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[Barbara Ponder]

Ok, so I got great help with my basketball shots, now maybe someone can help with this. I had plenty of light for this shot, so was able to get my SS way up but still did not completely freeze the hand or the ball. I am finding that to be the case in most all the baseball and softball photos. What am I doing wrong? SS 1/5000 at f/5.6

[Manfred M]

Let's say that the pitcher is throwing the ball at 80 mph ( 130 km/hr). That means the ball is traveling at 117.4 ft/sec or 1,408 inches /sec. In the 1/5000th of a second shutter speed, the ball would have traveled some 1/4 inch, so based on the resolution (and you are shooting pretty well perpendicular to the ball travel), I'm not surprised to see a bit of softness in the hand and ball, give the perspective in the shot.

[Mike Buckley]

When the action is not frozen, when you're not using a strobe or flash unit, and when you don't change the position of the camera relative to the moving subject, the solution every single time is to increase the shutter speed until the action is completely stopped. You never ever have to wonder about that.

Actually, there is another solution: convince the subject to move slower.

Let's say that the pitcher is throwing the ball at 80 mph.

To put that in perspective, the better college and pro pitchers regularly throw in the 90s. Some pro pitchers throw in the 100s.

[davidedric]

Barbara, in my (humble) opinion, the shot is better for the slight blur. I like the stillness of the pitcher, and the speed of his pitch.

Dave

[Barbara Ponder]

So Manfred and Dave you are saying the slight movement is acceptable.

Mike, you think I need to have a chat with the pitcher

[Mike Buckley]

If you want to imply motion, I would prefer that the hand and ball show more of it.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture, agree about the reasonable sharpness.

[Barbara Ponder]

Thanks John!

[IzzieK]

Barbara I was in a Chinese culture event last week and we went to an indoor circus. It took me sometime to work out the lighting (remembering your basketball post) and with the characters practicing on the stage before the show, it was a good opportunity for me to practice action shots without resorting to either SS or Aperture priority because I have not practiced those very much. I have many blurred bodies rolling around in a jump but I was happy about them. The body of your picture is very sharp, you should be happy with that. You can't make everything sharp in an action shot, somehow the blur in the hands has to give and that indicates movement. The good thing in this shot too is that the ball is included in the picture. That is a plus. Good job.

[RBSinTo]

Ok, so I got great help with my basketball shots, now maybe someone can help with this. I had plenty of light for this shot, so was able to get my SS way up but still did not completely freeze the hand or the ball. I am finding that to be the case in most all the baseball and softball photos. What am I doing wrong? SS 1/5000 at f/5.6

Barbara,
Completely freezing the motion of athletes is not as dramatic as having some motion blur to denote speed and movement, similar to shooting propeller-driven aircraft at such high shutter speeds that the props are "frozen" and sharp. I think this shot would have been more effective if there was more blur to the subjects hand and the ball to indicate the speed with which they are both moving.
In this situation, my emphasis would be on playing with focal length, ISO, aperture and shutter speed to shallow up the depth of field and minimize the distracting background.
Robert

[William W]

If the aim is razor-sharp and motion stopping, then, related to and possibly exacerbatory to the impression of, but not causal to the Subject Movement Blur:

1. AF/Plane of Sharp Focus: The Plane of Sharp of Focus appears in front of the Pitcher’s Left and the Ball (my best guess, not knowing the AF configuration of the 1 Series is that the AF latched onto the Contrast Line made by the brown Glove against the white Jersey: note that appreciable better focus on the letter ”N” next to the Glove contrasted to the letters “E”, “R” and “S” which appear to be closer to the Plane in which the L. Hand and Ball are located.

2. from (1) follows the Consideration of the DoF/Aperture:
(Noted that EXIF reveals:
Camera Mode = Av Priority:
Av = F/5.6; EF 100 to 400 F/4.5~5.6 L IS MkII USM;
FL = 170mm (Max Available Aperture F/5)

I haven’t used the MkII version: I have used three copies of the original, including a copy of the very first release to which there were modifications made. The MkII Version has a reputation as an excellent lens and an improvement on the original model. However if you are pixel peeping and/or require Motion Stopping (or the best illusion of it) an improvement in the sharpness of the original capture is always nice to have up your sleeve. I reckon (apropos the ball) it would be safe to bet one Mars Bar, that you’ll get a smidgen sharper rendition at F/6.3 and noticeable at F/7.1. That’s going to also give you (in theory at least) a bit more wiggle room with the AF and the DoF. (If the MkII follows the trend of the original lens, the improvement in real world Image Quality will likely more be noticeable and/or more easily noticed, when using the lens between FL = 320mm and FL = 400mm when comparing/contrasting F/5.6 to F/7.1).

3. Lens choice: (understood that you might not have been simply concentrating on the capture of Pitcher for all the session, but: for that shot (in fact any shot that requires FL = 100mm to about 240mm using a 1D –X MkII and if you can use F/4~ F/5.6), then it is always better to use your EF 70 to 200 F/2.8L, which ever version of the three, that it is.

4. Post Production (I): Considering the (relatively) small amount of Movement Blur and also that the movement is linear, the illusion of Motion Stopping can often be created by a localized “relighting”. Arguably, it would not appear odd (to the Final Image as a whole) if the sun caught the front face of the ball and edge of the Pitcher’s two fingers (Index and Middle). So with a little localized dogging and burning and perhaps a small amount of cloning, a “re-lighting” of that small area might be adequate to create the illusion of ‘freeze’ in a 10 x 8 or 14 x 11 Print. Below is a three minute, indicative rough and it was obviously was made from the small in line file posted in the OP: much more is possible if one works on the original Image File.

5. Post Production (II): In any case there are add-on Post Production Programs that will mitigate to some noticeable extent Subject Motion Blur: “Focus Magic” is one example of a tool which is suitable to address the linear type of Subject Motion Blur displayed by the Ball and the L. Hand.

Rough PP inventing localized lighting, to create the illusion of motion stopping. The original image is on the top:



The points above are made because, if one is interrogating your Final Images to such a degree and purpose as per this Opening Post and as your other threads indicate, then any and every minute adjustment is relevant to note and to consider.

WW

[William W]

. . . In this situation, my emphasis would be on playing with focal length, ISO, aperture and shutter speed to shallow up the depth of field and minimize the distracting background.

Upon interrogation, it appears that the DoF is already pretty thin: in any case there was not much larger aperture to use, only about 1/3 stop.

I think that if, upon agreement the background is a 'distracting factor', the the cause of the distraction is the lighting on it and the texture of it and neither will be arrested by a shallower DoF.

WW

[Manfred M]

So Manfred and Dave you are saying the slight movement is acceptable.

I'm not saying that at all. Rather I am saying that given the shutter speed you are using and the distance the pitcher's hand and ball are traveling, you are going to get some motion blur if you examine the image closely (i.e. pixel peep). The ball and hand moving approximately 1/4" (about 0.5cm) will be noticeable given your shooting position and the direction the hand and ball are moving in.

That being said, motion blur does suggest speed to the viewer, so in a localized area like the hand and ball, this would definitely show up. If you get a chance to shoot again, try varying your shutter speed (bracketing) to see how much motion enhances the look you are after