going to this site for some great and awesome advice and examples of images that may be what you are shooting for. www.sportsshooter.com
Yeah dont be afriad to crop tight on the photos either. I went and looked at your exif....an AP of 3.1 isnt bad at all for sports (soccer and lax I usually end up shooting between 4-5ish honestly). I usually end up setting the iso to what ever will give me and appature and shutter that I want. Obviously the lower the better. If i am reading it right it says the shutter was 10/3200....I dont know why it doesnt just say 320 but either way if you can get somethign faster that will certainly help on the blur for the pitchers arm.
I was struggling with colors that day so this photo may not be the best example, but I love the guys face, so its one of my favs. But anyways this photo is cropped a good amount, I think I may have borrowed my friends 300 that day, but either way....I left the left field number in there so the kids would know that one was at fenway....otherwise I would of cropped it even tighter. The photo is also at the peak of the action, the release of the ball (or on the other hand the contact on the bat)
and most importantly a face.
faces, faces, faces.
That is what make action photo exciting, the face of sports, the excitment, the glory, the winning the losing, the effort it takes to make a pitch, or the disapointment when a run goes by.....
IF you think of faces, peak of action, and try to move (dont know cricket at all) so that when you shoot those things that the background isnt distracting, you will get pretty good action shots.
On of the broadcasters here once told me, the reason he likes my photo so much is that I really capture what is going on (the coach said so too). If you have ever played sports, you know what its like to hit a home run, or to steal a base, score a goal or make a great defensive play. When people look at your photos, they should be able to figure that out........
Translate that feeling you may have once had in sports, and now try to show it to others through your pictures...
thanks for your help, i have a Fujifilm S7000 for those shots i fitted a Raynox pro-telephoto covertion lens and have been told that i have to steep it down to
F5, i had it on F3 thats what caused the blue round the bowlers whites i also had the camera set on iso 200 so could i try iso 400 to get a faster shutter speed
Regards
Gary
I shoot all outdoor sports at ISO 400 as long as theres enough light. You need to shoot at least ISO 400, 200 is way too slow for sure.
You will need a much faster shutter speed to stop the action. You can look at the images on my page: http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=2850 I try not to shoot any slower than 1/2500, most are 1/4000 or faster using Aperture Priority. If you are shooting at f/3 you should be able to get really good shutter speeds unless the teleconverter is not allowing the camera to read the correct aperture and communicate back and forth. You may want to find a Fuji board that has others with the same issues.
The shots of the bowler (sp?) are pretty good action shots. Especially when
you consider he's aiming just in front of the batsman. It's also hard to catch
the action with the batsman as unlike baseball or softball, he's trying to put it
at knee level to make it harder to catch.
My comments are to keep a tighter crop in camera (though your tc might
prevent this from a distance) and to keep an eye on the horizon. Make sure
it's level in the viewfinder. Also, watch your backgrounds.
For your first time action shots, I think you did pretty well.
Ian
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
you consider he's aiming just in front of the batsman. Ian
Sometimes there is a reason to bring a 'fast' bowler out mate...that ball is doing just under 100 mph & is as hard as hell. Sort of designed to come up under the chin
how do you do that? Since dgrin, I can't even read a whole magazine article without great guilt. PC withdrawal.....osprey voices calling, the whole nine yards.
So...........how do you sit for days in front of the tV?
I would love to.
ginger (collapsed last night and got a decent amt of sleep, first time in weeks)
Oh, I concur with all everyone has had to say on the action shots. I am going to go with my husband the next time he does sports and practice.........add that to my repertoire.
As it is now, I can't decide where to go, which "event" needs covering the most: egrets, ospreys, challenge subj, etc.....:cry baptisms, that reminds me to send Sunday's baptism, sorry for the hijack.
I do agree re first try, but good for first try. Someone posted on super sharpening. And there is high pass, look it up, in PS. When you are bored, you could maybe play with those first photos and spice them up to useable.
Don't forget the colors, get them jazzed first with saturation and all, elements or curves, or both, then the high pass. In there do a crop, too, on each on, whether it needs it or not. There are always different ways to crop a photo, IMO.
The shots of the bowler (sp?) are pretty good action shots. Especially when
you consider he's aiming just in front of the batsman. It's also hard to catch
the action with the batsman as unlike baseball or softball, he's trying to put it
at knee level to make it harder to catch.
My comments are to keep a tighter crop in camera (though your tc might
prevent this from a distance) and to keep an eye on the horizon. Make sure
it's level in the viewfinder. Also, watch your backgrounds.
For your first time action shots, I think you did pretty well.
