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baseball - fun shoot
- Thread starter gidgetto
- Start date
dbonnice
Member
John,
Thanks for your feedback. These two shots were to help illustrate the need for a faster shutter speed.
Well I try to get a mix not just batters and pitches....Cheers
Nervous Umpire
The eyes tell all...
ZurichPhoto
Leading Member
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Great Thread ... Love this time of year -- first three weeks of April are baseball heaven if you shoot for an MiLB club. Demand for images – cards, programs, video displays, web sites and for publications is at an annual peak. I would add a few more thoughts to the already great information here:
THE EYES HAVE IT: 99% of the time I cannot/will not submit a baseball photo where the viewer can’t make easy eye contact with the player. I need to fill 80%+ of that frame with the player(s) and I need to see some eyeballs.
HAVE A GAME PLAN. Baseball is a long season and even in little league there are enough games where you can plan your approach. Ground ball pitcher? Shoot infielders that day. Fly ball Pitcher: Good day for outfielders. Cloudy Day (no brim shadows!) and Strikeout Pitcher -- perfect day for in-game portraits, Adjust your game plan based on your circumstances. It really helps.
LEARN THE SHADOW BRUSH TOOL: If you shoot baseball regularly, you MUST learn to use the brush tool to remove as much of the shadow from under the brim as possible. It’s easy. It’s important. It’s expected. And it takes 3 seconds.
THE EYES HAVE IT: 99% of the time I cannot/will not submit a baseball photo where the viewer can’t make easy eye contact with the player. I need to fill 80%+ of that frame with the player(s) and I need to see some eyeballs.
HAVE A GAME PLAN. Baseball is a long season and even in little league there are enough games where you can plan your approach. Ground ball pitcher? Shoot infielders that day. Fly ball Pitcher: Good day for outfielders. Cloudy Day (no brim shadows!) and Strikeout Pitcher -- perfect day for in-game portraits, Adjust your game plan based on your circumstances. It really helps.
LEARN THE SHADOW BRUSH TOOL: If you shoot baseball regularly, you MUST learn to use the brush tool to remove as much of the shadow from under the brim as possible. It’s easy. It’s important. It’s expected. And it takes 3 seconds.
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Ferguson
Veteran Member
+1. It's hard to get too tight. This was really a grab shot with too long of a lens on a 3rd base slide. They've used it a LOT, and I think mainly as I was low enough to see the whole face including the eyes, usually these slide shots the eyes are under the visor.
Ft. Myers Miracle Niko Goodrum (2014)
It's also a good example of seeing an angle that fans can't readily see. This was standing in the dug out dugout so very near ground level.
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ZurichPhoto
Leading Member
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Many years ago I heard a Nat Geo photographer talk about the importance of eye contact in impactful photos ... said there is something psychologically quantifiable about how much more deeply we connect with a photo if we can make eye contact with the featured person. Even the time spent looking at an images increases significantly if the photographer makes that possible. The extreme example of that is McCurry's famous Afghan Girl.
That lecture stuck with me. I think we all know it intuitively -- it's central to portraiture. But we don't always factor it into our sports pictures as effectively as we might. I know I'm guilty.
OK --I'll start an EYES thread.
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That would be good to see !
wasserball
Veteran Member
Personal taste? Too much saturation caught my eyes before I focused on the batter.
Different strokes for different folks. In general I find shots of ball at plate very boring. It's like taking shots of free throws at basketball or serves in volleyball. It's cool to get that first bat-on-ball shot but quite honestly when you have hundreds of opportunities, it's really not that skillful to come away with some and images like the one above just aren't compelling storytelling. I mean, when was the last time you saw bat-on-ball or just ball over plate shots in SI or any major sports page? Spend less time taking shots of the pitch and try to capture the real action in the field/bases.
John,
I did laugh out loud this morning when I opened the sports section of the newspaper today and saw the Associated Press photo staring at me.
Gotta admit that's pretty funny
Cheers
John,
I did laugh out loud this morning when I opened the sports section of the newspaper today and saw the Associated Press photo staring at me.
Gotta admit that's pretty funny
Cheers
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AgreeDifferent strokes for different folks. In general I find shots of ball at plate very boring. It's like taking shots of free throws at basketball or serves in volleyball. It's cool to get that first bat-on-ball shot but quite honestly when you have hundreds of opportunities, it's really not that skillful to come away with some and images like the one above just aren't compelling storytelling. I mean, when was the last time you saw bat-on-ball or just ball over plate shots in SI or any major sports page? Spend less time taking shots of the pitch and try to capture the real action in the field/bases.
John,
I did laugh out loud this morning when I opened the sports section of the newspaper today and saw the Associated Press photo staring at me.
Gotta admit that's pretty funny
Cheers
dbonnice
Member
Agreed! The saturation is distracting.
Hey, I took some of the advice offered and had a chance to put it to use at the HS ball tourney this weekend. what do you think
Captured more faces and reaction. This was a really cool moment of the batter dodging a high fastball
using faster shutter speeds and different angles to get the full face
A cool perspective not an average fan shot
On Deck profile, should have been just a little different angle so the bat wasn't just covering the batters head, but I really liked the image
shooting the coach
okay not the sharpest picture, but the expression on the catchers face was priceless as another run came in and he couldn't do anything.
