# Baseball Photography



## canonbraden (Feb 12, 2013)

A new season of baseball is just around the corner. This weekend I will be going to shoot at a baseball tournament. I got new gear for Christmas. I have the Canon T3 with an 18-55mm and 75-300mm, what can I do to produce the best images possible? 

Thanks. 
Braden


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## ArlynD (Feb 24, 2013)

Practice. Put on the 75-300 and leave the rest home - baseball kicks up a lot of dust and you don't want to be changing lenses unless you want gobs of dust on the sensor. Put a filter on the lens to protect it from the dust and bring along a fine lens brush and blower.

Learn the game - (practice). Anticipate bunts, steals, pick off plays, etc. get your camera up and ready and look with both eyes.


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## texkam (Feb 24, 2013)

> what can I do to produce the best images possible?


 Upgrade your glass. Sell the 75-300. The 55-250, for less than $200 used, is better than your 75-300. The 70-200 f/4L for about $550 used is much better than the 55-250. Other brands are an option too.

Choose a faster shutter at the expense of a higher iso. Sharp with grain is better than clean and blurry.


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## gw2424 (Feb 24, 2013)

Stop down whichever zoom you are using. Try 7.1-9.0. Bump the iso to 200 and overexpose about 1/3 of a stop. That way, you can get as much detail as possible.


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## texkam (Feb 24, 2013)

> Stop down whichever zoom you are using. Try 7.1-9.0. Bump the iso to 200 and overexpose about 1/3 of a stop. That way, you can get as much detail as possible.


???


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## canonbraden (Feb 24, 2013)

Okay I will give it a try. Thanks!


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## cynicaster (Feb 28, 2013)

Here&#8217;s what I&#8217;d do:



Use the telephoto lens exclusively
Set the camera to Tv mode, and set it to something between 1/500 and 1/1000 of a second
Activate auto ISO, but go into the settings and set a max auto ISO of 1600
Only shoot at the max zoom when absolutely necessary (remember, you can crop later)
 

Last summer I snapped a few dozen pics of a pick-up ball game the broke out at a family BBQ using my old T3 fitted with the 55-250 lens.  I used this general approach and the results were sharp and well exposed. 

Note, my intent was to freeze motion; if you want &#8220;motion blur&#8221; to imply speed and whatnot, slow down the shutter.  I don&#8217;t like doing that personally, because to my eye, it more often than not makes the photo look botched.      

These settings should pretty much work in a set-it-and-forget-it way.  Some might disagree on my ISO advice, but I&#8217;d argue that it&#8217;s the best option for the gear you&#8217;re using.  The quality is still acceptable in daylight conditions and the auto ISO gives the camera a bit more latitude in getting a good exposure using its internal smarts, thus freeing you up to take more shots.  Remember: every second you spend farting around with your settings is a second you cannot be capturing memorable pictures.


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## ronlane (Feb 28, 2013)

gw2424 said:


> Stop down whichever zoom you are using. Try 7.1-9.0. Bump the iso to 200 and overexpose about 1/3 of a stop. That way, you can get as much detail as possible.



How does overexpose help you get as much detail as possible? Wouldn't that risk blowing out the highlights to the point of non-recovery?


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## runnah (Feb 28, 2013)

Are we talking about the sport or the actual ball?


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## cynicaster (Mar 1, 2013)

ronlane said:


> gw2424 said:
> 
> 
> > Stop down whichever zoom you are using. Try 7.1-9.0. Bump the iso to 200 and overexpose about 1/3 of a stop. That way, you can get as much detail as possible.
> ...



Well, I suppose the risk of blown highlights goes up when you add +1/3 exposure compensation, but IMO it&#8217;s pretty low risk in broad daylight (which is what I&#8217;m assuming for the baseball photo session) as long as you keep an eye out for blinkies. 

