# First Baseball Shots



## keith204 (Jun 4, 2008)

I was pretty impressed with the way these turned out.  I don't know what baseball moms like, so please give me some helpful compliments and helpful advice.

1.






2.





3.





4.





5.





6.





7.





8.





9.





Whelp, tell me what you think!  Give both goods & bads please


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## RKW3 (Jun 4, 2008)

Great shots. The only crit I can give is that #3 looks a bit washed out.

I bet the baseball moms will be all over these.


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## keith204 (Jun 4, 2008)

RKW3 said:


> Great shots. The only crit I can give is that #3 looks a bit washed out.
> 
> I bet the baseball moms will be all over these.


 
 I was waiting for somebody to point that out.  It's a little soft around his face.  

90% of my shots were taken through the fence.  The 2.8 just blurs it out real well.  In #3, that washed out part is a fence wire.  You can sort of see it starting at the top-middle, and going down towards the bottom-right.  It's a real thick grayish light blur.


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## Heck (Jun 4, 2008)

I Think you did great. Lots of interesting angles. # 6 almost looks posed lol. I see it got kinda dark..were you using flash in the last photo?


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## JimmyO (Jun 4, 2008)

You got some profesh stuff right here, nice work.


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## kundalini (Jun 4, 2008)

Heck said:


> # 6 almost looks posed lol.


My thoughts exactly, but still funny as hell.

Great shots dude.


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## Yahoozy (Jun 4, 2008)

hahahahahahah number 6 is awesome!
great stuff man i love em all =D


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## keith204 (Jun 5, 2008)

Heck said:


> I Think you did great. Lots of interesting angles. # 6 almost looks posed lol. I see it got kinda dark..were you using flash in the last photo?



No flash anywhere here.


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## Crosby (Jun 5, 2008)

#4 looks like it should have some type of logo or something. It could be a cool Ad poster. You should get a release from the parents and sell that shot.

Nice pics.


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## 250Gimp (Jun 5, 2008)

All great shots!!  

I would like to see the enitre bat in #3 and maybe punch up the colours a bit on it as well.


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## keith204 (Jun 5, 2008)

Thanks for the advice, Gimp!

Today I'm getting in my Canon 2x mkII Teleconverter for my 70-200 2.8L IS.  Once I do that, I'll go shoot another game and will post those pictures.


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## Jeff Canes (Jun 5, 2008)

keith204 said:


> Thanks for the advice, Gimp!
> 
> Today I'm getting in my Canon 2x mkII Teleconverter for my 70-200 2.8L IS.  Once I do that, I'll go shoot another game and will post those pictures.



i have that same set, the 2x coverter need good light or shot may seen a little soft




keith204 said:


> I was waiting for somebody to point that out.  It's a little soft around his face.
> 
> 90% of my shots were taken through the fence. The 2.8 just blurs it out real well. In #3, that washed out part is a fence wire. You can sort of see it starting at the top-middle, and going down towards the bottom-right. It's a real thick grayish light blur.



That&#8217;s from a clean fence, look of a rusty or dark shooting spot in the fence


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## keith204 (Jun 5, 2008)

Jeff Canes said:


> i have that same set, the 2x coverter need good light or shot may seen a little soft
> 
> Thats from a clean fence, look a rusty or dark shooting spot


 
Yeah I saw some results and at f/5.6 it's a little soft, but it still looked usable.  At f/8 or above it looked very nice.  I'd like to be able to get some better shots of the outfielders.  Parents of the outfielder kids never have good action shots, because they can't get near close enough to take them.  I figure the 2x will come in very useful in the bright daylight, but at night I'll be using the 70-200 @ f/2.8 and cropping more.

The second statement confused me, what about a rusty or dark spot?


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## Jeff Canes (Jun 5, 2008)

keith204 said:


> -The second statement confused me, -



Me too , That haze look is likely light relaxing off the fence, so a darker (rusted or unclean) area of fence should relaxed less light.


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## keith204 (Jun 5, 2008)

Jeff Canes said:


> Me too , That haze look is likely light relaxing off the fence, so a darker (rusted or unclean) area of fence should relaxed less light.


 
Wow, that's an excellent idea!  There were some rusty fences around, and that would totally make sense.

Here's a question for you guys...

