Baseball and a Space Launch (5 pics)

[fslshooter]

Last night's shoot was a bit different -- thought folks here might enjoy seeing some stuff from the game. The batting coach asked me if I could get some shots of one of his guys who was swinging at pitches that were low out of the strike zone because he wanted the guy to see how bad he looked. Kennedy Space Center is about 50 miles south of the ballpark and NASA launched an Atlantis space shuttle flight during the game.

#1 - The low pitch batter
http://www.jerryhalephotography.com//potn/bl1.jpg

#2 - Another shot of the low pitch batter
http://www.jerryhalephotography.com//potn/bl2.jpg

#3 - Another batter with a good rip at a pitch in the strike zone
http://www.jerryhalephotography.com//potn/bl3.jpg

#4 - Another batter coming out of the box
http://www.jerryhalephotography.com//potn/bl4.jpg

#5 - Atlantis just after it cleared the press box
http://www.jerryhalephotography.com//potn/bl5.jpg

Perhaps a disclaimer is in order here: I seldom keep pics like #s 1-3 because they are of little or no interest to anyone other than the batting coach -- no faces plus 1 and 2 both show the batter up. Pics like #4 are the keepers ;) .

[kgauger30]

Great shot of the shuttle.. I was bummed because it was cloudy here in Sebring and I wasn't able to see it.. Maybe next time.. Thanks for sharing!!

[flauri]

Jerry, what's up with the placement of the hands on batter #1. Looks like his right hand is over the top instead of the other way....unless it is just the way it appears. Maybe my eyes are just going buggy.

[kgauger30]

I think that is just the illusion you get with the gloves... He looks off balance to me.. If you are off balance you are never gonna hit the ball!!

[Darsk47]

I always enjoy your shots. You get the crowd is just a bit out of focus....from a perfect apeture setting I suppose. You can see they're there, but lack of focus on them doesn't detract from the subject.

We saw the Shuttle blast-off in 2000 from a parking lot at Epcot in Disney - it was quite a distance away but it was still remarkable how fast that thing got out of town. Can't appreciate it on tv.

[fslshooter]

Great shot of the shuttle.. I was bummed because it was cloudy here in Sebring and I wasn't able to see it.. Maybe next time.. Thanks for sharing!!

It would have been better if I had used a wide angle lens vs the 300 I was shooting the game with. Then the foreground would have been fans in the stands taking pics with their cell phones. Proof that I'm a baseball shooter not a PJ -- PJs think of such things :confused: .

Jerry, what's up with the placement of the hands on batter #1. Looks like his right hand is over the top instead of the other way....unless it is just the way it appears. Maybe my eyes are just going buggy.

Like Kim said, it's just the appearance -- but I did do some pixel peeping on the original when you pointed it out ;) .

[throw_n_gas]

Jerry,

As usual your images are tack sharp, #4 is my favorite. #2 looks like a knee buckling curve.

Well Done.

Way to cloudy over here to see the shuttle......

Always enjoy your images.

Rick

[cosworth]

Space travel. I'll always be in awe of that. Too bad people don't really pay attention anymore.

[throw_n_gas]

Space travel. I'll always be in awe of that. Too bad people don't really pay attention anymore.


Jason,

I'm with you, amazing and so powerful.

Rick

[Sledhed]

It's got to be #5 Jerry, that's a once in a life time capture.

[Aquaman]

AWESOME!

[MJPhotos24]

yea he's just rolling his wrists after contact and gives an illusion real quick. Looks like he fouled that one off. #4 is definately the keeper for the purposes we usually have, and you had me a bit confused why you posted the first two for a second there as they never leave the camera for me as well. #3 is one you keep, but don't submit just because no face. Nice as usual Jerry! Have fun at the FSL AS Game coming up (assume you're going?), MWL is on my radar here in a week or so.

