big swing

New to photography talk and thought I would share a recent photo, Im working on a slide show for the end of the summer, looking for feedback. A sport that i will admit is new to me and very popular around the world ... Cricket

Doing a slide show will be fun. My comment on the image, nothing is in focus. shot at a too slow shutter speed, I think the person should be in focus and the swing can be out of focus to show motion.

Ok its progress in the works, still learning from mistakes and trying to make due with the equipment I have. So my thoughts: thats lack of focus would be compensated with the blur effect to indicate motion, paning is so fun and popular but how can you pan a batter?

ok so Im trying to decide if the slide show will be worth it for the fact that my 70-300 mm sigma APO DG lens has some difficulty at the Cricket Oval where all the action is in the center of the playing field and photographers like my self have to stay out of bounds... so one more pic, in my opinion this is the most intense one I have after a total of 5 hours over a period of a month.

Your second photo is much better an in focus batsman with movement in the bat no probs there, the first one could be described as a disaster but I think you are trying something that wont work, you cannot pan with a batsman his body is actually turning as he moves whilst his bat is moving across in an arc, so panning is a no no, you could pan as he is running between wickets that would work, as you say its work in progress and at least you are trying, keep up the good work.

photobod wrote: Your second photo is much better an in focus batsman with movement in the bat no probs there, the first one could be described as a disaster but I think you are trying something that wont work, you cannot pan with a batsman his body is actually turning as he moves whilst his bat is moving across in an arc, so panning is a no no, you could pan as he is running between wickets that would work, as you say its work in progress and at least you are trying, keep up the good work.

what about applying a camera shake when the batter swings, if I keep the shutter at 1/100 or 1/80 and shake at the right angle I could potentially freeze the batter in his swing motion. I have seen camera shake before at olympic events like the rings, and I have tried it on pitchers but it could become very timely and frustrating to do it just right. but its just an idea at this point.

Looking at the background in the first photo I wonder if there's a little camera movement. Or maybe there just needs to be some adjustment in your settings being out in bright sunlight. The second one is a nice in-game portrait. I haven't done outdoor sports much, did some of my nephew's football some years ago.

Just a thought, I found that standing and shooting hockey esp. if I hadn't changed postion for awhile that I'd sometimes start to catch myself moving the camera a bit, usually knew it as soon as I released the shutter. I'd move, change position or adjust my stance esp. as it got later in the game.

eryck wrote:

photobod wrote: Your second photo is much better an in focus batsman with movement in the bat no probs there, the first one could be described as a disaster but I think you are trying something that wont work, you cannot pan with a batsman his body is actually turning as he moves whilst his bat is moving across in an arc, so panning is a no no, you could pan as he is running between wickets that would work, as you say its work in progress and at least you are trying, keep up the good work.

what about applying a camera shake when the batter swings, if I keep the shutter at 1/100 or 1/80 and shake at the right angle I could potentially freeze the batter in his swing motion. I have seen camera shake before at olympic events like the rings, and I have tried it on pitchers but it could become very timely and frustrating to do it just right. but its just an idea at this point.

I agree with photbod. And I don't think you will get "usable" shot with "camera shake", only blurry images. Use a tripod or monopod, bump up your ISO, and get your shutter speed to the point photobod suggests (batsman in focus, bat in motion).

Your profile says under Camera owned "Yes". What is your camera model? What ISO and aperture are you using? Outdoors, your 70-300 should do OK but a support (tri or monopod) will make a big difference at that distance.

@ Baydream
thats a great idea, bump up the iso for higher shutter speed and bring along my trusty tripod to ensure stability.

one question would be should I consider the "picture style" settings ?

Im using a 2005 Canon XS 1000D cost me under 400$ with a kit lens on boxing day at henrys about 18 months ago.

