The Original Double Play Shot-Pre PP

[shinermom]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shinermom/2435942530/" title="Turning a double play by shiner mom, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2111/2435942530_9e8b6e9676.jpg" width="401" height="500" alt="Turning a double play" /></a>

Please help. Every time I take action shots, I get this. I have Corel Paint Shop Pro Photo X2. Is there anyway I can make this look good?

Exposure: 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 72 mm
Exposure Bias: 0/3 EV
Flash: Flash did not fire

[JCoveney]

What ISO? It looks incredibly noisy.

[krypticide]

My first guess would be ISO too.

[SJH Foto]

In addition to ISO, what camera were you using? DSLRs perform MUCH better with high ISOs than point & shoots. It has something to do with the larger sensor, and the CMOS sensor as opposed to the CCD.

[waffles]

You might hate me for saying this, but your best bet would be to get a better camera. It doesn't say the ISO on Flickr, so all I can tell you is that it's too high. But I have no number to tell you to switch it too. My XT does a pretty decent job of handling 1600. But whatever you had it set on, your camera couldn't handle it.

So I'll focus more on what you can do with this camera. Did you zoom so far that you got into digital zoom? That isn't a real zoom, it just blows the image up. So try to stay away from that if you can.

Also, you've tilted the camera. Try to keep it straight, or straighten it afterwards. I do the same thing all the time. And getting the picture while it's there is a lot more important than making sure the camera is straight and missing the shot.

[SJH Foto]

Waffles brings up some good points. Now this is a bit pricey, but my Canon 40d takes GREAT pictures! Even at ISO 3200. Check the 2008 vball tournament pictures on my website www.sjhfoto.com The galleries Norlanco 12s, 16s and Discovery Center were almost exclusively shot with ISO 3200. From my experience of point and shoot cameras, anything over ISO 400 is going to turn out awful. If you buy an DSLR, be sure to get a "fast" lens (one where the aperture is open wide enough to speed up the shutter. A cheaper lens is the Canon 50mm f/1.8. Or, if you really want to go all out, buy the Canon 70-200mm f/2.8

But before you buy this equipment, see if you can borrow a friends and experiment with it.

[NewDra24]

If that was shot with a point-and-shoot, that's pretty darn good for capturing the moment :)

As the others above me have said, the ISO seems to be bumped waaay up, because your other exposure settings are in the right ballpark. My suggestion is, if you don't already have one, to try shooting with a dSLR and a long telephoto lens. Nothing fancy, a Canon Digital Rebel XT will suffice; you just have to use a long range lens (ie. 70-200mm f/4) to capture that perfect action shot. Good luck!

[candleman]

nice shot... did you crop this to much maybe?

did you use the digital zoom? (dont)

thats all i can think of.. other than ISO too high

[jdepould]

Ignoring the obvious, two things jump out at me. Your horizon isn't level, simple crop/rotate if you don't have a leveling tool, and the background is distracting. The background is difficult to compensate for, but if there's a break in the ads, try to shoot with those behind the player. If you can get up higher, that can help too.

[shinermom]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shinermom/2439417190/" title="original double play shot by shiner mom, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2379/2439417190_2bca31bf04.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="original double play shot" /></a>

This is the original shot. No post-processing. Now, what would you do in post-processing?

[jdepould]

I merged the two threads, since it's the same photo and you started another critique thread today.

[lputman]

I don't think you'll be able to crop in like you want to and get the picture that you're looking for. I think you were just too far away from your subject.

I made an attempt, using GIMP, which I'm not familiar with but loaded it onto my pc for work and here's what I came up with.

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/24500167@N07/2439664418/" title="2439417190_305a8ed40e_o1 by hi4lo, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/2439664418_36c0d150a7_o.jpg" width="548" height="600" alt="2439417190_305a8ed40e_o1" /></a>

I'll remove the picture at your request.

[shinermom]

I really like this. Thank you very much.