My First Attempt At Baseball Photography

[710 Studio]

May 7, 2009 - Shelby Tigers vs. Holton Devils (Michigan).

This is my first attempt at shooting baseball, so be kind with any C&C. But, if you have any pointers to help improve my craft, I'm open to them!

He Swings...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3341/3511877048_e0d8558ba9_o.jpg

Base Hit...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3390/3511065103_128a67e324_o.jpg

Narrow Miss (if you look under his leading foot, you can see the ball he's jumping away from)...
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3332/3511064579_1a605799c7_o.jpg

These shots were a blast to grab, regardless how good or bad they may be. I'm just happy that summer sports are in full swing (no pun intended... really)!

[laster]

Well, I would say that you have the timing thing down pretty good. :cool:
You do need to watch your horizon - check the fence in the background. Also, you might like the results if you open up the aperture a bit and dial in a little more shutter speed.

[samdodson]

As laster pointed out in the previous post, you have a nice timing, but I would suggest trying to capture cleaner backgrounds. Next time try experimenting with different shooting locations (first base, second base) and unique angles. As always, the best way to improve is practice!

[710 Studio]

LASTER - Yeah... I noticed the background thing. I am used to portraiture, where I am RELIGIOUS about making sure my backgrounds are straight. I was so worried about grabbing the timing that my backgrounds got away from me. Good advice about playing with the aperture and shutter speed. I was worried about having the aperture too wide, so it stayed pretty static through the 103+ shots I took. Thanks!

SAMDODSON - You're only seeing 3 of the 103 shots I took. My favorite 3 are what you see, above. In actuality, I shot from all over the park (1st base, 3rd base, behind home, etc). I have some good shots of the pitcher making some interesting faces while throwing the ball, but I didn't feel they were as post-worthy as what I posted above. Now, as for cleaner background... what exactly do you mean (less blurry, more blurry, things in background, and so forth)? Your advice on how to improve (practice)... I am taking that completely to heart. Now that I have shot my first game, I have a very strong feeling that I have been bitten by the bug... badly!!! I am looking forward to the next game... heh heh heh

Thanks for the input, both of you!

[BenJohnson]

Those look very sharp! I always thought my Sigma 70-300 APO made good images while
I had it. I personally would have shot at about double that shutter speed to freeze the
bat/ball more. A lens with a wider aperture would help you blur out the background a lot
more (and get higher shutter speeds at lower ISO) :D

[Sledhed]

1/800th is too slow for baseball, open up your lens (if you can) or raise your ISO to get some more shutter speed. The saying in sports photography is to shoot tight and crop tighter.

[710 Studio]

Those look very sharp! I always thought my Sigma 70-300 APO made good images while
I had it. I personally would have shot at about double that shutter speed to freeze the
bat/ball more. A lens with a wider aperture would help you blur out the background a lot
more (and get higher shutter speeds at lower ISO) :D

Yeah... I wish I could have afforded the f/2.4! I priced it out, but in my current financial state, it was WAYYYYYY over my head. I'm hoping to pull in some good senior portrait sessions, this year, to help things along. But really, that APO is a nice lens, now that I figured out what was screwing me up, earlier! As for freezing the bat and ball, I took a queue from a helicopter I shot, once. I was told that moving parts should always show blur. So, taking that advice, I applied it to baseball. In one way, I do like the blur... it shows which way the motion is happening. On the other hand, it would look really awesome to have things frozen in place. Something to play with!

SLEDHED - As mentioned to BENJOHNSON, I took a queue from shooting a helicoptor that moving parts should always show blur (to give a feeling of motion). So, I am taking it that the exception is for baseball where freezing everything is desireable. Good thing to know and apply on my next outing (which I really hope is soon... this was fun!).

[Big K]

I think you did a nice job for your first outing. You obviously are good with your camera settings and had sound reasoning for the things you did with the equipment you have.

The reason I would suggest a faster shutter speed like 1/1600 is not so much to stop the bat and ball but to be sure that you minimize any motion blur in the face. Even at 1/1600 at the angle you shot these you would still have motion blur from the bat and the ball.

[710 Studio]

BIG K - Very true. Surprisingly, this was especially evident in the shots I took of the pitchers. There were a surprising number of shots that were just a bit on the soft side... not because of focus, but because of very subtle motion blur. I find it doesn't take a whole lot of motion to cause a shot to lose sharpness! Can't wait to give this another try (little league season is just around the corner in my neck of the woods!).

