Intense Catcher

I took these in Ohio while visiting. It's my wife's Great Nephew. I used a Canon 40D and my 70-200 F4 IS. I blurred the background in post processing using Alien Skins Brokeh. Where I was and how close he was to the background and the the lens I was using. I couldn't blur the background much so I did the next best thing.

nice shots, like the blurred background, makes the kid pop out

i would like to see tighter crop, nice picture

The blurred background looks a little too fake. Look at the grass, the difference between "focus" is jarring.

I do love baseball shots though!

"background looks a little too fake"
It is fake. I used the clone stamp tool to help with the grass in front of the fence. I guess I could have done a better job with it.

Here's the original, right out of the camera. Nothing done to it, other than resized it. The other I straightened the horizon, zoomed in a bit, adjusted some levels and contrast and blurred the background.

The fake blur really helps the original pic. My only recommendation would be to feather the blur lines so it is a more gradual transition. Overall it you have improved the picture. Good action shot of an intense little boy.

jase1125 wrote in post #14599018
The fake blur really helps the original pic. My only recommendation would be to feather the blur lines so it is a more gradual transition. Overall it you have improved the picture. Good action shot of an intense little boy.

I agree with the above comment and with the idea that a tighter crop would also help. Longer focal lengths help but as we all know, they cost a few $$$. Overall, I like it. Thumbs up.

have to agree w/ Phil and jase1125.
as the pro's say...shoot tight and crop tighter.
but, as well, nice image, IMHO.
B

Nice job post processing.

Joemt.

Thanks for your responses. It was a makeup game and only two innings long.