OT: Best Settings To Photograph Bats

[MLB_Authentic]

Hi, I have a Canon S5 IS and am wondering what the best settings would be to take pictures of bats. I really like how the Ellsbury in the December pickups thread looks. How would one do that?

[kylehess10]

It really depends on how much light is on the bat. Just mess around with your ISO, shutter, and aperture settings until it looks right.

[shoremen44]

a nice picture software on your computer can fix alot of lighting issues after the fact as well

[sox83cubs84]

And just don't take pics of them while they're sitting on top of the toilet (like the one eBay guy did with his mitt)!

Dave M.
Chicago area

[CampWest]

As Bert and Kyle mentioned, its all about light. Try to take your pics while in a bright place and rely on the fill flash as little as possible.

My biggest piece of advice. CROP your image. I am tired of seeing feet in pictures of bats. Why is it always bare feet? Does nobody wear socks anymore?

And try to find a neutral and non-distracting backdrop. We've all seen pictures of bats sitting on toilet seats or some other ridiculous location. Use a solid backdrop like a table cloth, a large CLEAN towel, or even the back side of a sheet of wrapping paper can make an inexpensive backing. Propping against a chair or holding the bat in your hand creates distractions that take away from viewing the bat. And dont use something that camoflages the bat. IE if you have a black bat, dont use a black cloth backdrop, use a light colored backdrop to help show off the bat. Also a light colored backdrop will help reflect light onto the sides of the bat better than a dark backdrop.

And I think you already have the best piece of advice, look at a lot of pictures and find out what style you like, try to figure out how to replicate it and ask questions on techniques.

[CampWest]

And just don't take pics of them while they're sitting on top of the toilet (like the one eBay guy did with his mitt)!

Dave M.
Chicago area

oh you beat me to it...

[metsbats]

I like to take photos of the bats outdoors in natural light. It gives me the best results without glare.

[gameused]

Hi, I have a Canon S5 IS and am wondering what the best settings would be to take pictures of bats. I really like how the Ellsbury in the December pickups thread looks. How would one do that?

Hey MLB,

I took the photos of the Jacoby bat in the December pick-ups, using a basic Panasonic digital camera, 8.1 mega pixels.

I agree with David (metsbats) that natural sunlight is the best when taking photos. I took the pics next to my glass sliding door which lets in lots of natural sunlight. Living in Hawaii also helps with the sunlight!

The top photo showing the entire length of the Jacoby bat, I used flash for that pic and the other close-ups were photographed with no flash.

I noticed that with black colored bats when trying to get a good close up it's best not to use flash as you usually get glare in the photo from the flash.

I also used Adobe photoshop elements to crop the pictures and highlight and sharpen each photo. Photoshop is a great photo editing software program and can be purchased for around $80 http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshopelwin/

Hope this helps and if you have any other questions, please drop me a line at: hawaii_five0@yahoo.com

Thanks, Bobby