Women have softballs...

wxwax · March 25, 2007

.... not hardballs in college. :lol3

Tried my hand at shooting Georgia Tech softball on Saturday. I have great respect for shooters who anticipate where the action will be and are ready to capture it. I wonder if pros use burst mode or not? Trying to get a ball right before it disappears into the glove is almost impossible when the camera body is obscuring your free eye's vision, thus removing your ability to anticipate. :scratch

And getting happy reaction shots is a lot harder than I expected. In fact, I have none worth showing.

Here's the winning pitcher, one run allowed over 7 innings.

wxwax · March 25, 2007

I wouldn't have been able to get this one if I hadn't been shooting in burst mode.

Setting the spot focus point for plays at first was also an interesting exercise. When I go back, I think I'll use the double spots just left of the center focus point. I had tried using the single point furthest to the left, but it was too far out.

wxwax · March 25, 2007

Trying to find clean backgrounds, with the sun at your back, can restrict where you can shoot from.

Other players, base coaches and umpires just plain get in the way!

Cason · March 25, 2007

Very nice.

What lens did you use?

UT Scott · March 25, 2007

Wow you have some really great shots!

I really like number two though, great action on it (love how the glove isn't closed yet). I shot softball for the first time a couple weeks ago and I always thought it was a slow sport, but wow, they move fast! You never have batters running to hit the ball in baseball!

DavidTO · March 25, 2007

Nice work, Sid. I think you done good. I know from shooting some Ultimate frisbee how hard it is to shoot a sport, and that it takes practice. For your first time out you did really well.

You may find that if you follow the basic pop tutorial that you can neutralize the slight orange cast you have on those images.

wxwax · March 25, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

Nice work, Sid. I think you done good. I know from shooting some Ultimate frisbee how hard it is to shoot a sport, and that it takes practice. For your first time out you did really well.

You may find that if you follow the basic pop tutorial that you can neutralize the slight orange cast you have on those images.

Thanks David. Both the camera and DPP preserved the warm cast, so I kept it.

But I did a second version of the pitcher using Canon's raw processor, and set black and white points in Levels. Probably a better result.

wxwax · March 25, 2007

RTP wrote:

Very nice.

What lens did you use?

Not cheap! A Canon 300 f2.8. And the stands are right above the dugout, so the 300 (on a 1.3 crop body) was almost too much lens.

wxwax · March 25, 2007

UT Scott wrote:

Wow you have some really great shots! I really like number two though, great action on it (love how the glove isn't closed yet). I shot softball for the first time a couple weeks ago and I always thought it was a slow sport, but wow, they move fast! You never have batters running to hit the ball in baseball!

I know! As I said above, the 300 is basically too tight for a good batter's box shot. And then, all of a sudden, the women are running out of the frame!

I cropped off a bit of headroom here, but otherwise this was as loose as I could get on a batter.

gus · March 25, 2007

Nice one mate

I just love seeing faces in any sport.

ed_h · March 25, 2007

The third one is great, love the facial expression. What speed were you using to freeze the ball like that
Ed

DavidTO · March 25, 2007

wxwax wrote:

Thanks David. Both the camera and DPP preserved the warm cast, so I kept it.

But I did a second version of the pitcher using Canon's raw processor, and set black and white points in Levels. Probably a better result.

I think it's better.

I don't know, but here's my theory: RAW conversions leave a cast that's hard to recover from in RAW software, easy to recover from in PS. I mean, I know you can, but it's just more trouble than it's worth, IMO. Somehow PS and the tools in it handle that stuff better.

wxwax · March 25, 2007

ed_h wrote:

The third one is great, love the facial expression. What speed were you using to freeze the ball like that
Ed

Thanks. That was 1/8000. I set it to AV and f2.8, ISO 320 and let the camera handle the shutter speed. I knew it would be fast enough to freeze the action. I had intended to slow it down and try a few blur shots, but forgot.

wxwax · March 25, 2007

DavidTO wrote:

I think it's better.

I don't know, but here's my theory: RAW conversions leave a cast that's hard to recover from in RAW software, easy to recover from in PS. I mean, I know you can, but it's just more trouble than it's worth, IMO. Somehow PS and the tools in it handle that stuff better.

Interesting, thanks.

