advice needed.....going to see the SOX play the JAYS on the 11th

[Sheiky]

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

[TucsonTRD]

Jim,


I have shot several Spring Training games with the 70-200 f/4. They are Spring Training, so they were all outdoor and daytime, perfect for the f/4. I typically shot in Av adjusting for the desired DoF. I took a lot of high speed shots of the pitcher through his motion and the batter through his motion. 1/1600s froze everything except the ball and the bat, and they were fairly close to being frozen. But I would venture to say it would take ~1/2500 to have a chance at freezing them.


You should love that 100-400 for the game. It is tough, but you want to be framed tight for good detail. You will probably want to pick a shot you want and frame it and hope it happens. Ex: Ellsbury is on first and you want a photo of him stealing second and sliding headfirst. Set your desired focal length (on second base) and pre-focus the camera and be ready in high-speed continuous. I would guess at least 1/500s to freeze the flying dirt, probably 1/1000s to be safe.


Good luck and enjoy the game

[Brendan7]

Jim, I'd use maximum aperture on both lenses and boost ISO if necessary. You'll need at least 1/1250 to freeze the pitcher or the batter, 1/2000+ would be better.

[lynx0069]

thanks for the advice jan, brendan, and tucson [] seems pretty unanimious so far that the higher the shutter speed and max apature with as low an iso as i can get away with is what i'll strive for. i'll plan to get there early for batting practice to experiment a bit and see what settings i like.


jim