Softball portraits

kind of got a bit burned on this deal, but oh well live and learn. took some shots for part of the team here is two. what do you guys think.

cute girl! placing your model off center will be beneficial to the images. Also a tighter crop would be great! other than that - cute

I think the lighting is pretty harsh. Pretty good DOF though.

I've taken more than my share of sports photos over the years...some for a professional company, and some for my daughters team. So I'll give you my .02. Looks like you tried to find shade, although it's a bit splotchy. Not much you can do if there's no true shade. Top photo...that doesn't look like a natural pose. Usually when batting the have their knees bent...not slouched...leaning slightly forward. Instead of this pose, how about a casual one with the bat tipped against her far shoulder..body at a 45 degree angle. This brings her bat down so you don't have to decide whether to crop it or include that much extra space above. Also helps if they have buttons made, or the Wheaties box cover. Bottom pose..turn her body slightly so you see her side. That way her shoes don't appear as "ears".

A couple of things. Doing softball poses in a place obviously not a softball field has an internal conflict that just doesnt work. You've got bad light here and that trumps everything. In the first one she is soft, I cant tell whether its a focus problem or a shutter speed problem. How did you get burned on the deal? I'm from Springfield too..

gonzogolf wrote in post #8387827
A couple of things. Doing softball poses in a place obviously not a softball field has an internal conflict that just doesnt work. You've got bad light here and that trumps everything. In the first one she is soft, I cant tell whether its a focus problem or a shutter speed problem. How did you get burned on the deal? I'm from Springfield too..

I could not agree with this MORE.

Background is important. Common people don't have a clue what is wrong when they see a picture of a ball player in front of bushes or what not, but the conflict is there and it's a "feel" thing. The background should re-enforce the theme which in this case is softball. These examples I'm afraid do not. Also, the bright background also competes with the subject for attention, even though it's blurred out. Sorry

thanks guys, yeah the shoot in a whole was not ideal. I wanted to do it in the morning or late afternoon to try to get away from the harsh light which they "the parents" did not want to do. so it was bad to start mid day and almost no clouds. I thought about the field and went and took a test shot the lighting was even worst than in these shots. Then to top it off the whole team was supposed to show up and about six did. So right off the bat i knew i wasn't going to make any money, which i didn't. The team really didn't know how to play ball so trying to get them to do a correct stance was impossible.

and Gonzogolf basically i made 7 bucks for about four hours worth of work, I shot a game for action shots as well. The league had talked about bringing me on for all the photos, but after making 7 bucks i will pass not worth, my time. I tried to tell then several times that mid day doesn't work at all for photos, but they didn't want to listen.