*If you were a baseball mom, which photos (of the above) would you buy?*


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## Jeff Canes (Jun 5, 2008)

Front side shots with the face and action, like #S 1, 2, 3, 5, 7 and maybe 9 

With pitcher shots watch out for the fielders as in #9 

#4 I&#8217;ve shot this angle before but usual with the pitcher as the subject


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## Dave127 (Jun 5, 2008)

1,2,3,5,& 7 should be sellers. I really like 6 but thats a great fun shot. I would definatly put 6 in your portflio.

Real nice job


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## NeedForSpeed (Jun 5, 2008)

As a high-school ball player that has been through many many tournaments and has seen many pictures taken by pros trying to sell their photos at tournaments:
I personally like 5, 7, 9 the most. Its all about actually doing the action of playing. 4 is also good but you can see that the pitch isn't a good one so I personally wouldn't pick it out over the others. I would like pictures of me batting but my full stance, or me in the action of a solid swing would be nice.
The more exciting the play, the more excited I would be in buying the picture. 1, 2, and 8 are nice but nothing exciting is happening. If you catch my drift?


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## keith204 (Jun 5, 2008)

ok, here are some *swinging the bat *shots.  Please critique!  This was very hard, and I had no clue when to hit the button.  I know I can use 6.5FPS, but I really hate just trying to get lucky.  Anyway, there are also some simple standing with bat shots here.  

Let me know what you think!  Give compliments & critiques!

10.







11.





12.  





13. 





14.  





15.







My thoughts - 
10 - he's holding the bat funny - not sure about the crop and frame-filling.  I usually like getting all tight in on the subject, so it's hard for me to see the value in this...but, who knows.  ???
11 - With this shot, I realized that for the 'swing' shots, I should be standing on the opposite side than you'd think...since the batters spin around a bit.
12 - foul ball
13 - my favorite.  You can tell this guy is going to hit the ball, no question.  Problems?  The bat isn't real noticeable, it kind of blends in - but I couldn't control that really.  Maybe using a strobe would make the batter, ball, and bat pop a little?
14 - tilted grrr I hate tilted photos.  I should fix this for the parents - but, the swing and stance look fun - with the dirt kicking up a bit.  Again, can't see his face.. bummer.  Next time I'll totally stand on the other side.
15 - This looks like a classic stance.  I like the colors & composition.

What do you think?  Please keep giving suggestions!  They're great!


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## Jeff Canes (Jun 6, 2008)

Sorry No strobe for baseball


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## NeedForSpeed (Jun 6, 2008)

10 - Batter is at the end of his swing and is rolling his hands over. May or may not have hit the ball, The batter doesn't really stand out enough for me.
11 - This kid just hit the ball and has a nice swing. Looks great to me but besides his number it is hard to tell who this is. The cage on the mask doesn't help but including the face would be nice. It is hard though because every batter is different and tilts their head differently as their swing allows.
12 - Looks good but the foul ball isn't flattering
13 - The fact that the ball is going to be hit makes this one of my favorite too. I like it when the catchers glove is in the picture also. The background kind of blurs everything together for me though. I'm not big on photography terms yet but thats what I would call it.
14 - If he hit the ball, it wasn't a very graceful swing. Wouldn't want people to see me swinging like that
15 - This picture is actually my favorite. It suprises me that it is but the picture quality and the focus you have on the batter is great. You can tell that the batter is what the picture is all about. no questions asked. For some reason though I would love to have the catchers arm/glove in this picture also. Not sure why, but I like that. (like in photo 12) It can always be cropped out too if it doesn't look good. And if the distance between the batter in the glove is too great than forget it. I guess that depends on your angle.
If I had this picture (background, clarity, focus) and myself making contact with the ball, I would be ecstatic. Background is great too. That is hard to capture though. Nice picture!

Overall - These picture are great. My favorites would be 11 and 15. There is too much activity in number 13 and the rest of them don't show the best in a player. My favorite picture of myself I have from tournaments all show me doing something exceptionally well. I have one of me pitching - (Leg down, arm out in 3/4 angle, chest out looking professional..my favorite) - a diving play - fielding a ball cleanly with great fundamentals - making solid contact with the ball. The best picture I think are the ones of the player in action and the focus is purely on the player.

In my opinion, if you want to sell pictures, use the high fps your camera boasts to get the best and most flattering pictures possible and always be ready for a field in the play and plays out of the ordinary.
If you are shooting for fun than learning to hit the button and the right time will be tough but good luck! That is a skill that would be well worth having!

Sorry for the lengthy explanation and such but I guess I just wanted to add to this conversation everything that came to my mind. :blushing:

Keep up the great work.


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