It&#8217;s a good technique to use because of the way sensor dynamic range works.  The &#8220;upper stops&#8221; of light in the photo have way more detectable levels than the &#8220;lower stops&#8221; do (a crude way of explaining it, but it gets the point across).   This means that in the brighter areas the camera is able to detect much smaller differences in brightness.  Not only does this provide richer detail, but it gives you much more latitude in post processing to make adjustments before ugly artifacts start appearing.  That&#8217;s why it&#8217;s always better to slightly over expose (i.e., &#8220;expose to the right&#8221 and darken later, rather than vice versa.


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## EIngerson (Mar 1, 2013)

I would not over expose, and I would NOT set to auto ISO. The BEST thing you can do is learn exposure. 

I would mostly shoot in AV (aperture priority) for any sport. Set the *proper* ISO to get the shutter speed you *need* for the Aperture you *want*.


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## cynicaster (Mar 1, 2013)

EIngerson said:


> I would not over expose, and I would NOT set to auto ISO. The BEST thing you can do is learn exposure.
> 
> I would mostly shoot in AV (aperture priority) for any sport. Set the *proper* ISO to get the shutter speed you *need* for the Aperture you *want*.



That's just another way of doing it; there is usually more than one way to skin a cat.  I think the suggestions I gave were a good way for a beginner to get some good photos while still taking baby steps away from full auto.      

While I agree 110% that auto functionality is no long-term substitute for a true understanding of exposure, that doesn't mean that the best approach for a newcomer to the hobby is to jump right in with intermediate to advanced techniques.  What is second nature to you is going to seem a bit overwhelming to understand for somebody who hasn't yet had their "eureka moment" on how the exposure triangle works from a technical perspective.  Gradually "weening" yourself off auto functionality is a good way to learn, IMO.


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## imagemaker46 (Mar 1, 2013)

cynicaster said:


> Here&#8217;s what I&#8217;d do:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Can you post some of your baseball shots?


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## imagemaker46 (Mar 1, 2013)

Outside on a sunny day, set the iso at 400, shutter speed between 640-800, aperture 5.6-8.  If it gets cloudy  adjust the aperture, not the shutter speed.  If it gets heavy overcast bump the iso up.


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## EIngerson (Mar 1, 2013)

cynicaster said:


> EIngerson said:
> 
> 
> > I would not over expose, and I would NOT set to auto ISO. The BEST thing you can do is learn exposure.
> ...



I wouldn't call knowing how to use ISO intermediate to advanced techniques, but I agree with the "eureka moment" comment. lol.


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## groundloop (Mar 16, 2013)

texkam said:


> > what can I do to produce the best images possible?
> 
> 
> Upgrade your glass. Sell the 75-300. The 55-250, for less than $200 used, is better than your 75-300. The 70-200 f/4L for about $550 used is much better than the 55-250. Other brands are an option too.
> ...




BINGO.  I had the 75-300 IS and found that it had serious problems over about 200 mm when the f-stop was anywhere near wide open (which is exactly where you'll be at for shooting sports).  I replaced it with a 55-250 and had much better results.  And I recently was able to purchase a used 70-200 f4 L (non IS) for under $500, it's a great lens with very fast autofocus.


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## imagemaker46 (Mar 17, 2013)

groundloop said:


> texkam said:
> 
> 
> > > what can I do to produce the best images possible?
> ...



"which is exactly where you'll be at for shooting sports"  Really?  Exactly?


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## samfoster (Mar 23, 2013)

I'm a big baseball fan and have shot games on several occasions. I also shoot sports periodically for my school's paper. Get the longest fastest glass you can afford.  With daytime baseball games its not so much of an issue, but for indoor sports like basketball a camera with a high ISO range like he 7D, 6D and the 5D MKIII are great. 

Use a zone focus approach to yield more keepers and know the game.  If the bases are loaded, focus on home-plate in case there is a play at home, if there's  runner on first and someone up to bat focus around 2nd base for a play at 2nd.  Study sports shots that you like and try to figure out how they were shot.

Then for salvage shots, shoot things like pitcher's pitching and batter's batting, but its really the action shots and catching the big play that make for dynamic and sought after shots.

Some sort of camera stabilization like a monopod is also very helpful, for rec league, college and HS games you can usually use them but for pro games it depends on the stadium and usually only the folks with press credentials get to use them.


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