Yu Darvish nearly Perfect Game

More pics on my blog, as well as some more commentary as to what I was thinking and why I shot the way I did.

Houston Editorial Photographer


I love the lines of the infield leading into Yu. Plus the isolation of him and no one near him.
1.

Great shots! I would have loved to been at last nights game. Definitely something that you don't see every day. Yu is a shaping up to be a great pitcher and he will go far.

Nice photos.

I just happened to be watching a video link on mlb.com and saw that hit that ended his perfect game. Oh what a disappointing way to lose one, but it was a heck of a performance.

Thomas, thanks for sharing. Do other photographers move out of the photo pit and take pictures through out the stadium? Does your press pass allow you to move just about anywhere the fans are?

Great work! Was that first photo used on ESPN's site? I was following the game on my phone & there was a photo that looked a lot like it as the headline photo.

RickyH wrote in post #15791339
Great work! Was that first photo used on ESPN's site? I was following the game on my phone & there was a photo that looked a lot like it as the headline photo.

It was used by them.

tmalone893 wrote in post #15790017
Thomas, thanks for sharing. Do other photographers move out of the photo pit and take pictures through out the stadium? Does your press pass allow you to move just about anywhere the fans are?

For Houston, I can go pretty much where ever I want as long as I dont bother fans. I don't know the rules about other stadiums.

So what do you guys think of my decision to go high and shoot really wide rather than get the tight shots of the last pitch?

I could have been pretty much anywhere I wanted in the stadium. I very intentionally chose where I was to document it. In fact, I spent most of the 7th and 8th innings fretting over my location, lens choice, framing, etc.

Sounds Like a great gig!

C.

Thomas Campbell wrote in post #15793733
So what do you guys think of my decision to go high and shoot really wide rather than get the tight shots of the last pitch?

A couple thoughts from me, although you can take them with a grain of salt. I definitely understand going high with the 400mm for the last shot, as you would be getting something different than other photogs there and would have a much cleaner shot.

I'm not sure how I feel about the wide shots with the scoreboard though. The portrait framing looks a little odd to me, and you have to search around on the scoreboard to figure out what's going on. Of course, had he completed the perfect game, and if the scoreboard flashed something like "PERFECT GAME" along with the Rangers going crazy and rushing the field, you might have had a money shot.

I would have been interested to see what the framing on a wider shot closer to or on field level on the third base side was. If you shot in landscape, you might have got scoreboard on the upper left side of the frame, and then had fans in right field/first base line as a backdrop to the team celebrating.

Great shots. For me #3 almost looks like two photos. the white LED scoreboard visually cuts the photo.

Is #2 also a shot of his last pitch? if so was this via a remote? if you were up in the stands to get the wide angle shot.

My thought is that I can get a clean shot of a pitcher from up there 162 times a year.

If you look at what SI runs, they run pics that tell a story.

The story is fans cheering him on, him pitching, and a bunch of zeros on the scoreboard. Granted, it isn't a classic wooden scoreboard and the LED thing definitely takes away from it.

Also, shooting that shot vertically let me fit in the scoreboard, fans and him. Also, the covers of magazines run vertically.

My plan was to shoot wide, switch to the 400 as players ran the field to celebrate, then in the huge pile, go wide again to get "PERFECT GAME" on the scoreboard if that happened.

Most fans moved down to the lower levels as the game progressed, so I couldn't get low enough to get a nice horizontal frame. I needed to get about halfway down in the stands to get that shot, and I wasn't willing to take the chance of not having a clean shot of the peak action.

I agree. That sucks. Can't really clone it out.

No, #2 is a shot from the third inning or so.

Thomas Campbell wrote in post #15793733
So what do you guys think of my decision to go high and shoot really wide rather than get the tight shots of the last pitch?

I could have been pretty much anywhere I wanted in the stadium. I very intentionally chose where I was to document it. In fact, I spent most of the 7th and 8th innings fretting over my location, lens choice, framing, etc.

I would like to see what a more midrange shot would look like. He's just so small in the frame, it could be anybody. I have no problem telling you that I think you do great work and I enjoy your sports stuff but these aren't my favorite shots of yours. Seem a bit underexposed too. I applaud you trying something different though.

elrey2375 wrote in post #15794650
I would like to see what a more midrange shot would look like. He's just so small in the frame, it could be anybody. I have no problem telling you that I think you do great work and I enjoy your sports stuff but these aren't my favorite shots of yours. Seem a bit underexposed too. I applaud you trying something different though.

Thanks.

A more mid-range shot isn't possible. It was field level, where I am in the concorse of deck 1 or in the upper deck level. I would have ideally liked to have been around the 15th row so I could zoom in more and get Yu as a bigger part of the frame. But that wasn't a possibility, unfortunately.

I just didn't want a tight regular pitcher shot like #2 as I think that you can definitely tell it is Yu, but it doesn't tell you the story of the historic moment.

I probably burned them too much. The ones running on the wire without my edits are a bit brighter. I just prefer to burn parts and dodge the subject more than most.

I like the idea behind the shot with the fans, scoreboard and pitcher. But the fans just seem to be sitting, not standing and cheering. The scoreboard is hard to follow and the pitcher is so small if you didn't know the situation you couldn't really tell by the pitcher. Plus was it a perfect game or just no hitter that he was going for? I know what it actually was but by looking at the scoreboard would someone else?

I really like the idea and it did put you in a great shot to get the crowd on their feet with the players on the field celebrating with Perfect game on the scoreboard. I'd send a note to Yu and tell him to just reach down better next time

You were in position if he caught that ball and sometimes all you can do is be prepared.

I found it ironic you referenced the Veseley story, because the photographer I spent my internship under was also shooting that game. He & Veseley had pretty much the same shot that made the SI cover, but Veseley had a vertical photo, while the other had the horizontal photo.

I don't know the layout of the sections in the stadium, but if it were an option, I would have tried to shoot between 3rd & home plate (closer to home), vertical, so I could get the pitching motion & the scoreboard as well. It still tells the story, similar to the Buehrle cover photo, but from the opposite side.