Stealing third

[MLM]

Here is my son stealing third. I cropped the photo only. What do you think of the composure, and the focusing? The focusing seems a little soft to me.




Camera Canon EOS Digital Rebel XTi
Exposure 0.001 sec (1/1000)
Aperture f/4.0
Focal Length 122 mm
ISO Speed 100
Exposure Bias 0 EV

[BigFuzzy]

Hiya MLM,
Can you check out the Forum Rules for this section and help us out by including the info requested and limit your post to ONE image.
I'd particularly be interested in your EXIF info to help comment better.

[MLM]

Thanks BigFuzzy! I haven't posted in awhile and I really want your feedback!

[BigFuzzy]

Hi Maria,

In general I think this is quite a decent shot. You did a good job of nailing probably the best point of the action.

You did a good job cropping with more space to the right to give space in the direction where the ball was coming from.

Can't really tell about the sharpness at this size, though it looks good. Since you had 1/1000th already.. maybe bump up your f/stop to 5.6 or a big narrower would have guaranteed more in focus at the point of action without bringing too much of background in focus.. IF focus is an issue.

The one thing I don't really like, though I'm assuming there's little you could have done about it, is the busy background. The cars and fence are a bit distracting to me. So getting higher (to make field more part of bg) or lower (to bring in more sky) might have helped though it'd be funny having you on your belly near third base foul territory!

Color and exposure looks nice.

In the end, a nice fast 2.8 lens would have helped a bit by blurring the background but telling you to buy a lens with wider aperture isn't really helpful hehe. All in all I think you did about as well as you could have with your kit. This is one of those few times where better kit really would make a difference.

PS tell your son to be a man next time and go belly first so that you can get better photos! haha kidding of course (kind of )

[Jim Bryant]

Also, looks like it was taken from the standing position. Get lower, like on your knees or butt. It'll give you a different perspective. Also I'd crop right up too the ball. All that space on the right hand side is distracting. Also, use your lowest -fstop, it'll bot only blur out the distracting background. but give you a higher shutter speed as well.

[BigFuzzy]

Originally Posted by Jim Bryant

All that space on the right hand side is distracting.

Interesting Jim, I was wondering what you'd think about that because I actually like it. Kind of like the space you leave in the direction a subject is moving/looking.. but different.

Do you think that's your thing, or is it pretty common to think that way about this shot in the industry (since, you know, you're in it).

[Jim Bryant]

Originally Posted by BigFuzzy

Interesting Jim, I was wondering what you'd think about that because I actually like it. Kind of like the space you leave in the direction a subject is moving/looking.. but different.

Do you think that's your thing, or is it pretty common to think that way about this shot in the industry (since, you know, you're in it).

In a shot like this, I'd crop it. If I don't an editor would and I'd hear about it later. Then again my clients are magazines and newspapers where space is tight. This is the crop I'd use.