2/19/07 Baseball and Fast Pitch Softball

I have been shooting quite a bit of baseball and softball but this was the first time with the new 200mm f/2.8 lens. All of these are shot wide open at f/2.8. I found it hard to beleive that these are so sharp at f/2.8. This lens is truly amazing and I found I didnt miss the zoom one bit. Im not used to shooting at 200mm wide open and I should have stepped down to f/4 or f/5.6 to get a larger depth of field on the subjects in a few shots. Unfortunately, there was no batting practice today so I focused on the pitchers and catchers. I cropped two of these just a tiny bit.

This shot is slightly out of focus but I like the composition here.
Tac sharp, unbelievable.

It would have been nice to have 8fps and captured the whole sequence.

If you look at the ground under the catcher, the extreme shallow depth of field with this lens at f/2.8 is illustrated nicely.

The color, sharpness, and contrast are superior with this lens. This is the best $450 I have ever spent on camera gear.

Skate Shotz

It was hard to turn down 60 degree weather in February so I headed out the Clement skate park. My photojournalism instructor, the world renowned Kenn Bisio has removed my ability to use zoom or autofocus in order to help me see in focal lengths. I understand the purpose for this but my keeper photo rate has decreased severely. No zoom would have been fine but autofocus could have really helped here. Regardless, I did manage to capture quite a few good shots of some local skateboarders. My special thanks to Ryan, Brandon, and Jonpaul for working with me on this day. These shots are taken with my 70-300 and 10-20mm lenses at the long or short ends of the zoom only.

Ryan does a flip trick on the quarterpipe
Jonpaul leaps over a trashcan. This kid rips for his age.

A tighter crop of Jonpaul before clearing the trash.

Brandon gave me some really great shots today

I did use my new 430EX flash here. I still have some work to do with the white balance here. Notice the purple tint.

In conclusion, this was a pretty decent day. I found it was almost impossible to use my new 10mm lens so the 70-300mm was employed for much of the day. I will take the 28-90mm lens for my next skate shoot. I also want to try shooting this park at night, using the new flash to its full potential.

Am I Going Crazy?

Ok well that about does it. I have spent quite a bit of cash lately on camera equipment. I pulled the trigger on my photojournalism/sports lens, the Canon 200mm f2.8L prime lens. I have been noticing that I am always shooting at 200mm with my 70-300mm zoom so why bother with the zoom? Anyway, the Canon 200mm f2.8 along with the Sigma 10-20mm and Canon 430EX flash means that I have spent $ 1125 on camera gear this month. I think it is safe to say I am going to be selling all of my cheap ass tamron and Canon kit lenses as im almost broke.