Baseball: Ball-in-frame/Ball-on-bat

[ajaffe]

Originally Posted by elrey2375

in a D1 game I probably shoot around 800-1000 frames

Of what?

[elrey2375]

Originally Posted by ajaffe

Of what?

All kinds of stuff. It's baseball, sometimes you have to entertain yourself. I get a shot of every pitcher, let's say they use 4. I get the sequence from straight on, one from slightly off center, one from each side. By the time you do that you've got 50 shots of each guy, so that's 200 on the low end. By the time you get shots of each batter, every time they bat, let's say you get 20 shots of each guy, and they bat 4 times, thats' 36 at bats at 20 shots each which is 720 and that's not counting any action in the field and I'm already at 920. Need I go on?

PS. it's also different if you're just doing it for yourself versus anything else. I'm getting paid to cover these games so I treat it differently. There's no way I would take that many shots if it was just for pleasure.

[burnet44]

I hear ya
I shoot a ton and aint getting paid
Im sure its different when ya are
you want to get every shot and toss the bad ones
I have shot the same way when possible

good info on the pitchers
most of the HS will use 1 or 2 pitchers
sb basically you have one girl

I shot 4 innings last night
Ill get them up I hope
by the time I work all day shoot edit its 1 am
and I got to be at work at 6
wish this was paying more lol

[waterdawg]

A bit off topic, but a question for photogs that shoot baseball often. When taking pictures of defensive plays, do you set up on a defensive player and hope, "scout the hitter" to see where he normally puts the ball in play, or pick up the ball off the bat and shoot accordingly? I have had some success picking the ball up off the bat, but this has been in mostly little league and 9-10u travel ball where the ball normally isn't moving super fast. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Chuck

[burnet44]

great shot
heck if it work who cares
good job

I have an idea where the ball is maybe 30-40% if the time
my eyes are getting bad
I shoot in dungens and caves and no one has new white balls (no pun intended)
basically they are green and brown from use

last week I almost took one to the body
I dont move as fast as I used to either

great tip if it works

I do cheat when they warm up between innings
Ill shoot a coupla of action shots
especally when throwing
no one can tell they were between innings
especially throwing to first

sold many of them
only action many get during a stand around game

[elrey2375]

Originally Posted by waterdawg

A bit off topic, but a question for photogs that shoot baseball often. When taking pictures of defensive plays, do you set up on a defensive player and hope, "scout the hitter" to see where he normally puts the ball in play, or pick up the ball off the bat and shoot accordingly? I have had some success picking the ball up off the bat, but this has been in mostly little league and 9-10u travel ball where the ball normally isn't moving super fast. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Chuck

For that age group, picking it up off the bat might work but for me personally, there's no way I would ever get a defensive play doing it that way. I pick a side of the field or a player and just keep that focused. But yes, if the pitcher is throwing a lot of off speed stuff that will be pulled or fastballs that batters might be late on, I use that info accordingly. Nice shot btw, I would probably crop it just a tad bit more on the right.

[Brian_R]

excellent post. i agree 100% that for almost all sports a well timed image is much better than 20 shots of a burst series with only 1 being just ok but not fantastic. i do have burst on when shooting soccer or basketball but find myself taking more single shots than bursts of shots.

tennis and golf i dont even turn burst on and i use burst for track and field but not for any field events.

[elrey2375]

Originally Posted by Brian_R

excellent post. i agree 100% that for almost all sports a well timed image is much better than 20 shots of a burst series with only 1 being just ok but not fantastic. i do have burst on when shooting soccer or basketball but find myself taking more single shots than bursts of shots.

tennis and golf i dont even turn burst on and i use burst for track and field but not for any field events.

I agree, but just to play devil's advocate; there's no way, unless someone tells you, if a shot is part of a series or simply well-timed. As a rule, I always have burst on because something could happen at any time and I don't want to bother with switching it, but I generally fire in 2 or 3 frame bursts most of the time.

[burnet44]

I know small image
crooked OOF

but hey as bad as mine are this might actually be better

[burnet44]

why do they look better on my puter?
low res?

and I dont know how to fix that

[ajaffe]

Originally Posted by elrey2375

All kinds of stuff. It's baseball, sometimes you have to entertain yourself. I get a shot of every pitcher, let's say they use 4. I get the sequence from straight on, one from slightly off center, one from each side. By the time you do that you've got 50 shots of each guy, so that's 200 on the low end. By the time you get shots of each batter, every time they bat, let's say you get 20 shots of each guy, and they bat 4 times, thats' 36 at bats at 20 shots each which is 720 and that's not counting any action in the field and I'm already at 920. Need I go on?

PS. it's also different if you're just doing it for yourself versus anything else. I'm getting paid to cover these games so I treat it differently. There's no way I would take that many shots if it was just for pleasure.

My question may have come off as gruff, apologies. I was moreso trying to express my true interest in what you are shooting. I am a soccer guy first and foremost so I "get" that sport. But with baseball and softball I have found myself getting into a rut in terms of thinking outside of the box to shoot more creatively after I have gotten the stock style stuff.

So you shoot every swing and pitch?




As far as shooting bases goes, I prefocus and prezoom with my 70-200 on second base, or whatever base I want, so that when I transition from the 400 it is in the "ballpark" of where I want to be already making it easier to lock focus and get a good composition.

[burnet44]

good tip

[elrey2375]

Originally Posted by ajaffe

My question may have come off as gruff, apologies. I was moreso trying to express my true interest in what you are shooting. I am a soccer guy first and foremost so I "get" that sport. But with baseball and softball I have found myself getting into a rut in terms of thinking outside of the box to shoot more creatively after I have gotten the stock style stuff.

So you shoot every swing and pitch?




As far as shooting bases goes, I prefocus and prezoom with my 70-200 on second base, or whatever base I want, so that when I transition from the 400 it is in the "ballpark" of where I want to be already making it easier to lock focus and get a good composition.

Not literally every swing and pitch, but a majority of them. I'm being paid good money to be out there, just feels like I'm slacking off otherwise. Keeps me busy and I like the routine I've developed.

[burnet44]

good move
I shoot just about every pitch
ya never know what ya gonna miss huh

I need to develope a better routine

thanks elray

[ajaffe]

Originally Posted by elrey2375

Not literally every swing and pitch, but a majority of them. I'm being paid good money to be out there, just feels like I'm slacking off otherwise. Keeps me busy and I like the routine I've developed.

Ah ok. Do you submit them all or just one or two of each angle with different crops? It kind of makes me shudder to think of the hard drive space MLB guys have to deal with.