[softball29]

#4 - Another batter coming out of the box
http://www.jerryhalephotography.com//potn/bl4.jpg


Perhaps a disclaimer is in order here: I seldom keep pics like #s 1-3 because they are of little or no interest to anyone other than the batting coach -- no faces plus 1 and 2 both show the batter up. Pics like #4 are the keepers ;) .

I totally agree. It's a damn shame, however, that many newspapers and media places fully disagree and need to have the ball always in the shot. I've taken some great shots for the shop I work for, but, if anything is a bit off or no ball -- no dice. It's too bad, too, because these shots show way more emotion. My place will sometimes go for shots like this, but they'd prefer the ball in the image 9 out of 10 times.

[seaspray]

Great capture on #4 and Atlantis

[fslshooter]

I totally agree. It's a damn shame, however, that many newspapers and media places fully disagree and need to have the ball always in the shot. I've taken some great shots for the shop I work for, but, if anything is a bit off or no ball -- no dice. It's too bad, too, because these shots show way more emotion. My place will sometimes go for shots like this, but they'd prefer the ball in the image 9 out of 10 times.

Newspapers and media use images they think will sell their product and their photo editor's job performance should be judged on how effective he/she is at selecting images that do that. Baseball happens to be a sport where having the ball in the frame should not be the sole criteria a photo editor uses in selecting photos. If having the ball in the frame adds interest or tells the story of the game then it's probably a better photo to publish than a pic with no ball. However, if having the ball in the frame detracts from interest or tells a different story than what actually happened in the game then the image shouldn't be used. Unfortunately some photo editors don't know enough about the game of baseball to determine whether or not an image is a good one to run and that's why we sometimes see baseball photos in the newspaper that shouldn't be there.

Using my images above as examples, #s 1 or 2 might be good pics to publish if the pitcher struck out most of the batters he faced in the game. But if the newspaper article is touting the batting skills of that guy or even that his team won the game then they would be a poor choice of pics to run. As for #4 a good PJ should have gotten better pics during the game to accompany almost any article. However, if the article is about that guy then it would be a very good pic to run with that story.

IMO togs who take photos at baseball games are either baseball shooters or photo journalists and their photos are for two very different uses. Baseball shooters take photos for baseball trading cards and baseball media like Baseball America, MLB.com, MiLB.com, etc. PJs take photos for newspapers -- local as well as national news. PJs want high action stuff where having the ball in the frame often adds interest or tells the story. Baseball shooters want good pics of specific players and seldom care (except perhaps with pitchers) whether or not the ball is in the frame. Sometimes I see togs at games who are both PJs and baseball shooters; however, wearing both hats at the same game is difficult.

[fslshooter]

yea he's just rolling his wrists after contact and gives an illusion real quick. Looks like he fouled that one off. #4 is definately the keeper for the purposes we usually have, and you had me a bit confused why you posted the first two for a second there as they never leave the camera for me as well. #3 is one you keep, but don't submit just because no face. Nice as usual Jerry! Have fun at the FSL AS Game coming up (assume you're going?), MWL is on my radar here in a week or so.

Mike - I actually uploaded #3 for MiLB. They've been using some shots similar to it that Joy sent them. If I were a photo editor I doubt that I'd ever run a pic like it but it does have at least half a face. Yup, I'll be shooting FSL All Star festivities but as a PJ because I already have pics of almost every one of the guys who made the selection. I doubt that I'll be shooting very much durng the game itself -- mostly pre and post game stuff.

[softball29]

Newspapers and media use images they think will sell their product and their photo editor's job performance should be judged on how effective he/she is at selecting images that do that. Baseball happens to be a sport where having the ball in the frame should not be the sole criteria a photo editor uses in selecting photos. If having the ball in the frame adds interest or tells the story of the game then it's probably a better photo to publish than a pic with no ball. However, if having the ball in the frame detracts from interest or tells a different story than what actually happened in the game then the image shouldn't be used. Unfortunately some photo editors don't know enough about the game of baseball to determine whether or not an image is a good one to run and that's why we sometimes see baseball photos in the newspaper that shouldn't be there.