Coaches watching the game (trying to get the action away from the action)
another example of the faster shutter speed and getting more facial expression
changing it up again going wide and high
Dropping the ball, again getting more face and the action of a runner sliding into home
I thought this was a cool shot, getting closer to the players to get tighter shots, love that you can see all of his number, his face and he is looking into the light.
Detail shots
This one I liked because 1. it was the action shot, but also it kind of looked like the evolution picture
details
emotion and jubilation shot
action shot with faces
and to round it out a nice portrait of the officials
Captured more faces and reaction. This was a really cool moment of the batter dodging a high fastball
using faster shutter speeds and different angles to get the full face
A cool perspective not an average fan shot
On Deck profile, should have been just a little different angle so the bat wasn't just covering the batters head, but I really liked the image
shooting the coach
okay not the sharpest picture, but the expression on the catchers face was priceless as another run came in and he couldn't do anything.
Coaches watching the game (trying to get the action away from the action)
another example of the faster shutter speed and getting more facial expression
changing it up again going wide and high
Dropping the ball, again getting more face and the action of a runner sliding into home
I thought this was a cool shot, getting closer to the players to get tighter shots, love that you can see all of his number, his face and he is looking into the light.
Detail shots
This one I liked because 1. it was the action shot, but also it kind of looked like the evolution picture
details
emotion and jubilation shot
action shot with faces
and to round it out a nice portrait of the officials
Shot 1: You got the face, just no ball.
shot 2: way too much uninteresting dead space in the frame. The umpire is a major distraction. I find shots where the ball is just releasing much more interesting than the ball 1/2 way to the plate. This allows the shot to be framed tighter on the pitcher and not have the action filling only 1/3 of the frame
shot 2: nothing about this shot works for me. I don't agree it is a "cool perspective"
shot 3: don't really like the framing here. the expression is pushed to the right side of the frame and attention is drawn to very uninteresting background instead. Just doesn't work
shot 4: a picture of someone standing. Not interesting
shot 5: most interesting so far. crop tighter. Also, not sure where you were located when you took this - background is still a bit distracting, so you want to shoot as tight as you can in-camera to blur the background more. At this point, best you can do is crop tighter
shot 6: good idea on the shot. The problem is the framing - the coach in focus is pushed a little too far to the right of the frame so the other coach is a bit more of a distraction. But, I like this shot idea most of all your creative attempts
shot 7: 1/640 isn't a fast enough shutter speed. You've still got too much blur. Think 1/2000 for pitchers.
shot 8: play at plate. You've got the runner's face which is good. Lots of dead space. Might as well crop this portrait orientation to get rid of all the unnecessary dead space.
out of time. Keep at it and keep seeking feedback and you'll continue to get better. In looking at your photos the biggest issue I can see is you're framing too loosely and cropping too much - with high quality lenses you can get away with that more. In your next outing, try to frame much tighter in-camera. In fact, here's an exercise for you. Set the lens to 300mm and don't touch the zoom at all. You'll miss some shots, but the ones you get will be a lot better.
shot 2: way too much uninteresting dead space in the frame. The umpire is a major distraction. I find shots where the ball is just releasing much more interesting than the ball 1/2 way to the plate. This allows the shot to be framed tighter on the pitcher and not have the action filling only 1/3 of the frame
shot 2: nothing about this shot works for me. I don't agree it is a "cool perspective"
shot 3: don't really like the framing here. the expression is pushed to the right side of the frame and attention is drawn to very uninteresting background instead. Just doesn't work
shot 4: a picture of someone standing. Not interesting
shot 5: most interesting so far. crop tighter. Also, not sure where you were located when you took this - background is still a bit distracting, so you want to shoot as tight as you can in-camera to blur the background more. At this point, best you can do is crop tighter
shot 6: good idea on the shot. The problem is the framing - the coach in focus is pushed a little too far to the right of the frame so the other coach is a bit more of a distraction. But, I like this shot idea most of all your creative attempts
shot 7: 1/640 isn't a fast enough shutter speed. You've still got too much blur. Think 1/2000 for pitchers.
shot 8: play at plate. You've got the runner's face which is good. Lots of dead space. Might as well crop this portrait orientation to get rid of all the unnecessary dead space.
out of time. Keep at it and keep seeking feedback and you'll continue to get better. In looking at your photos the biggest issue I can see is you're framing too loosely and cropping too much - with high quality lenses you can get away with that more. In your next outing, try to frame much tighter in-camera. In fact, here's an exercise for you. Set the lens to 300mm and don't touch the zoom at all. You'll miss some shots, but the ones you get will be a lot better.
some new shots of baseball action
some on field coaching
no eyes in the shot, but the number and a play at first
a beautiful strike
pitcher
an error
an out on a sliding play at 3rd
barely safe at first
who wins the race the runner or the ball
coaching the team between innings
pitcher from 1st base side
Safe at first
some on field coaching
no eyes in the shot, but the number and a play at first
a beautiful strike
pitcher
an error
an out on a sliding play at 3rd
barely safe at first
who wins the race the runner or the ball
coaching the team between innings
pitcher from 1st base side
Safe at first
OK, but it looks like you may have some exposure issuessome new shots of baseball action
some on field coaching
no eyes in the shot, but the number and a play at first
a beautiful strike
pitcher
an error
an out on a sliding play at 3rd
barely safe at first
who wins the race the runner or the ball
coaching the team between innings
pitcher from 1st base side
Safe at first
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