Ian
Thanks Ian
I was fully zoomed but i was at least 75 feet from the action, I can trim in camera after the shot would that help? . I will try again with aperture at F5 to stop the blue next to the white and a faster shutter speed at ISO 400, if the light was not so bright do you think i would still get the blue if i was at F3 may give it a try
Thanks
Gary
Thanks Ian
I was fully zoomed but i was at least 75 feet from the action, I can trim in camera after the shot would that help? . I will try again with aperture at F5 to stop the blue next to the white and a faster shutter speed at ISO 400, if the light was not so bright do you think i would still get the blue if i was at F3 may give it a try
Thanks
Gary
You want to do it when you make the shot. So you either have to get closer to the
action or try a longer lens (if you can).
Ian
Moderator Journeys/Sports/Big Picture :: Need some help with dgrin?
Comments
Never did understand those bracelets, all different colours and say the same thing
What camera and lens are you using, due to the depth of field and the blurry out of focus images you needed a much faster shutter speed.
Color looks fair but I would crop the images to contain the action and not everything else, lots of dead space.
Work on composing only the image you want and keep it in the viewfinder, it just takes practice, thanks to digital you can keep practicing until you get exactly what you want almost every time.
I would reccomend going to this site for some great and awesome advice and examples of images that may be what you are shooting for.
www.sportsshooter.com
My page is at: www.actionshots4u.smugmug.com there are some Soccer pics and some K9 Training pics there.
Also at : http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=2850
Also at: http://community.webshots.com/user/theglockman
Above all keep shooting and asking questions, you are on the right track for sure.
http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=2850
Here is the exif to give you an idea.
http://winger.smugmug.com/photos/newexif.mg?ImageID=20909855
I was struggling with colors that day so this photo may not be the best example, but I love the guys face, so its one of my favs. But anyways this photo is cropped a good amount, I think I may have borrowed my friends 300 that day, but either way....I left the left field number in there so the kids would know that one was at fenway....otherwise I would of cropped it even tighter. The photo is also at the peak of the action, the release of the ball (or on the other hand the contact on the bat)
and most importantly a face.
faces, faces, faces.
That is what make action photo exciting, the face of sports, the excitment, the glory, the winning the losing, the effort it takes to make a pitch, or the disapointment when a run goes by.....
IF you think of faces, peak of action, and try to move (dont know cricket at all) so that when you shoot those things that the background isnt distracting, you will get pretty good action shots.
edit: just checked my sportshooter gallery to make sure they did have all those things
On of the broadcasters here once told me, the reason he likes my photo so much is that I really capture what is going on (the coach said so too). If you have ever played sports, you know what its like to hit a home run, or to steal a base, score a goal or make a great defensive play. When people look at your photos, they should be able to figure that out........
Translate that feeling you may have once had in sports, and now try to show it to others through your pictures...
F5, i had it on F3 thats what caused the blue round the bowlers whites i also had the camera set on iso 200 so could i try iso 400 to get a faster shutter speed
Regards
Gary
You will need a much faster shutter speed to stop the action. You can look at the images on my page: http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=2850 I try not to shoot any slower than 1/2500, most are 1/4000 or faster using Aperture Priority. If you are shooting at f/3 you should be able to get really good shutter speeds unless the teleconverter is not allowing the camera to read the correct aperture and communicate back and forth. You may want to find a Fuji board that has others with the same issues.
http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=2850
you consider he's aiming just in front of the batsman. It's also hard to catch
the action with the batsman as unlike baseball or softball, he's trying to put it
at knee level to make it harder to catch.
My comments are to keep a tighter crop in camera (though your tc might
prevent this from a distance) and to keep an eye on the horizon. Make sure
it's level in the viewfinder. Also, watch your backgrounds.
For your first time action shots, I think you did pretty well.
Ian
So...........how do you sit for days in front of the tV?
I would love to.
ginger (collapsed last night and got a decent amt of sleep, first time in weeks)
Oh, I concur with all everyone has had to say on the action shots. I am going to go with my husband the next time he does sports and practice.........add that to my repertoire.
As it is now, I can't decide where to go, which "event" needs covering the most: egrets, ospreys, challenge subj, etc.....:cry baptisms, that reminds me to send Sunday's baptism, sorry for the hijack.
I do agree re first try, but good for first try. Someone posted on super sharpening. And there is high pass, look it up, in PS. When you are bored, you could maybe play with those first photos and spice them up to useable.
Don't forget the colors, get them jazzed first with saturation and all, elements or curves, or both, then the high pass. In there do a crop, too, on each on, whether it needs it or not. There are always different ways to crop a photo, IMO.
there, I got on topic, and just fine, too.
g
I was fully zoomed but i was at least 75 feet from the action, I can trim in camera after the shot would that help? . I will try again with aperture at F5 to stop the blue next to the white and a faster shutter speed at ISO 400, if the light was not so bright do you think i would still get the blue if i was at F3 may give it a try
Thanks
Gary
You want to do it when you make the shot. So you either have to get closer to the
action or try a longer lens (if you can).
Ian