Using my images above as examples, #s 1 or 2 might be good pics to publish if the pitcher struck out most of the batters he faced in the game. But if the newspaper article is touting the batting skills of that guy or even that his team won the game then they would be a poor choice of pics to run. As for #4 a good PJ should have gotten better pics during the game to accompany almost any article. However, if the article is about that guy then it would be a very good pic to run with that story.

IMO togs who take photos at baseball games are either baseball shooters or photo journalists and their photos are for two very different uses. Baseball shooters take photos for baseball trading cards and baseball media like Baseball America, MLB.com, MiLB.com, etc. PJs take photos for newspapers -- local as well as national news. PJs want high action stuff where having the ball in the frame often adds interest or tells the story. Baseball shooters want good pics of specific players and seldom care (except perhaps with pitchers) whether or not the ball is in the frame. Sometimes I see togs at games who are both PJs and baseball shooters; however, wearing both hats at the same game is difficult.

In a perfect world, all of this is true. And at bigger newspapers, I'm sure this is also more true. I wish we were in a situation where photos actually went with a story more than just being a piece of art that was taken at the game.

However, in the world of small newspapers, this isn't always _ and maybe rarely _ true. For example, the shop I work at.

We have two photographers. They do everything. Sports. News. Features. Photo orders. Everything. There is no such thing as a photo "editor" per say (although one is the chief photag). When they go to a baseball game, they take a shot or two, get what they think will be good quality and leave.

They then submit one, maybe two, shots to the sports department (there are three of us in that department) and no matter how it works within a story, it's used as that is our "art" for the day. There's not a lot of asking questions, finding out what the story is about etc. Reason being, if I'm covering the game and see something developing and an angle I want to take, I can't go tell the photag to zone in on this player or two because they will probably already be gone if it's the second or third inning. 'Tis a shame, but I think at smaller shops, this is more of a regular thing than not.

I know personally, if I could be at a game shooting, I'd stay out of the office as long as possible. :)

We have a series of stringers, too, who shoot events and e-mail images straight to the sports editor. I also do some shooting for sports and am a little more of an outside-the-box thinker and look for different angles and such and if we are doing a certain story, I can try and work within that framework, too. But again, a lot of times the photographer is just out there shooting to find a "good shot."

I've not worked or dealt with photography departments with large papers. As I said, my place is small and everyone wears several hats. A paper not far from us, with a circulation upwards of 55K (which is large for this section of the state), had three fulltime photags, who, again, wear several hats. They do, I believe, deal a little more closely with departments than I think we do, which is a good thing. But they also have a better interactive website, do more online albums and things like that.

As a writer, it would be nice to have images that really go with your story though. It's nice when you do a game story, single someone out because of how well they played and have a photo of THAT person to go with it. It's awful when the kid has an awesome game and the image is of some kid who went 0-for-4, walked once and got picked off stealing second (which of course, our photo would be).

[MJPhotos24]

Mike - I actually uploaded #3 for MiLB. They've been using some shots similar to it that Joy sent them. If I were a photo editor I doubt that I'd ever run a pic like it but it does have at least half a face. Yup, I'll be shooting FSL All Star festivities but as a PJ because I already have pics of almost every one of the guys who made the selection. I doubt that I'll be shooting very much durng the game itself -- mostly pre and post game stuff.

I've been pretty selective with the stuff I uploaded to MILB just because of the process I've been going through. First edit/upload stuff for BA and copy them over to a database for SW, then pull certain images from that for another client, and then pull one or two of each player for MILB. So, by the time I get to MILB stuff and having to resize I just select as few as possible. I started doing all my description stuff for MILB in PS so it's taking awhile and I'm being pickier than I have ever been in my life :)

BTW, I recently started shooting for the local paper here and there, all baseball shots and all didn't have the ball in the frame at all. Also Jerry, sent you an email about the FSL.