Hey there Jim,


I only shot a few games of softball and baseball and only kids and women [A] and for my shots I try to get a shutterspeed of at least 1/500th. Preferable 1/800th and higher. Since I shot only amateur games, I probably needed less speed than you will. If you have have enough light so you can shoot at 1/1000+ without pushing your ISO too high, do that! Although I should mention that I was standing very close to the subjects, a reason that I needed a faster shutterspeed. If subjects aren't running directly at you you might get some results with a lot slower shutterspeeds as well. 1/250 "panning" shots could be a good challenge if you view them from a side..[A]


When I shot some games I had the opportunity of walking all around field so I could choose my lightsource etc, but I guess you don't have that flexibility. Try to find a sweetspot somewhere on the field where lighting is good. Remember that players for some reason always wear a cap or helmet (shadow on the facial expressions...[8o|] horror for a sports-photographer)and try to find moments where these influences are the smallest(catching the ball and throwing etc))


I wish you the best of luck with photographing and I hope you'll also enjoy the game []


Jan