# The Many Faces of Claudia  (image heavy!)



## 480sparky (Apr 18, 2015)

Claudia is the 9.99726-year-old granddaughter of my next door neighbor.  This year (she will be 10 tomorrow!) she decided to follow her mother's footsteps and start playing softball.  This afternoon was their first game.  Naturally, I was invited to take some photos.

To give you a little heads-up, Claudia is an _exceedingly_ expressive girl.  She also can ham it up when she knows a camera is aimed her way.

Now that you've been warned, here's the 'keepers' from this afternoon's game:

Warming up:







First at-bat, hit the first pitch and made it safe to first:






Playing center field:






Playing second base:






Needs a little work on her stance:






Playing second base:






Playing center field:






Made contact on the second time at bat:






Third at-bat:






Safe at first again:






Did I hit it?!?!?!






Got hit in the back with the ball thrown by the pitcher, running to first:






That's the way to play!...CONCENTRATE!:






On way to first base again!






Caught a bit of it..... and it bounced back up a fair ball!







And, of course, sometimes she has a hard time paying attention, especially playing defense (here in center field).





She now has a new nickname:  Cla-la-la-laudi.


Comments welcome!


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## oldhippy (Apr 18, 2015)

Nice job Sparky.  Bet she was happy these.  Ed


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## Rick50 (Apr 18, 2015)

I'm thinking she enjoyed the day. Good job!


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## The_Traveler (Apr 18, 2015)

Having titles rather than numbers makes it difficult to refer to shots.

A series of pictures, just like a speech, needs structure, a consistent sense of progress and each part of it must serve a unique purpose.
The order of these might be chronological but thus they have no intrinsic story for the viewer to hold onto.
Several of these are essentially repeats with minor variation.
The first two are static shots and only text tells the viewer what is going on - and the color in general is flat and the skin deadly dull.
In a couple of the shots, parts are chopped off.
Some of the shots are essentially duplicates.

Putting up mediocre shots only drags down the quality on the average.
Post fewer and the better images.


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## BrickHouse (Apr 18, 2015)

She should love these! You caught some great moments. Now, she can look and see what everyone else sees and what her coaches have been trying to tell her (keep that elbow up, aim for the top half of the ball, see, this is why...etc). She'll probably learn a lot from looking at these.


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## 480sparky (Apr 18, 2015)

The_Traveler said:


> .....The order of these might be chronological but thus they have no intrinsic story for the viewer to hold onto.......



And they're not?



The_Traveler said:


> .....and the color in general is flat.......



Next time, I'll tell God to turn the sun on.



The_Traveler said:


> .....In a couple of the shots, parts are chopped off..........



If you like, I can post the entire image so you can complain that there's another player / coach / official / light pole / fence post in the frame.


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## MSnowy (Apr 18, 2015)

Nice set over all. Some of them are cropped a little to tight.


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## 480sparky (Apr 18, 2015)

MSnowy said:


> ...... Some of them are cropped a little to tight.



That's the point.


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## MSnowy (Apr 18, 2015)

480sparky said:


> MSnowy said:
> 
> 
> > ...... Some of them are cropped a little to tight.
> ...



Perfect!


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## DarkShadow (Apr 18, 2015)

Some are cropped to tight and cut off some body parts and others are nicely captured in the frame. think the color and contrast is good and nice focus on all of them and since I know sports very well,I pretty much could figure out whats going on with words but commentary is always fun.I know how hard it is for fast moving birds,so I can only imagine getting focus,getting body's parts and the bat and glove got to be a challenge when someone is hauling down the base line.Glad to not see a a mysterious foot of a sneaker or a refs big head in the shot.


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## snerd (Apr 18, 2015)

Girlz Rule!


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## The_Traveler (Apr 18, 2015)

480sparky said:


> The_Traveler said:
> 
> 
> > .....The order of these might be chronological but thus they have no intrinsic story for the viewer to hold onto.......
> ...



No, they aren't


480sparky said:


> The_Traveler said:
> 
> 
> > .....and the color in general is flat.......
> ...



Post-processing fixes when Nature isn't adequate


480sparky said:


> The_Traveler said:
> 
> 
> > .....In a couple of the shots, parts are chopped off..........
> ...



Don't post if you can't take honest, reasonable critique.


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## 480sparky (Apr 18, 2015)

The_Traveler said:


> No, they aren't



And you know this.......... how?  Oh, you looked at the exif?  So in other words, you went out of your way to find fault.  What's next?  "Why didn't you use a D800 instead of a D600?"?  "Why didn't you use the 70-200/2.8 instead of the 70-300?"?



The_Traveler said:


> Post-processing fixes when Nature isn't adequate



And might be considered a crutch as well.



The_Traveler said:


> Don't post if you can't take honest, reasonable critique.



_Reasonable?  _Perhaps you could recommend_ solutions _along with your 'reasonable' critique then.


Here's the point:  I wasn't shooting for the cover of SI.  I was shooting a _10-year in a softball game._  The ULTIMATE USE of the images is for Mom and Gramma.  That's the bar they are to meet.


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## dennybeall (Apr 18, 2015)

I like the pictures and the series. Timing for the captures was  right on for all but 1 or 2. Some of them in my personal opinion ( personal opinion not fact!) could use a tad less cropping bt they are still good.


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## MSnowy (Apr 18, 2015)

I really think you did a nice job getting some pictures of Claudia for her mom and Gramma. I think they might have been better received in the General Gallery. As far as posting in this gallery the pictures are in need of some improvements in timing and composition.


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## BillM (Apr 18, 2015)

I think 5 and 7 are real nice. Over all I think the entire series could benefit from a bump in Contrast and Clarity in LR. And I think Mom and Grandma will be thrilled to have them.


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## C. Brian Kerr (Apr 18, 2015)

Nice set. I'm sure they will love them.  My pick would have to be the one labeled concentrate


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## The_Traveler (Apr 19, 2015)

480sparky said:


> Here's the point:  I wasn't shooting for the cover of SI.  I was shooting a _10-year in a softball game._  The ULTIMATE USE of the images is for Mom and Gramma.  That's the bar they are to meet.



Actually this forum isn't Mom and grandmother and the point here is getting good pictures.
We have no investment or attachment to the child.
I said what I saw about the pictures as presented.
These pictures are ok for weekend shooters with a long lens but there are lots of obvious problems that could be avoided in the future (or even fixed now) if you are aware of them.

In light of the fact that you posted them in a forum where critique is allowed and expected, your responses to actual critique is unwarranted.


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## omri19990 (Apr 19, 2015)

ELO


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