3rd Attempt at Baseball, Mainly Pitchers

My college hosted the NAIA Atlantic South Baseball Super Regionals.

Evening game, best of 3 series, tonight was the 1st game, so i decided to concentrate on the pitchers, and tomorrow I can do the batters.

Here are some of my favorite from the day. EXIF Data intact, cropped, NN and USM

1.)

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5.)

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Fun fun. Shooting in the middle of the night is no joy. You really like the pitchers, eh?

EDIT: Well thats what I get for reading late at night. Pictures are ok. Nothing great though. Why are you focusing on just the pitchers and batters? Theres a lot more to a baseball game than just those two positions and it normally ends up being a lot less boring too!

Hey Adam,

yeah, I'm trying to get some "stock" images so that I could do some poster types. I just started shooting baseball, so I want to learn the timings and anticipate stuff. Learning how they move and all

I know, there's more interesting stuff, at the 2nd game tomorrow night, I will be watching and hopefully catching some plays.

I want to get good shots that I can put in the school newspaper, but also exciting play shots that I can learn and show as portfolio

For what it's worth:

1 - I've never been a big fan of this angle. That said, it would work better for me if it was cropped tighter on the left and on top. Not a big fan of the timing either, as it puts the pitcher's arm in a funky and unattractive position. Since the yellow cap on the outfield fence is the main line in the picture, I'd use that as the horizon.

2 - Pretty much the same as above, but this time your timing has his throwing arm hidden around his body.

3 - I like it. Maybe crop it so it's an upper body-only shot?

4 - Strong, clean image for the conditions. The motion blur works well to me.

5 - Good stuff. Now fix the horizon.

6 - I like the timing better on this one. However, the framing is a little off.

7 - Solid. Good elements here: timing; facial expression

8 - Horizon, horizon, horizon. Fixing the horizon is the first thing I do before cropping and PP work in Photoshop. Like #3, maybe this one would benefit from a upper body-only crop?

Hey Ronnie,

thanx, Woah, I didn't notice the horizon until you pointed it out, will take a look at them.

saw #1, 2 and 6 style of shots in MLB's website, so wanted to learn to recreate it. Kinda hard cause the timing is almost the same as a BOB shot, plus, I learned that not all pitchers can be framed in that angle.

i will watch my cropping too, the main reason the images here are cropped the way they are, because they go up to my site for sale too, so it's a 2x3 crop.

thanx for your detailed C&C,

I think #1 just needs to be shot from a different angle. Its very asymmetrical right now. Maybe try and look into that next time.

second set of pics are nice. i would crop a little tighter and maybe not cut off the legs if you can help it.. i just started shooting baseball also and its fun but you have to be quick.. you can fall asleep waiting for something to happen and then all of a sudden a big play and you missed it lol.

will try, most them that have their legs cut off are as shot, with the 300. it's kinda weird, in landscape orientation, I have front and back space to frame the players but no head and leg space, then i tried portriat orientation, i have head and leg space, but no front and back space, and i cut off their arms, I figured it's better to cut off legs shooting in landscape than in portrait, since i can better turn them into 1/2 body shots.

malevy wrote in post #5532100
second set of pics are nice. i would crop a little tighter and maybe not cut off the legs if you can help it.. i just started shooting baseball also and its fun but you have to be quick.. you can fall asleep waiting for something to happen and then all of a sudden a big play and you missed it lol.

will keep that in mind, thanx Adam,

the little crawl space i found for myself that puts me right in front of the pitcher is a little tight for me and 2 bodies.

still learning baseball and i found that not all pitchers can yield shots from that angle, well, everyone else(the non photographers) likes it, but they're not us

non of my team's pitchers throw like #8, so I got to learn the angle on the fly to get shots of them like that.

AdamLewis wrote in post #5530402
I think #1 just needs to be shot from a different angle. Its very asymmetrical right now. Maybe try and look into that next time.

Off to shoot Game 2, I hope to get some nice play/action shots.

Hey i like your to buy list the 300 and 400 2.8 i just dont know which one to buy i cant afford both of them obviously and probably wont buy either one right now but i keep thinking about it haha.. one of these days im going to plop that american express down and walk out with one of those lenses meanwhile the 70-200 2.8 will work fine.

Aaagogo wrote in post #5532230
will try, most them that have their legs cut off are as shot, with the 300. it's kinda weird, in landscape orientation, I have front and back space to frame the players but no head and leg space, then i tried portriat orientation, i have head and leg space, but no front and back space, and i cut off their arms, I figured it's better to cut off legs shooting in landscape than in portrait, since i can better turn them into 1/2 body shots.

will keep that in mind, thanx Adam,

the little crawl space i found for myself that puts me right in front of the pitcher is a little tight for me and 2 bodies.

still learning baseball and i found that not all pitchers can yield shots from that angle, well, everyone else(the non photographers) likes it, but they're not us

non of my team's pitchers throw like #8, so I got to learn the angle on the fly to get shots of them like that.

Off to shoot Game 2, I hope to get some nice play/action shots.

what body do you have and what do you primarily shoot?

malevy wrote in post #5532276
Hey i like your to buy list the 300 and 400 2.8 i just dont know which one to buy i cant afford both of them obviously and probably wont buy either one right now but i keep thinking about it haha.. one of these days im going to plop that american express down and walk out with one of those lenses meanwhile the 70-200 2.8 will work fine.

Have you ever tried shooting down on the pitcher by going up in the stands? It's different viewpoint and provides a clean background. I do that quite a bit for a lot of Fresno State games. You might have to crop a little more with a 300mm, but that lens is so sharp it doesn't hurt. I do like a lot of the stuff you have already, though. --Joe

there's no higher ground in the little stadium that my college has, only good and maybe different place i can think off is above the dugouts, but the school might look at it as a safety issue.

Aaagogo wrote in post #5542496
there's no higher ground in the little stadium that my college has, only good and maybe different place i can think off is above the dugouts, but the school might look at it as a safety issue.

Yea, I shoot above the dugouts typically. They do not have any issues here with shooting there. But I usually go well up into the seats to shoot down for that shot after I get the dugout angle shots. I wasn't mentioning these things b/c I think you're pictures were bad, it was a suggestion someone had made to me not that long ago and thought it could be useful. Take care! --Joe

oh, no worries Joe, i like your suggestion of above the dugouts, i think it goes to show that I wasn't crazy when i suggest to my school that I want to climb above and shoot from the top of the dugout.

always looking for constructive comments and suggestions. We're all learning and sharing info

vwjoe76 wrote in post #5543121
Yea, I shoot above the dugouts typically. They do not have any issues here with shooting there. But I usually go well up into the seats to shoot down for that shot after I get the dugout angle shots. I wasn't mentioning these things b/c I think you're pictures were bad, it was a suggestion someone had made to me not that long ago and thought it could be useful. Take care! --Joe