This was Friday night at Turner Field, a 3 run shot in the top of the 6th. The count was 3 and1, I believe. The score was 0-0 I have other shots from the game which I'll post over in Sports forum including Chipper Jones answer in the bottom of the 6th with a 2 run shot to tie it up. I tried to crop out the head in the bottom left corner but I had to leave some of it in. Nikon D1X with a AFS 80-200mm zoom (135mm) Shutter priority 1/500 f4 ISO 1600.

Sorry about the order and the amount.

w00t $F!!!!

Sorry about the order and the amount.

No need to apologize , but we have a long standing guideline in the Critique Forum...
Please post no more than five images a day.
Welcome to PR.com!
Keep shooting, Learning and Posting!
Brian

I generally like these. I posted some minor league baseball pics a few days ago and I think you ran into some of the same issues I faced. The photos are a little cluttered (the first base coach, the blurry spot at bottom right) and I would have loved to see a ball coming toward Barry or off hsi bat in one of these.

I am a sports pic fanatic, so it's always enjoyable to see more sporting images here.

Overall, I like them - and it's obviously great to capture a moment like a home run.

It looks like you share some of the problems I face when shooting cricket in the UK:

Left-handed and right-handed batters (I saw your pics in the sports forum where the guy is right handed and you can't see his face).
Isloating the subject from the background - better sometimes to work from a lower angle and set the widest aperture on your lens - a longer focal length helps too.
Shooting position - the very 'best' pics tend to show the faces of the participants
Low light - it can be a struggle when working in challenging lighting conditions - but the 1600ASA setting doesn't appear to have introduced too much noise into your shots, which is a bonus
Timing - getting the ball on or very close to the bat is the holy grail for the sports photographer!
Celebrations - would have been good if Mr Bonds had performed a celebratory somersault or something! Still, we can't have everything.

Keep shooting and good luck!

Gmen, thanks I've got some photos on Sports Shooter as well. I need to update that site as well. http://www.sportsshooter.com/members.html?id=531 Baseball games you don't get a chance to move around quite as freely as in other venues so your have to work within limits. Switch hitters like Chipper Jones can be a blessing or a curse. The first picture is the only one in the Bonds series where I was able to capture the ball. It is actually in the first base chalk line. Compare that shot with the next shot. Having the ball in the frame of any sports shot is usually key but in major league baseball where it is being hurled 97mph with alot motion you take what you can get. I shoot with both eyes open, one looking through the viewfinder at the batter the other picking up the pitcher peripherally. Iread the thread about timing the pictch but in MLB that is easier said than done. Plus you have to have a good idea what type of pitch is going to be thrown to the each batter under different strike counts. I reduce the noise in high speed shots in photoshop using a plugin from Camera Bits called Quantum Mechanic and/or BandAide. Because he doesn't celebrate (that's a good thing) I need the catcher and ump in the picture watching the ball go over the wall to tell the story. So I have to leave in the blurred head in the lower corner.

It seems there are many similarities - and differences - in shooting cricket and baseball.

In cricket, the ball moves at between 80-90mph when delivered by a fast bowler. So, I agree, shooting from a side-on position makes capturing ball on bat a seriously 'hit and miss' (!!!) affair.

My prime position for shooting cricket is nearly head-on to the bowler/batsman with long glass (400mm-600mm). This also means that the ball remains in shot that bit longer increasing the number of pics with bat on ball or ball leaving the hand. I use the same technique of keeping both eyes open as picking up the moment when the bowler releases the ball is vital in nailing the timing. I find the the motordrive isn't always that useful - even at 8 frames a second, the ball has already disappeared out of the the frame by the time you fire off the second or third shot!

I would imagine that at a baseball game, you would need an extreme telephoto to shoot the batter head-on from the far side of the arena. I can also appreciate that there are a limited number of shooting positions at many venues. In cricket, there is a circular 'boundary' around the whole pitch and it is possible at many grounds to take up a position pretty much anywhere on that boundary.

This is a very interesting thread - I wonder if anyone else out there has any ideas/views on shooting small, fast moving balls!!