These photos are a few from last weeks little league tournament. It was a bright sunny day, and I had to use a ND filter and lowest ISO setting. This team has now won 3 tournaments in a row, and is undefeated in regular league play so far.

1. Batter jumping a wild pitch. You can see that the ball hit the ground just in front of the Ump's foot.


2. Catcher misses pitch and Ump has to duck out of the way. This was first game for this player at catcher.


3. Batter eyeing up a high pitch.


Thanks for looking, and C&C welcomed!

GaryB

They seem a bit soft to me. You say you needed a ND filter? Were you at max shutter speed for your camera?

Exif data says ISO 4500, 6400, and 5600. That explains the softness and poor quality. You did not need an ND filter. In the last image, it looks like maybe you could have placed the batter against the more pleasing green background if you had moved? That shot is also underexposed. Expose for the face.

EXIF data shows your ISO at 4500 and higher. Seems to me you had auto ISO on. Just lower your shutter speed and you won't need any ND filter.

Cuong

Originally Posted by Montec They seem a bit soft to me. You say you needed a ND filter? Were you at max shutter speed for your camera?

Without the ND filter, and at max shutter speed, they were way over exposed, as viewed in the camera. I had to drop the exposure back a little in LR4 to save these.

GaryB

Originally Posted by jmphotocraft Exif data says ISO 4500, 6400, and 5600. That explains the softness and poor quality. You did not need an ND filter. In the last image, it looks like maybe you could have placed the batter against the more pleasing green background if you had moved? That shot is also underexposed. Expose for the face.

I just re-checked my ISO setting in the camera and I had it set to LO.7. What green background are you referring to? Only thing green there is the grass. If you're refering to the backstop, that is blue. I was shooting from the end of the dugouts, which was the only places that provided a good vantage point. If I had moved to the other side, I would have been shooting at his back and not seen his face at all.

GaryB

Originally Posted by Cuong EXIF data shows your ISO at 4500 and higher. Seems to me you had auto ISO on. Just lower your shutter speed and you won't need any ND filter. Cuong

As I stated in the previous reply, the ISO was set at LO.7, not auto. If I had lowered the shutter speed, would it not have caused the image to be way over exposed? I might have lowered the exposure in LR a bit too far, but it was a bit over exposed to begin with.

GaryB

Originally Posted by BroPhoto Without the ND filter, and at max shutter speed, they were way over exposed, as viewed in the camera. I had to drop the exposure back a little in LR4 to save these. GaryB

Read the other messages. The ISO is set very high.

You can still have the base ISO set to L0.7 and have auto ISO enabled, you should check that because the ISO in the EXIF says it is very high and evident by the quality of the images and the settings you used.

Heres a few examples of a mid day baseball game we shot the other day with similar conditions to what you were facing.

ISO 200, SS 5000, F/stop 2.8 We threw a little exposure compensation {1/3} to expose for the face.

70-200


300 2.8

Originally Posted by Montec Read the other messages. The ISO is set very high. You can still have the base ISO set to L0.7 and have auto ISO enabled, you should check that because the ISO in the EXIF says it is very high and evident by the quality of the images and the settings you used.

OK...I went and dug into the menu and found where the other ISO setting is and found it had gotten changed to Auto. I don't ever remember changing that setting. It might have gotten changed without me realizing it when I reset all the settings back to default. I never thought about checking that. Now I have one more thing to add to the list to double check each time out. This could have been the problem with my other photos ending up being soft as well. We'll see what happens the next time out. Anyway lesson learned (check and re-check the settings in the menu), thanks to the people at Dgrin!

GaryB

Glad you found it!
Just try to keep in mind when you are getting a crazy shutter speeds like 1/8000 at f/5 there is probably something set wrong.

Originally Posted by BroPhoto I just re-checked my ISO setting in the camera and I had it set to LO.7. What green background are you referring to? Only thing green there is the grass. If you're refering to the backstop, that is blue. I was shooting from the end of the dugouts, which was the only places that provided a good vantage point. If I had moved to the other side, I would have been shooting at his back and not seen his face at all. GaryB

Yeah, I meant the backstop. Wasn't sure if it was dark green or dark blue. The cinder block wall and chain-link fence make that shot unappealing, imo. Glad you found the ISO settings, always set ISO yourself.

Originally Posted by jmphotocraft Yeah, I meant the backstop. Wasn't sure if it was dark green or dark blue. The cinder block wall and chain-link fence make that shot unappealing, imo. Glad you found the ISO settings, always set ISO yourself.

Normally, I am shoothing these kids from the rear and to one side, and from either 1st or 3rd base . This was the first field that had a solid wall for the back stop, usually it's a chain link fense. When I can shoot through a fense, I just get as close as possible and open the lense up, and make sure the focus point doesn't hit a wire in the fense. The field these kid play at for home games had a 4 ft high fense from the dugout around to the other dugout. In the off season they raised the fense to about 10ft, so now I'm forced to shoot through the fense where ever I'm at, unless there's room up in the press box, then I'll shoot from there.

GaryB