BEGINNER PHOTS, Please review and comment

[bob_p.__new_jersey_]

Here are my first shots ever with SLR gear (I usually use a small

point and shoot). All were shot with a Canon 20D, the 70-200 f/2.8L

plus the 1.4x II teleconverter. The camera was set as follows: manual

exposure (in this setting, in-camera processing of contrast,

sharpness, saturation, and color tone are set to �standard or 0�),

auto white balance, Adobe RGB color space, recording quality 3504 x

2336 pixels (8.2 Megapixels), Servo auto focus mode, automatic AF

points (all AF points). I set the aperture at 4.0 and the ISO at 800,

and used the in-camera meter to determine the shutter speed, which I

generally varied between 2500 and 8000 in order to keep the meter

reading dead center. These shots have not been processed or cropped. I

also came up with a bunch of out of focus action shots. I would

appreciate your learned input.

 

Thanks in advance,

Bob.<div></div>

[bob_p.__new_jersey_]

Here's another one.<div></div>

[bob_p.__new_jersey_]

And another one<div></div>

[bob_p.__new_jersey_]

And, lastly:<div></div>

[dave_hoffmann]

Watch your horizons. I see you said you didn't crop these, so if/when you do, make sure you rotate the image to keep vertical items (i.e. posts) vertical.

 

It seems that with a 70-200 and a 1.4 extender you should have been able to shoot a lot tighter. If you were getting shutter speeds of 1/2500 to 1/8000 I would drop the ISO down for sure. Why add unneeded noise when you don't have too.

[stwrtertbsratbs5]

Make sure that you don't chop off feet. And try to place the subject in areas other than the dead center (rule of thirds works even for shortstops!).

 

Good effort. Keep experimenting and trying new things.

[mark u]

I'd add the following:

 

Try to fill the frame more with the subject: 280mm should allow good coverage of the infield; use portrait orientation with more vertical subjects and zoom closer (and zoom with your feet too). Shoot from a low position - crouched or in a dugout - for more dramatic angles.

 

For static subjects (the pitcher, batter at the plate, a baseman etc.) you will be better off using One Shot or even switching to manual focus and pre-focussing. Learn to use AI Servo effectively for players in motion - focus is acquired using the centre point, and can take a good half second or more at half press - after which provided that the focus points continue to overlap the subject focus should hand off to the other points as needed with all points active. After acquiring focus, avoid any overly sharp panning while re-framing for best composition, as that can confuse the AF system. Shoot in small bursts, since the first shot in a sequence uses time to meter immediately prior to exposure, while subsequent shots use the same exposure and the camera concentrates exclusively on keeping up with focus.

[walterh]

I know the AF sensor is in the center or at least the one in the center works best - BUT: your objct must not always be in the center .-).

 

Good start :-)

[jason_b6]

Nothing more to add, the others have covered the main points. The first photo is good but you lost his feet, the others are a bit wonky - watch those horizons, and you'll find that by filling the viewfinder you'll get a better meter reading and should be able to expose a little better for the subject - some of those shots are a little underexposed for the subject.

 

Best thing that you could do today is have a search around the 'net and find what other people are doing with their photos of the sport and ask yourself what makes each photo work (or not work).

[bob_p.__new_jersey_]

Here is a test photo<div></div>