Softball and focus

[Kaye]

A few shots I took today. My first time at taking photos in Ap Mode when I control the ISO instead of Auto ISO. Any thought on sharpness and improvement would be appreciated. The top photo still seems soft to me.






Why do my photos always look sharper on here than my computer or flickr?

[fireb0x]

This is a personal preference, but I love REALLY rich colors. I love taking my colors to the point where it is ALMOST too much. To me, that is what is in the top picture. That sand, in my opinion, is such a rich beautiful orange and it makes me FEEL the baseball field. That is how the sand looks when you are sitting in the stands and the sun is hitting it. The is how the grass looks when the light comes off the sand and onto the grass.

I really love the colors in the top one and you can see the difference because the grass, sand, and glove all look much darker to me.

I think the focus in the top one is good, it really puts the emphasis on the pitcher. Just my opinion. I'm by no means a pro.

[archersdad]

It does look a bit soft but it really isn't too bad. I'm using an almost identical lens and found that if you close down the aperture and use a slower shutter the result it much better focus. You really don't need 1/3200 to stop the action of a pitch. 1/500 or 1/600 will still freeze everything. You could easily slow your speed by 2 stops, close your aperture 2 stops and have a much better depth of focus. On a sunny day, I try to shoot at ISO 100, f8-f11, and keep the shutter between 1/400 and 1/800 depending on the amount of motion blur I want. I recently shot a college baseball game (CMU Eagles Baseball - a set on Flickr) if you would like to see the results I get and settings I use. All of the EXIF data is there.

[Kaye]

I've been advised that most of my soft photos (slightly out of focus looking to me) are from camera shake. And that the best way to avoid this if I am not in a situation to use a tripod, would be to shoot at a high Shutter Speed.

I'm starting to think maybe I should look for a smaller camera. Getting camera shake at 1/1250 makes mean seem pretty weak.

[Chip]

Hi, Kaye - This doesn't look like camera shake to me.

What lens are you using? I ask because the focal length in the EXIF info on flickr doesn't appear to match any of the lenses listed in your signature.

[Kaye]

I was using an old Sigma 70-300mm for the softball photos. I usually have great luck with it, esp since I need the lenght it gives me. The barrel racing shots I took with my Sigma 24-70mm and didn't have near the same luck. Just wondering if the 24-70mm is just not the best lens for action photos.

[Chip]

Thanks.

I don't know much about your Sigma 70-300. But your photo looks sharp to me - just not tack sharp. Maybe you're getting all that can be expected out of that lens? I'd be happy if someone else with more experience could chime in.

On your photo, maybe crop out a bit from the left side of the frame? The empty space on that side detracts from the pitcher. And, if you can move a bit, try to frame the shot so that an infielder (or any other player) isn't directly behind your subject.

Nice work.

[scootermcq]

I do find with my 70-300 it is not all that sharp above 250mm

It is better however with a smaller aperture, something like an F8 give a sharper picture than it gets at 5.6

Maybe see if 1/1000 and a smaller aperture gives you the clarity you are looking for.

[karen_s]

I took a look at the large versions of the images on Flickr and think they are reasonably sharp. Maybe not tack sharp but still pretty good and quite acceptable. And I wouldn't think the problem is camera shake. Unless you jab your shutter finger hard on the button, a shutter speed of 3200 should be more than adequate at the focal lengths noted. I think the issue would lie more in the lens. Lenses often have sharpness sweet spots in regards to f-stops and like scootermcq said, that sweet spot might be narrower, or closer to the f8 range. You could try some test shots in a controlled situation to see if you can find that special f-stop, or, you could look thru the shots you've taken with it and see if you can find a combination of settings that result in the sharpest pictures. The aperture is a key component as I have learned, and it can vary from lens to lens.

And I think I had that piece of glass at one time. It was not bad at all under 180mm but I found it to be quite soft over that. It was not a super fast focuser either but the price was great and it got me a good start with my first dslr.

[Kaye]

Thanks to all of your for your advise and help. I'm worrying so much about this because of the barrel racing photo's on my flickr. I am suppose to go take some photo's for a friend Saturday that's having a barrel racing competition at her farm. I just got off the phone with her and she said that all the PRO's at the big competitions use a tripod and take photos of the horse/rider coming around the second barrel. No panning or tracking. They wait on the horse/rider. I usually focus on my ballplayer (batter or pitcher) and then just hold down the shutter release button to take ?fps until it or I stop. I can't do this with the horse/rider. They are not going to stop and let me forcus first. Any advise on how to approach this.
I'm going to go back to my flickr now and look at the EXIF data of my favorite shots taken with this lens. I would love to use my Sigma 24-70, but not sure it is the appropriate lens to use for this type of action shots.
Thanks, you guys have been very helpful.

PS Some of my most prized photos of my nephew pitching in high school were taken with my D50 and D80 w/Sigma 70-300mm lens. It has really been an awesome lens for me.