[paul1494]

Thoughts on ways to improve these shots.
Thanks,
Paul

[Adam]

The first is the best of the series, IMO, as it's focused on the action and very clear. The third isn't bad either, but there's a stray arm there!

Overall, I'd almost have to recommend a longer focal length, so that you can focus in on the action while being able to provide a smoother, less-distracting background.

[Miguel]

These are quite good overall. Baseball and softball are harder to shoot than a lot of folks think.

Shot 1--my favorite, little to criticize. Maybe tighter framing so you can see the expression of the runner. Maybe a little more contrast. But the action rocks.

Shot 2--Good timing. Seems crooked, rotate cw a little. A tighter frame would remove more of the fence and show us their concentration. Wider aperture would have eliminated more of the fence detail. I like the placement of everything in the frame a lot. The lighting is a bit flat, so some brightness upping would help.

Shot 3--Probably my second least favorite because your angle of coverage is off. I'm sure you couldn't help it. Here the dominant aspecta are the back and behind of the fielder. It's the faces and head on collision that matters most in home tagouts. The arm has to go too. I do like the lighting.

Shot 4--Pretty ordinary. She is lost in the background due to the unfortunate closeness of the green colors. Also, those masks don't help much, which is out of your control mostly. Try to use a longer focal length to capture her eyes with a wide aperture.

If you believe you will be shooting sports more frequently and it's important to you, my advice would be to consider upgrading to a 400mm setup at a minimum. The Sigma 100-300 f4 combined with a 1.4x TC would be an improvement over the consumer lens you use now. I used to shoot outdoor sports with a Bigma.

If you get really really serious, ditch the Pentax gear for one of the two majors (I added Canon to my toolbox) as the predictive AF, fast FPS, and much wider selection of long, fast glass makes life much easier (and pricier).

M

[Ash]

Very well done with the ol' 55-300.
#1 - again, excellent. Captures the emotions and the moment brilliantly.
#2 - good, it's timing that can make this one better - the grimace and impact of the ball on the bat is the best type of shot in this circumstance IMO.
#3 - also good. Good timing although the perspective (clearly unable to be helped) isn't best - front on, or slightly off front like #1 is much better
#4 - comments in #2 apply.

[paul1494]

thanks for the input. I have tried some different crops and the tighter crops showing expressions do seem more interesting, even though some of the "action" may be out of the frame. thanks again