Kiddo had her first season of softball (u10) this year, and it was my first time shooting the sport.
Started the season taking a lot of pics from the 1st base line from just past the bag, some shots of the pitcher from behind the plate, and a few shots from the 3rd base line.
Eventually as the season wore on, I took a spare 1dx and either the 85 /1.4 or the 24-70 /2.8 and set it low on a tripod right against the fence to get remote shots of the plate, shooting along the 3rd base line to get right handed batters face on, and to get runners coming home. Those were some of the best action shots I got all season I feel.
Tried shooting from behind the outfield fence to get batters from the long perspective, didn't really love those.
Super hard to get decent shots on defense, looking for advice there.
Looking for advice for what to change for next season.
Here are a couple of things I see:
#1 I would crop tighter to remove some of the negative space.
#2 Might think about cropping the pitcher so she's just left of center in the frame so the motion is leading the viewers eye into the frame vs out of it.
#4 Re-level see the brick wall. Of the grouping I like this one the best.
#5 Based on where their eyes are looking this appears to be late in the action
#7 Better frame would be with the ball included
#8 Taken too late in the action
#10 Ok but probably better a frame or two later where the ball was included
I like the tighter crops you've done and I'd even suggest to go tighter with shooting batters at times (or crop more if you've got the file size). It's good to get the catcher and ball in the image, but sometimes I'll just do a shot of the batter ready for the pitch.
Hope you don't mind the crop I've done of your photo. Might need a very slight straightening, too.
schlotz wrote:
Here are a couple of things I see:
#1 I would crop tighter to remove some of the negative space.
#2 Might think about cropping the pitcher so she's just left of center in the frame so the motion is leading the viewers eye into the frame vs out of it.
#4 Re-level see the brick wall. Of the grouping I like this one the best.
#5 Based on where their eyes are looking this appears to be late in the action
#7 Better frame would be with the ball included
#8 Taken too late in the action
#10 Ok but probably better a frame or two later where the ball was included...Show more →
I'll try cropping a lot tighter on these, and try getting a little earlier or later in the action to capture the peak. The issue I find is that a lot of the time I'll get the ball but not the face, or I'll have the face but not the ball, and I've been prioritizing keeping the shots that show more face instead. Might just be a matter of taking more pics and culling harder.
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crteach wrote:
I like the tighter crops you've done and I'd even suggest to go tighter with shooting batters at times (or crop more if you've got the file size). It's good to get the catcher and ball in the image, but sometimes I'll just do a shot of the batter ready for the pitch.
Hope you don't mind the crop I've done of your photo. Might need a very slight straightening, too.
Schlotz has great advice!
Appreciate the tighter crop. I'd have to get a bit closer but I think that file still had plenty of pixels to crop tighter like that.
Noticed your profile indicates you might be shooting with an EOS R. If so this body is 5 fps in continuous mode which puts a premium on the shooter in terms of anticipation & timing to successfully capture peak action shots. It can be done but technique & expertise is definitely a requirement, i.e. lots of practice to become proficient. It's a fun journey and well worth the effort. Keep shooting!
schlotz wrote:
Noticed your profile indicates you might be shooting with an EOS R. If so this body is 5 fps in continuous mode which puts a premium on the shooter in terms of anticipation & timing to successfully capture peak action shots. It can be done but technique & expertise is definitely a requirement, i.e. lots of practice to become proficient. It's a fun journey and well worth the effort. Keep shooting!
Most of the season was shot on 1DX mark 1 bodies, but when the light started to fade and the field lights came on, I would swap to the EOS R if the lights were old, because it has anti-flicker shoot which helped a lot with lighting consistency under some of the old lights.
Currently I have a pair of 1DX mark 1, an EOS R, and an EOS R10. I use the 1DX bodies for sports / events, I use the R for portrait and most general-purpose family travel, and the R10 is for wildlife or traveling light. I've been thinking about selling one of the 1DX and the EOS R to merge their functionality into an R6 or R6ii, but then I don't have a matched pair of bodies to use for fast paced events. Not sure how I feel about that.
There is something to be said for shooting with 2 identical bodies. Yeah, the ISO capability of the original 1Dx (circa 2012) isn't that great especially compared to today's cameras. FYI, believe the anti-flicker setting actually slows the shutter to only open when the light is the brightest in the bulb's cycle, i.e. fps is further reduced.
