More Night Baseball - Sequences (4 sequences; 11 photos)

[Harry Lavo]

Had a good night last night...and caught some good sequences, as well as some good individual shots. The overcast sky turned dark prematurely so I used nothing but the 80-200 and (surprise) the Kenko 1.4x. Shot only raw, and had to pull many shots up by a full two EV. But most came out okay...I think perhaps I have found the best work sequence to salvage these "dark" photos....and yes, they are all noise-reduced.

Here are some of the sequences:

One for the good guys (Holyoke)
1/400s f/2.8 at 200.0mm iso200 (cropped)

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One for the evil empire (Maine)
1/250s f/2.8 at 185.0mm iso200 (cropped)

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And another for the good guys.
1/250s f/2.8 at 185.0mm iso200 (cropped)

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Finally, one where the autofocus just didn't fully cooperate. You can't win 'em all, I guess:
1/250s f/2.8 at 185.0mm iso200 (cropped)

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[dlee79]

Nice captures. I suggest you use a higher ISO to freeze the motion.

 

[BostonRott]

Harry,

It looks like your point of focus is not on the players. In series #1, picture 2, the focus seems to be on the white base line. It's sharp. The players are not and it's not motion blur. F/2.8 is a very thin DOF and you've got to be very careful of where you focus. Typically, try to keep it on somebody's face.

In the first Maine sequence, again, it appears that your focus is on the infield grass, and not the players.

 

[steveking]

Hi Harry,

I couldn't see your EXIF info since these were cropped, but I can also agree that you could shoot higher than ISO200, to 400 or 800 will give you 1-2 stops of shutter speed that you'll need to freeze the action. Go to Aperture priority so you get the fastest shutter speed the available light and go from there.
Your autofocus may be misbehaving since your setting may not be what you need for action like this with several moving objects to confuse it slightly.
I use spot metering and single area focus for baseball, but that's because I'm shooting to totally blur the background and get ONLY the subject I'm following metered and focused. Using any other focusing setting gives the camera a chance to lock onto blowing dirt, another player, and umpire (perish the thought!) or the grass because you're panning for the shot, which is normal.
If one or two of those ideas work then your ability to get the action you're showing us will look even better I'm sure.

 

[dmoores]

Nice action shots.

 

[Harry Lavo]

Thanks. I like to catch sequences when it comes to base play...always seems more interesting to see the thing unfold. But sometimes, as in one or two of these shots, one of the sequences is not as sharp as it might be and that causes some folks not to react well to them. I try to judge it in total, and if the lack of focus is not terrible, and the picture contributes to the sequence, I tend to leave them in. But I do understand that this is a pretty unorthodox way of looking at things for a photographer. If in doubt, I ask myself "would a newspaper sports editor be able to use this shot", and if the answer is yes, I usually leave it in.

 

[Harry Lavo]

Thanks, all. Just to expand....I do now use single area focus and higher isos than I did near the beginning of the season...I think I've improved the picture quality as a result...but I am perhaps a bit more tolerant of a bit of blur than others might be.