[Joe Cyr]

Daniel, for a first attempt these are not bad at all. Your exposures are spot on. I would disregard the "things in motion should be blurred" line of thinking for sports photography. Freezing the ball, the bat, the dirt pile when someone slides, etc.. is what makes the sports photo great IMO.

Even with a MKIII at 10 frames a second, getting the ball on the bat is not as easy as you would think.

For batters, try turning the camera and shoot vertically. With the camera turned, you can keep one eye open to see the pitcher as he is delivering the ball to better help with your timing.

Keep at it.

[710 Studio]

JOE CYR - That "things in motion should be blurred" line of thinking, as stated earlier, was from a helicopter shot I took. In fact, the blades were so sharp that I was accused of copying a grounded bird from one photo and pasting it in my shot. I STOPPED those blades! =] I figure, if I can stop blades of a flying copter, stopping human-controlled motion should be no problem at all. One thing for certain, though... all of this good advice is fanning the flame. I am looking forward to the next game!

[Harleypugs]

Not sure if anyone else mentioned this...but you need to watch your cropping.

There is not need to have the catchers mit or all the negative space in front of the batter.

[canonnoob]

as stated you really should crop tighter... also.. up your shutter speed..

I noticed noone had said this yet but your exposure looks spot on though.

[710 Studio]

HARLEYPUGS & CANONNOOB - These shots are straight out of the camera - no post production of any sort. Of course, if these were for print, I would have taken the time to crop them and "pretty them up", a bit.

As for the exposure, thanks! It was getting a bit tricky near the end of shooting. The sun was ducking behind thin clouds along with the dark uniform (which the built-in meter wanted to register as way under-exposed)... I pretty much had to eye-ball it from the results on the camera. If the surrounding dirt, or the white of the uniform pants looked too bright, I would just adjust downward from there. Overall, the exposure turned out pretty decent under some tricky broken-cloud situations.

[canonnoob]

I know what it is like when the sun is hiding... I gotcha on the no post processing stuff.. didnt know if you were going to crop or not.

[jerokaz]

Nice shots. Tighter crops would work as well as the traditional ump, catcher, hitter pic. Very nice first shots. I'm inspired to go out and shoot some baseball.

[Harleypugs]

HARLEYPUGS & CANONNOOB - These shots are straight out of the camera - no post production of any sort. Of course, if these were for print, I would have taken the time to crop them and "pretty them up", a bit.



I think I would get in the habit of posting pics as you would if the viewers were the clients.

You mentioned you took 100 or so pics from around the field...let's see different views. You say these are SOC...well let's see what you would consider a final product.

I mean don't get me wrong but it seams strange asking for advice when we haven't seen your best work or the final product.

But that is just me...;)

[710 Studio]

JEROKAZ - If I remember correctly, I think I do have a ump/catcher/batter shot. I'll have to dig through them, again, and see if I kept it. I just remember my wife having a good laugh, because of the ump's rear end being a very prominent part of the shot! I believe there is another home game on Monday... may have to do some more shooting around.

HARLEYPUGS - Not that strange at all, really. Why waste a bunch of time cropping, tidying up, and other such things when all I'm after is some good eyes to tell me how the photos are, as is. I mean, really... why fix up my first attempts when they are, after all, first attempts. You know... a way to learn what I should strive for on my next attempts? You gotta start somewhere, right?

[fslshooter]

Baseball happens to be one of the very few sports where capturing the ball in the frame is less important than capturing good faces -- especially of offensive players. I also disagree with those who feel that all action must be frozen. I prefer to capture action the way I see it and I can't see the seams on most baseballs in flight nor can I see the tip end of the bat in mid swing. Thus, I prefer to shoot at a shutter speed that does not freeze the ball in flight nor all the bat in swing. I suggest you use a shutter speed that shows motion the way you see it, concentrate on capturing good, sharp faces and forget about bat on ball shots (after you've got a few of these they'll all look about the same anyway -- the ball's there in the frame but more often than not you'll get a good shot of the batter's helmet but little or none of his face).

[DD974]

1/2000 or 1/2500 SS for older teens will freeze the ball...but high ISOs are not avoidable.