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Well I've come down from the slopes (where it's safer - hopefully can't dislocate a shoulder on flat, dry ground) to shoot a local baseball game. Since I live in Spanish Fork, Utah, you can guess who I'm rooting for. Aside from snowmobiles, this is my first sports gig. I would love to hear from you about the following images (these are three seperate throws):

Strike one:



Strike two:



Strike three:

All great images there dk! I think the best in my opinion is the 2nd one, both the look on his face, the motion blur in his throwing arm along with the weird angle he has it at AND the ref watching on is great - well framed!

Some great captures, each showing the real action taking place, but #2 really showing it with the exagerated motion blur. Nicely done! Anyone more snowmobile events coming up or is the season drawing to a close ?

I also like number three for the same reasons as Geoff. IMHO I would have liked it more if there was some more room on the left of the shot. I suppose to give the arm somewhere to move too.
Great action shots keep them coming

Dk, just a lingo update, rooting in Australia usually means having sex. So to answer your rhetorical question, I have no idea who you are having sex for. Maybe yourself, your partner, your country? That is where the saying that aussie men are like wombats, they both eats roots and leaves.

Another useless fact for you, highlighting the differences between American and Australian english.

Thanks for the comments. The second shot is my favorite too.

Craig, after dislocating my shoulder twice shooting snowmobile hill climbs this year my wife has grounded me. Actually, there is one more event before the season closes. It's up north in Red Lodge, Montana. I will be surprised if they don't call the event off for lack of snow. It was in the low 70s (f) here today and I'm about 500 miles south. I learned at the Widowmaker Hillclimb that rocks and snowmobiles don't mix.

Hey, thanks again for the comments on the baseball shots.

dk

Dave,

Great colour and especially exposure and lighting. You've captured great shadow detail, and that's what's needed.

I would back off the sharpening though; these are a tad oversharpened; look at the bright white lines, for instance, in the third image, the guy in the blue shirt with his hands on his knees. Look at not simply his arm, but how this line is also bleeding through the helmet of the guy in the red (the batsman, I presume) in the foreground.

This sort of oversharpening is evident in each of these images, and you need to learn to back off the sharpening tool just a bit.

It takes time and experience to get it rright.

Oh Glen,

Leave it to me! I have a hard enough time with American English. I showed this to my wife and we had a laugh. I'm still wiping away tears.

I was going to edit my original post...I think I'll leave it just as it is. I hope others get a laugh too.

Still laughing,
dk

Thanks Gary. I tend to oversharpen a lot and I haven't figured out when it's overdone. I didn't think to look at the bleeding of lines in the image. That's a good reference point for me. I can fix this easy enough and I sure appreciate the tip.

dk

dk wrote:Thanks Gary. I tend to oversharpen a lot and I haven't figured out when it's overdone. I didn't think to look at the bleeding of lines in the image. That's a good reference point for me. I can fix this easy enough and I sure appreciate the tip.

dk

Dave,

My pleasure.

The bleeding was quite obvious, but somewhat unusual. Look at the white lines that have bled, and also appear throughout each of the images to some degree. That's basically haloing, and clear evidence of oversharpening.

Take your sharpening tool to the point where you can just see this starting to occur, and then back it off just a notch or three.

Please leave the originals where they are, and then post revised versions, so that others can learn from this and see the differences.

Dave,

Just to help you see what I'm seeing in the other two images, ...

Image 1: The pitcher's left knee, immediately below the sign in the background, and his upper right leg, from his butt down to the back of his knee, where his pants meet the umpire's shirt.


Image 2: The pitcher's left forearm - the lower (rh) side of it as we're looking at this image, and again, his butt, where in the image it's meeting the red fence in the background.

HTH.

Hey dk, have you showed the player the shots? If you have, what did he think of shot 2?

Brett

Thanks again all for the comments and suggestions.

