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PCHS Mustangs Baseball
Photos
2009 Team
Photos
Question: How can I get PC Baseball pics?
Answer: If the photo is in a photo gallery, click on the pic and it
should open in a new browser window in 1024x768 size. To save it to your
computer, right click on that bigger pic and select "Save image as"
(pick a location on your computer where you can easily find it later).
If a new browser window doesn't open, your browser may have popups
disabled and you will then need to add
www.portagecentralbaseball.org to your popup blocker exceptions
settings (in Internet Explorer: Tools/Internet
Options/Privacy/Settings).
The pics on our website are resized (smaller) because of storage
space limitations.
How it's done (technical photography stuff for those who asked):
It would be nice to own one of those
400mm f/2.8 lenses that newspapers use but not at $6800! Most of the 2009 website photos were taken using
the 70-200 VR lens in combination with the TC-17E teleconverter.
A monopod is a tremendous help with both image quality and shot
readiness. This combination gives amazing sharpness with good zoom (200 x 1.7 = 340mm),
although you give up one f/Stop with the teleconverter. So when the light gets low, off comes the teleconverter, leaving the f/2.8 lens which is a favorite lens of many professional
photographers. To freeze the baseball action, I
normally shoot in Shutter Priority mode, at a shutter speed of 1/1250 -
1/2000 sec. The camera decides how much light is needed by
automatically choosing
its own f/Stop and ISO settings. For baseball, the ISO usually
doesn't go above 1000, keeping photos from becoming noisy (grainy),
while the f/Stop rarely goes below 5 or 6 which maintains a decent depth
of field. Auto White Balance is used in sunlight with
center-weighting, and Cloudy White Balance is used on overcast days. Continuous focus is always used, normally with the medium
matrix (focus) spot. Want your photos to really pop? I like
deep, saturated, even exaggerated color, and you can get that by using the "Vibrant" color
mode. The images are saved on a 4GB Compact Flash card at the highest JPG
file size, allowing space for about 400 photos at 12.3 megapixels
with plenty of resolution for cropping.
About 200 photos are typically taken in a double header, then about 75
are selected, cropped, and posted to this website within 24 hours.
| Photographic gear used by portagecentralbaseball.org |
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| Nikon D300 (entry-level professional digital SLR
camera, 12.3 migapixel, 6 frames per second) |
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Nikon Nikkor DX AF-S 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6 VR G ED
(wide angle lens - if you own only one lens, this is the one) |
| Nikon Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 VR G ED-IF
(telephoto lens, a favorite of many professionals) |
| Nikon TC-17E II 1.7X Teleconverter (gizmo to
increase zoom) |
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