Cape Cod Baseball League All-Star Game - Fenway Park

This was a great event and a chance to sit anywhere in Fenway for $10!

#1 Ricky Oropesa (USC) (Chatham Anglers) hitting in the Home Run Derby

Nice shots. Where were you seated?

40Driggs wrote in post #10651268
Nice shots. Where were you seated?

Thank you. I headed straight for the first row behind the photo well (next to the home dugout).

Great shots

Cdellama wrote in post #10651375
Great shots

Thanks very much!

Josh, great images. I am particularly amazed at the third one and its not the action, or exposure but the DOF that I can't understand (also I have to assume you didn't stay at the home dugout as this slide was into second). Seriously, at f2.8 how did you manage to get the runner's hands (take your pick) and the shortstop's right in both in focus? You have to be talking about 2' plus distance between them and with the 300 from the first base side, it just doesn't seem possible to have so much DOF. I'm not questioning it, I sincerely would love to know what your focus was on to achieve this since it can sometime ruin an otherwise great photo when you have multiple athletes at varying differences in the same image. Congrats on a job well done on that.

namasste wrote in post #10654935
Josh, great images. I am particularly amazed at the third one and its not the action, or exposure but the DOF that I can't understand (also I have to assume you didn't stay at the home dugout as this slide was into second). Seriously, at f2.8 how did you manage to get the runner's hands (take your pick) and the shortstop's right in both in focus? You have to be talking about 2' plus distance between them and with the 300 from the first base side, it just doesn't seem possible to have so much DOF. I'm not questioning it, I sincerely would love to know what your focus was on to achieve this since it can sometime ruin an otherwise great photo when you have multiple athletes at varying differences in the same image. Congrats on a job well done on that.

Thank you Scott. Your points are well-taken and I wish I had a better technical answer for you. I can only tell you how the shot evolved and correct your assumption regarding my positioning. I spent the entire game (save for the 9th inning, but this shot was taken earlier in the game) in one of 2 seats. There are four seats directly adjacent to the 1st base dugout, then an aisle and four more seats. That second section is roughly the center of the photo well. I started the game in the 4th seat of that second section and then moved to the first seat, where this photo was taken from. Thus I was 5 seats (+aisle) from the dugout, either hand-holding or using the photo well railing as my "monopod."

I was sitting with a very nice family who took an interest in my camera/lens/technique and I was explaining how I try to anticipate the action based on the situation. For this particular shot, there was a runner on first and less than 2 outs. There was a left-handed hitter at bat and I was focused on the second baseman with AI Servo, hoping for the batter to pull the ball on the ground. I had just told the gentleman next to me what I was doing - so he yelled "he's going" when the runner broke for second on a steal attempt. I swung around to the shortstop and started firing as he moved to the bag to receive the throw. I was glad (and surprised) that focus didn't shift to the runner and I knew my total depth of field would be very slim - but I was very pleased with the outcome. I know that doesn't explain the seemingly improbable outcome, but I can't think of another way to explain it without some actual measurements.

-Josh

you have some great shots there, good job! I especially like the second shot, not sure why it stands out to me, but probably because of his cool socks :P

jsimbol wrote in post #10655931
you have some great shots there, good job! I especially like the second shot, not sure why it stands out to me, but probably because of his cool socks :P

Thank you! I thought those socks were awesome too. I saw a lot of cool uniforms while checking out the Cape league.

namasste wrote in post #10654935
Josh, great images. I am particularly amazed at the third one and its not the action, or exposure but the DOF that I can't understand (also I have to assume you didn't stay at the home dugout as this slide was into second). Seriously, at f2.8 how did you manage to get the runner's hands (take your pick) and the shortstop's right in both in focus? You have to be talking about 2' plus distance between them and with the 300 from the first base side, it just doesn't seem possible to have so much DOF. I'm not questioning it, I sincerely would love to know what your focus was on to achieve this since it can sometime ruin an otherwise great photo when you have multiple athletes at varying differences in the same image. Congrats on a job well done on that.

He was more than 100' away, so even at f2.8, I would think he'd have several feet of DOF.