Gary, I couldn't finish the corrections to the "halo'ing" last eve; it was getting on well passed 1:00 a.m. here. I'll rework them more tomorrow and post finals. I did notice the changes are very subtle; you've got a great eye. I could see a remarkable difference. Thanks again.

Brett, I haven't shown him the shots. I will be printing an 8X12 tomorrow complete with matt and frame. I think I'll display it at the newspapers main office. I'll let you know what Russell thinks.

Thanks,

dk

Dave,

No worries; as and when you get the time.

Yes, I expect that the changes are very subtle, and in terms of the alterations in your settings to get the results, the actual numerical differences in the applied settings would be very slight.

Learning to see the signs - k nowing what you're looking for - is the key, of course.

dk wrote:Thanks Gary. I tend to oversharpen a lot and I haven't figured out when it's overdone.

dk

Another thing to be aware of is that smugmug sharpens your images a bit more after you've uploaded them. So you do need to underdo it for that hosting site. I wish there was an option to turn off the smugmug sharpening algorithm, but at the present time there isn't.

You can see how much extra sharpening smugmug does by comparing side by side your original photo on your computer with the "original" on the smugmug site.

Thanks Shakey, I did not know that .

Great tips everyone.

dk

Some good sports photography here. I'm glad it wasn't "slow pitch" softball. I played that in California and it drove me nuts. How can you pitch a ball and try to kill the batter when you have to pitch it above his head?

Give me hockey anyday... BTW, these are very passionate action shots with great detail.

Gary, thanks again for the tip. I've reposted them here per your request. I changed the sharpening settings by three clicks and loaded the images to my other site where I can control whether the images are enhanced (color or sharpening) in the upload process (Exposure Manager). I also printed test prints and there the changes are more obvious.

Strike one with decreased sharpening:

<img src="http://diddlystock.exposuremanager.com/scripts/expman.pl?rm=view_photo&photo_id=dsc_0012e3&dir=galleries/19&file=dsc_0012e_medium.jpg">

Strike two w/ decreased sharpening:

<img src="http://diddlystock.exposuremanager.com/scripts/expman.pl?rm=view_photo&photo_id=dsc_0010e57&dir=galleries/19&file=dsc_0010e_medium.jpg">

Strike three w/ decreased sharpening:

<img src="http://diddlystock.exposuremanager.com/scripts/expman.pl?rm=view_photo&photo_id=dsc_0008e53&dir=galleries/19&file=dsc_0008e_medium.jpg">

I have to say 3. Looking over the shoulder gives the impression your in the game. Great composition giving a great vibe.

I am going to have to disagree with everyone on number 2. There is a general rule in composition for shooting someone that is moving in a particular direction and that is that you have to give them room in front of them. Hard to explain but say for eg. If someone was falling backwards, leave them room to fall into plus a little extra. And if someone is walking forwards, leave them some room in front of them "walk into". If this was to be shot in landscape as apposed to portrait, still with the ref behind him, but with all the rest of the room of the frame in front of the pitcher, the compostion would have ended up alot more balanced. I am always the first to say rules are to be broken, but in this instance, I think the image would have been greatly improved if shot this way.
Just my opinion, everything else I think is fine.

As for the original images that were "over sharpened". This is also just personal opinion. I liked them the way they were posted first better. Some people I think have a pet hate against oversharpening and go hunting for that slight halo (unless of course my monitor just dosn't show it as well as others) as I have trouble seeing them. I guess shooting alot of my stuff MF I just perfer that crisp look. Again, personal opinion.

Always take critique in but never to heart. You have to see things from someone else's point of view, It can help you learn a great deal. But in the end, if you like it, then chance's are its good. So be proud.

Brad

Brad,

I'm grateful for your insight and comments. I will definitely take the critiques here as opportunities to learn and grow; never personally. I have derived a great deal of helpful instruction from this forum. I will continue to post examples here because I know I will benefit and no one will deminish or demean.

I remain grateful,

dk