Im all over the place actually if you understand the rules of Cricket there is six pitches to every batter , its still new to me so im very fresh in the subject of cricket. but as I was saying . . . the pitching style differes and so does the batters, 2 ends inner playing field so one batter is facing the west side and hes a lefty the the next batter facing the east side and hes a righty, well the point is there is lots of reason to move around get low try angles ... plus the games run from 1130 - 3ish so its under the brightest of bright light. therefore im constantly changing my iso and shutter speed as i move from tree shaded areas to right under the blazing sun ... I mostly like to stay around iso 400 1/500 but iso 1600 1/1000 is what I will go for.

to be honest the blur kinda puts me in a trance, like a monet lol another excuse is I need glasses to see so maybe im trying to expose my reality, theres really so many excuses for quality that might not compare.

I also have a Canon XS (plus an XSi) and use a 70-300 IS lens extensively. With the tripod, you don't need the IS as much but I think you will be happier with your shots.
Pre-focus on your subject (shutter release half way down) and wait for "the swing" to finish the shot.
I prefer to use aperture priority (AV) and use the wheel to select my settings. Just watch that you don't have a blinking light in your viewfinder that indicates you are off the usable shutter speed range.
For these sports shots, you can also try Shutter priority (TV-time value) to select your shutter speed with the wheel and let the camera select the aperture (watch again for the "blinkies").

I was looking for some outdoor sports shot but found these pipe and drum competitions that show the "blur" of the swing at different speeds.
1/100

1/250

1/320

I like the blur when its appropriate, like defining the drummers swing of their drum stick or mallet.

I will try out the AV or TV priority but I do favor Manual mode.

The XS 1000d has turned out to be a great joy but I starting to understand the value of a good image sensor as well the shutter speed is quite slow not sure of the burst rate but your lucky to get off 2 per second although Im very satisfied with the batteries and using quality glass produces a great image. It was an affordable purchase in the world of digital photography thats for sure.

eryck wrote: Im all over the place actually if you understand the rules of Cricket there is six pitches to every batter , its still new to me so im very fresh in the subject of cricket. but as I was saying . . . the pitching style differes and so does the batters, 2 ends inner playing field so one batter is facing the west side and hes a lefty the the next batter facing the east side and hes a righty, well the point is there is lots of reason to move around get low try angles ... plus the games run from 1130 - 3ish so its under the brightest of bright light. therefore im constantly changing my iso and shutter speed as i move from tree shaded areas to right under the blazing sun ... I mostly like to stay around iso 400 1/500 but iso 1600 1/1000 is what I will go for.

LOL. Ok so it's not "pitching" it's "bowling".

There's 6 bowls per over. Probably 50 overs per innings and 2 innings per match (this looks like 1 day cricket). There's also 20/20 cricket (20 overs per innings) and Test Cricket (which can take 5 days to complete a game and is more complicated... and boring). After every over they change the side they bowl from (but the batsmen stay in their respective ends of the pitch).

If you're shooting at 300mm , on your camera it will be 480mm. So you want to keep your SS at 1/500 or above to avoid lens movement blur.

400iso at 1/500 should be OK, I'd avoid going to 1600iso on your camera as you'd get some nasty noise, I'd keep it maximum 800iso for this sort of thing.

As Baydream said and also IMHO you should have set your camera to TV mode (S on nikons) and kept the SS between 1/500 and 1/1000. Let the aperture adjust itself to suit. I'd have had the iso at about 400 mostly, but if your pictures were coming out underexpose pump the ISO to 800.

thanks everyone i will definatly keep at it.

As I was reading this thread I was watching for the suggestion the Ninja gave you. Shutter speed at 1/500th. There is a guideline which I have found helpful to keep in mind. Divide your focal length into one for the optimal shutter speed to reduce shake. The more you zoom in the faster you want the shutter. Tripods really do help for fixed shots like a batter in a more or less stationary position. While panning maybe a monopod or no support would work better.

Keep posting - I'm learning from the responses too.

the fun thing is you wont know until you go. the not fun thing is coming back empty handed. best to be prepared and good to have a chance to talk it over before hand with everyone.