7 shots with Rebel and 420 in gym

[Normcar]

I used the f4 L Canon at 160 and 5.6 aperture; maintained 100 mm as much as possible but sometimes moved down to 70. Didn't touch the zoom and relied 100% on autofocus. None of these have been filtered but I did fix some red-eye in a few and did one or two minor sharpening passes, only because I like to increase sharpening outside the camera because I've been told that's the best way to do it. I left some too just so that people don't think the Rebel extinguishes red-eye altogether. Used a monopod. Originals were shot at the high medium Rebel setting: 2048...etc., these reduced for the web.

I look forward to getting my other flash so I can slave and gain some of that wonderful light that is absolutely necessary for all good things.

[wvyankeegurl]

did you use the flash on the camera for these, and how close were you on the floor or up in the stands?
How bad is the lighting in the gym?

Ive used a friends rebel with the flash on it, i still get a bit of blurr, plus the pictures come out darker. and a yellow tone. I know some of the blurr is prob. do to im doing it free hand. But i used a friends Kodak with add on flash on the side its hudge, i didnt have any blurr hardly maybe a couple of pics out of 50 or so.

[Normcar]

did you use the flash on the camera for these, and how close were you on the floor or up in the stands?
How bad is the lighting in the gym?

I used a 420EX Speedlight, most of the time from the floor, back a bit into the corner.
On a scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the worst, I'd rate it at 6 or 6.5 at best.
It actually surprised me that this F4 lens, at 5.6 and 160 could bring in so much light. However, quick successive shots where the flash couldn't keep up demonstrated clearly that the 420 was doing something.

Ive used a friends rebel with the flash on it, i still get a bit of blurr, plus the pictures come out darker. and a yellow tone.

I've experienced similar problems and this is how I dealt with them:

1. Blurr - I've found that there's no way around at least a 160 to 200 shutter speed and even then one needs to be selective at when then hit the shutter. The movement needs to be slow, stopped, or heading towards the camera where the movement is less on the sensor. I've purchased a 100mm 2 lens that I'm looking forward to using so that I'll be able to increase my shutter even more; but 160 to 200, if shots are selective, the blur can be reduced as you see in my own shots above. I also used a monopod for most of my shots this time around. As well, many of these were taken at the climax of the action where there's a momentary pause, or when players were standing in battle, or at some other time when the movement was not so critical on the sensor. As well, consider an ISO of at least 800 but you may be able to get away with 400, depending on which lens you have. As well, the Canon F4 L 70-200 seems to work pretty nicely for F4, even inside. I was a bit worried but the more I use it the more confident I'm getting with it.

2. Yellow - I suggest that you need to white balance your Rebel. Just find a white wall in your gym (very white if possible), shoot it "with flash" and then go to your menu and set the white balance. Then make sure that your selector is set to manual white balance WB "with flash" and not automatic WB (refer to p. 51 of your Rebel manual). Some of my shots above have a yellow aura about them but, believe me, that is the disgustingly putrid color of the actual gym.

I hope some of this helps. You seem to have a real passion for shooting the sports and I like a number of your shots, especially the more "close-up" baseball shots you've posted.