First pitch--opinions

[swmdrayfan]

What do you think? Can I do this better? It was sunny, but a cool 35--and yes, I wore my longjohns.
John

[livin4lax09]

i think for your crop on the bottom and right, your crop on the left is too loose. It makes the photo seem unbalanced. Try going tighter around the ball.

[JSPhoto]

I'd like it more with the ball right on the fingertips, and remove the shadow on the pitchers face....just my two cents

[swmdrayfan]

I'd like it more with the ball right on the fingertips, and remove the shadow on the pitchers face....just my two cents

Just how do I do that?.....I mean with the shadow........exposure compensation?
John

[swmdrayfan]

i think for your crop on the bottom and right, your crop on the left is too loose. It makes the photo seem unbalanced. Try going tighter around the ball.

Brent I understand where you're coming from on this. However my intent was to keep the base in the picture whole. If I were to crop it tight on the left, I chop second base in half----then I'd get "You might want to crop it a little looser to keep the base whole" ;)
John

[JSPhoto]

John,
There are a couple ways to do it. One would blow out the background in some cases but using Adjust Lighting - > Highlights & Shadows or using Dodge & Burn tools, or if worse comes to worse you could use the change color command but I am not sure how that would work, I hadn't tried that one yet for that purpose but have heard of some doing it that way.

I'd probably pick a different location though so I could avoid the shadow altogether, but I have more freedom of movement than you probably do....they don't care if a high school kid kills me or not

As for the crop I would leave it as is.

JS

[swmdrayfan]

John,
There are a couple ways to do it. One would blow out the background in some cases but using Adjust Lighting - > Highlights & Shadows or using Dodge & Burn tools, or if worse comes to worse you could use the change color command but I am not sure how that would work, I hadn't tried that one yet for that purpose but have heard of some doing it that way.

I'd probably pick a different location though so I could avoid the shadow altogether, but I have more freedom of movement than you probably do....they don't care if a high school kid kills me or not

As for the crop I would leave it as is.

JS

Yeah, I'm toying with D & B, and when I get more time, I'll work on it. I took 194 pictures yesterday.

[JSPhoto]

Yeah, I'm toying with D & B, and when I get more time, I'll work on it. I took 194 pictures yesterday.

Is that all? I took 384....lol, and I was trying to cut down
Did you see them in the sports forum from the double header?

JS

[swmdrayfan]

Next day, different pitcher.........how's this?

[Ronnoco]

Boy, talk about perfect framing, a little closer and his foot or fingers would have been partially out of the photo. His position is quite good too, creating a diagonal across the frame and the background is free of distracting other players etc. You certainly caught his expression and concentration as well. The only thing I would suggest is to lighten the shadow a little under his cap since his eyes are an important part of the photo.

Ronnoco

[jar_e]

John,

Great shots! Not much of a MLB fan, but I like both the shots as is! Wouldn't change a thing!

Well done,

Jared

[swmdrayfan]

Thanks everyone. Appreciate the critiques and comments.
I won't be here as frequently as in the past few months. Baseball season has started and I'm going to be spending a lot of time at the ballpark, and processing images. I'll be dropping in on off days
John

[Homer]

I shoot a lot of youth sports action and think you did a nice job with both pictures. Where were you seated when taking these shots?

Jim

[swmdrayfan]

I shoot a lot of youth sports action and think you did a nice job with both pictures. Where were you seated when taking these shots?

Jim

Behind the plate, about 3 rows back.

[freedom1500]

John, the first shot you posted is just amazing! Sometimes people will critique an action shot as if it were a studio portrait... "you could have reduced the shadow in this area... added some fill... brought the head in...". And in a forum like this, people look for ways a shot could be improved and make suggestions accordingly. That being said, in my opinion, the shot is perfect! You successfully captured a moment in time, especially when you had so little time to contemplate the shot (your reaction time is in milliseconds). You just felt it in your gut and released the shutter! End result... The expression on the player's face is intense. The blurred hand in contrast with the frozen action is excellent. The "loose" cropping around the ball is nothing short of brilliant: it creates the perfect focal point for the shot. You couldn't have done it better. Congratulations.