The yellow cast is a natural one, all of these were taken during the "golden hour." That's why I chose not to remove the cast.

In fact, I rather like it for this one.

KMCC · March 25, 2007

These shots are great. I think you did very well on catching the action at peak moments.

cletus · March 25, 2007

Very nice work Sid. I love that first shot!

I don't know how much pros rely on burst mode. I think more than anything it's having a feel for timing shots. I used to shoot sports for a student newspaper. One of the photogs I used to work with has gone on to become an award winning sports shooter. When we would cover the same events she would always have a lot more "perfectly timed" shots than I would. We were using cameras with roughly the same burst rate but she just had a much better sense of when to press the button. I think some of that was raw talent, but I think most of it was just lots and lots of experience.

If you stop and think about it, a baseball flying through the air at 40mph is covering around 60 feet a second. Even if you had a camera that could burst at 8 fps, the ball is going to travel around 7 feet per frame. In a tight shot, the ball could be out of the picture in one frame and in the glove the next.

wxwax · March 25, 2007

Yeah, good point, Cletus. I have a few of those.

cletus · March 25, 2007

wxwax wrote:

Yeah, good point, Cletus. I have a few of those.

You should go through some of my old neg sheets from my paper days

H e r b · March 26, 2007

Nicely done. I'm still waiting on the sun to shine in Ohio to get some good shots like yours.
Thanks for sharing

Herb

wxwax · August 4, 2007

You know how sometimes you go through your old files and find a shot you should have processed?

This one.

cdonovan · August 4, 2007

excellent point Cletus....it's like equine photography...timing the right time in a horses stride to take the picture...each horse moves differently at different speeds...watching closely and timing it has cut down on a lot of bad shots for me....I am guessing that it's a similar thing with experiece comes fine tuning!

renay johnson · August 5, 2007

You'll not see happy shots in softball. People take their softball seriously. Great action shots you have here.

JESTER · August 5, 2007

Sid,

I see nothing wrong with your photos. Great action shots. When I was younger (and could get down on the floor & back up) I shot some basketball games sitting next to a SI photographer. They get to the "scene" about a week early and set up. This particular photographer had about 6 cameras. He would move around some but would plug into the wires connected to strobes in the ceiling. He must have taken hundreds of photos (to my couple of rolls...back in the film days). Well, to make a long story short, when the magazine came out it had two photos of that game in it. So keep at it....you will always come out with some good and some bad.

m_granite · August 5, 2007

Love girls ''sportsy'' pics! No wonder ESPN show this stuff. It's great!

z_28 · August 5, 2007

cdonovan wrote:

...it's like equine photography...timing the right time in a horses stride to take the picture...each horse moves differently at different speeds...

Not quite right cdonovan, not quite

BTW - I like your shots very much Sid ! Good job.

dbaker1221 · August 6, 2007

those are great shots...knowing the game helps alot...you did an awesome job.

There are only so many places you can stand to get shots .

RandySmugMug · August 8, 2007

very impresive !

Seneca · August 10, 2007

Wow that is amazing stretch there on first base. Pretty awesome first base-girl! She's got that techique down to a "T"

gchappel · August 11, 2007

Back when I coached ball the pitcher was not allowed to have both feet off the ground during the pitch- they would practice sliding the rear foot. I don't know if rules have recently changed- might be why noone can hit her.
Great pics
Gary

wxwax · August 11, 2007

gchappel wrote:

Back when I coached ball the pitcher was not allowed to have both feet off the ground during the pitch- they would practice sliding the rear foot. I don't know if rules have recently changed- might be why noone can hit her.
Great pics
Gary

Interesting. I'll look at pics I have of other pitchers, see if their feet leave the ground too.

shiningstars · August 13, 2007

As a coach and a photographer, what you are talking about is called leaping! This girl is not leaping very bad. They are still suppose to drag the foot. It is against the rules but is not inforced much- except in little league All-Stars. I had a girl on my team this year who leaped a lot- at least 6 inches off the ground, her dad finally started working with her after we told him that they will call her on it in All-Stars. And it did knock some speed off her ball.
Oh yeah, the only smiling pictures in softball are in between plays! This is a serious game and girls treat it that way! I got a great shot of the pitcher and catcher smiling after a talk on the mound! And several in the dugout!
Love your pictures!

Women have softballs...

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