Varsity Baseball

Man, are they that bad?

Hey Cole,
Good to see another Rochester shooter on these forums. All photos except the last pic look sharp and in focus. If I could nitpick, all the photos need a tighter crop to eliminate some dead space. #3 is a throwaway and #4 just fix the horizon leveling out using the mound/feet of the pitcher. Maybe I will see you at one of the games. Do you shoot a certain team (Brighton or McQuaid) as a parent or friend?

chris270 wrote in post #12245172
Hey Cole,
Good to see another Rochester shooter on these forums. All photos except the last pic look sharp and in focus. If I could nitpick, all the photos need a tighter crop to eliminate some dead space. #3 is a throwaway and #4 just fix the horizon leveling out using the mound/feet of the pitcher. Maybe I will see you at one of the games. Do you shoot a certain team (Brighton or McQuaid) as a parent or friend?

Thank you. Actually, I go to McQuaid (I'm a senior). Depending on who you shoot for, maybe I will see you around. I'm friendly, haha.

Crop tighter.

#1 is awesome...from the third base dugout unfortunately. #2 is good stock if tighter. The catchers glove adds nothing so crop away. #3 is a delete. I see what you were doing there but I'd dump it. #4 and 5 are again good stock but need horizon adjustments. #5 could add 1/3 ec in post for sure as well. #6 is one of those, great timing, meh image kinda pics for me. Not really your fault just that you were able to grab a shot that you weren't perfectly positioned for. It happens, so no biggie, there'll be plenty like that where you are and those will be your winners.

I will go back through and recrop all these images, as well as adjusting a couple horizons and bumping up the brightness on a couple. By the way, they were all taken from the first base dug out It was my first baseball game I've shot, but it won't be my last!

Cole_Schmitt wrote in post #12248254
I will go back through and recrop all these images, as well as adjusting a couple horizons and bumping up the brightness on a couple. By the way, they were all taken from the first base dug out It was my first baseball game I've shot, but it won't be my last!

I think you'll like them much better with those changes Cole. Keep up the good work!

Agree with Scott... for using an XTI you did really well. You need to get your timing down just a little bit better. With that camera, learn to anticipate. Follow the action. Be patient. Best thing I ever did was learn to shoot baseball by shooting film (with just one roll).

Don't be afraid to move around. Stand down the first or third base line (in foul territory) if the umps will allow you. That's actually the first thing I would do. Speak to the home plate umpire before the game. Introduce yourself, tell him what you are doing and ask if they have any problems with you standing in certain areas. They may be reluctant at first. Once they get to know you, your accessibility will increase greatly.

That was the biggest challenge - timing. I just couldn't get it down. Either the ball was in the catchers glove, wasn't in the frame yet, or was already out in the air heading for the outfield. Frustrating, but I will get it down eventually.

Thanks, guys!

Cole, if I can offer a suggestion for practicing...put the camera in servo focus, single shot (no burst) mode. Obviously, you'll want to take advantage of bursts at some point but while you perfect your timing, treat it as if you only have one shot at each image. Once you consistently start nailing focus and action like that, you'll be in fat city once you go back to multiple frames although I bet you'll find you bursts are far fewer frames after. I rarely shoot more than 3 frames of any given moment (sometimes, but not often and I anticipate that I'll need a larger burst ahead of time, ie fast break, goal line stance, runner stealing a base when I figured he would).

We each have our style so whatever gets it done for you but learning timing as I suggest should ultimately really pay off in the long run for you.

Was just gonna do McQuads game not too long ago before heading over to Frontier (or maybe it was after) but it was rained out, not sure who they were playing - least I think it was them. As for timing, it's all about watching the hitter when you want the ball in frame for his swing, it's tougher out here as hitters are less practiced and tend to start late so you can't read them as easily. Takes awhile to get in a groove, still not in one and have already covered almost 80 teams this year!

1,2,3 - personally I'd delete them all. 1 just because where he is in the swing and how his body is, for shots like that it's better with the bat fully extended or waiting till he's coming out of the box. 2 let's just say a bouncer back to the pitcher isn't very good. 3 because it has nothing really. 6 is oof and hides his face. Other two just crop tighter and good to go, and Joe has some good advice there.

I like all of the first five, other than #3. #6 is a bit out of focus, but overall the pictures look great.

I completely forgot that they still use metal bats in HS upstate.

They use metal bats in high school everywhere.

Joe Cyr wrote in post #12271209
They use metal bats in high school everywhere.

There's still some wood bat leagues in high school. Shot a game down in Florida last year and they were all using wood, asked a parent and they said the entire league was wood bat only. Might of been just the league and once in states could switch, didn't get that far into the conversation. Few years ago though there was a slight push for the local league to go to all wood bats as well, won't happen, but few were trying for it.