My son is in t-ball where they practice inside a large sports complex that has a high ceiling and horribly dim sodium lights. Honestly I find it hard to see the dirty balls in the place, but I'm oldso the environment is tough.Anyway, what I'm looking for is your cc. on the exposure and tips / thoughts on how they turned out. Not from a composition standpoint but from a use of lens/flash standpoint as it's the lighting an shadow that I'm looking at most. Contemplating a 70-200 f/2.8L, but even with my 24-70L at f/2.8, I need a flash.I'm off to one side and move around a little, but I don't want to constantly move my position and thus be seen as that annoying dad with a big camera who is constantly running around. Besides, I am staying put and enjoying the game and good times too.I'm primariliy working with my 40d, 100-400L and 580ex in manual mode. I'm shooting at 1/125 and wide open usually at ISO 640-800 and getting said results.I'm post processing out most of the shadows where I can with great results, but am overall curious if there's anything I can do to improve the shots and what it would be that I could do or gear to change out.Thanks for the insight.Here's a small sampling of shots. The majority of the begining shots, I'm happy with, less so with the ones at the end. http://www.pbase.com/pdqgp/in_box

Sodium vapor lights are awful. Even if you could shoot at a wide enough aperture to let you use a fast enough shutter speed that you could freeze sports action without a flash, you'd have bizarre variations in color balance due to the 120 Hz pulsations of the lights.So really, flash is probably your only option.And that being the case, it seems to me that you're getting good results with the gear you've got.The 70-200 f/2.8 IS would be a great lens for situations where you could put the extra light gathering to use, and I suppose that in your case, you could shoot using a lower ISO. But you'd still be stuck with flash, you'd have shallower, less-forgiving DOF, and you would not have the "reach" of the 100-400. Some of your shots seem to put the 400mm end of the lens to good use. So you might miss the range between 200 and 400mm. And swapping lenses is always inconvenient.I'd say that as long as nobody objects to you using flash, then what you're already doing is working quite well. You'll never completely eliminate the shadows, however.But keeping the flash head set directly above the lens will put the shadow directly behind the subjects, and that helps make it less obtrusive. For shooting with the camera in "portrait" orientation, that means needing a flash bracket. But for the "landscape" orientation shots, the flash, just sitting in the hot-shoe, should be directly above the lens centerline already.One other thing you could do would be to use something like a "better beamer" to extend the "reach" of your flash, and thus allow you to shoot at lower ISOs or smaller apertures for any given situation. You'd also get more shots per set of batteries in the flash.http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/better_beamer.shtmlBut that, again, won't help with shadows.The other option, I guess, would be to deploy several remotely triggered flashes coming in at different angles to give you a better look. But that might be going too far for what you want.Really, while the direct-flash may not give you as pleasing of a look as you might wish for, I don't see much wrong with the shots you've posted. The main idea is to document your son's games for good memories. And I think what you've done accomplishes that very well. They're fun shots that look very good for the circumstances.

thanks for taking time so quickly to post yet another informative and helpful post as you always do.I never thought about the pulsations from those lights. Good point and that might explain the variations in certain photos where the ambient light in the distance seems to vary.I also made note of your observation on the DOF with the 70-200. I do like that most all of my shots are sharp/sharp enough with a decent DOF. The reach of the 100-400 is great. I can sit 3/4 way down the field and catch him at batting practice without even moving. just bump the ISO to 800 and up the EC + 1/3 or 2/3 if needed.I joked around with myself bringing my 420ex, but then I would definitely be that crazy annoying dad that everone points at. I'm already nick-named "the jouralist" ....but then, the other boy in the photos parents asked me to shoot their kid as their Nikon D60 / kit lens and stock flash weren't cutting itI'll look into the better beemer. I'm not at all familar with that item.Thanks again for the insight and kind words. So far I am pleased. The only thing I've done on week two was add my monopod so that I can sit and fire away more easier.JimHwrote:Sodium vapor lights are awful. Even if you could shoot at a wide enough aperture to let you use a fast enough shutter speed that you could freeze sports action without a flash, you'd have bizarre variations in color balance due to the 120 Hz pulsations of the lights.So really, flash is probably your only option.And that being the case, it seems to me that you're getting good results with the gear you've got.The 70-200 f/2.8 IS would be a great lens for situations where you could put the extra light gathering to use, and I suppose that in your case, you could shoot using a lower ISO. But you'd still be stuck with flash, you'd have shallower, less-forgiving DOF, and you would not have the "reach" of the 100-400. Some of your shots seem to put the 400mm end of the lens to good use. So you might miss the range between 200 and 400mm. And swapping lenses is always inconvenient.I'd say that as long as nobody objects to you using flash, then what you're already doing is working quite well. You'll never completely eliminate the shadows, however.But keeping the flash head set directly above the lens will put the shadow directly behind the subjects, and that helps make it less obtrusive. For shooting with the camera in "portrait" orientation, that means needing a flash bracket. But for the "landscape" orientation shots, the flash, just sitting in the hot-shoe, should be directly above the lens centerline already.One other thing you could do would be to use something like a "better beamer" to extend the "reach" of your flash, and thus allow you to shoot at lower ISOs or smaller apertures for any given situation. You'd also get more shots per set of batteries in the flash.http://www.luminous-landscape.com/reviews/better_beamer.shtmlBut that, again, won't help with shadows.The other option, I guess, would be to deploy several remotely triggered flashes coming in at different angles to give you a better look. But that might be going too far for what you want.Really, while the direct-flash may not give you as pleasing of a look as you might wish for, I don't see much wrong with the shots you've posted. The main idea is to document your son's games for good memories. And I think what you've done accomplishes that very well. They're fun shots that look very good for the circumstances.

I second most of Jim's excellent suggestions.As regards your emailed note, a Better Beamer increases the power of the flash (by 2 - 3 stops IIRC).Personally, I'd prefer no flash but rather faster glass (f/2.8 or brighter) and higher ISO for the type of shots you posted. The 40D is clean up to ISO 1250, and useable at ISO 1600. The partial motion freeze caused by flash or fill-in light is not too appealing to me in this type of shots.Romy

Thanks for replying. I went ahead and picked up a Better Beamer. Not just for indoor t-ball but for birds and other shots as well. The hardware bag still has room for stuff so why not rightI know what you mean about the stopping of action and what not. I may play around with different techniques at his next game. Unfortunately no flash and even a fast lens isn't anywhere near good enough in this setting. With my f/2.8 the best I could do was 1/40. It's darker than I thought it would be.I'll work on more creative framing and shots too without being that crazy dad still...although I get some looks extended to 400mm with a 580 going off I'm sureliquidstonewrote:I second most of Jim's excellent suggestions.As regards your emailed note, a Better Beamer increases the power of the flash (by 2 - 3 stops IIRC).Personally, I'd prefer no flash but rather faster glass (f/2.8 or brighter) and higher ISO for the type of shots you posted. The 40D is clean up to ISO 1250, and useable at ISO 1600. The partial motion freeze caused by flash or fill-in light is not too appealing to me in this type of shots.Romy