Broken Bat Shot

Ben C · August 2, 2005

Hi, I took this shot few weeks ago at Angel Stadium. Let me know what you think. Ben

marlof · August 2, 2005

That shot looks great. I love the detail (as in the muscles, and the broken wood), the colors and the background which is vague enough but still shows the spectators, and the fact that you get a good view on the player, the bat and the ball. The only thing that bothers me a tiny bit is the very tight crop above his cap.

JimM · August 2, 2005

Great catch!!! Next time you have him change his expression based on the fact his bat just broke?

In all serious now, how did you get so close? I thought MLB prohibited large lenses at games? Do you know about this?

ltdesignphoto · August 2, 2005

Great shot although I agree that the composition is a little tight on top. Otherwise this is an awesome shot. I love it!
-t

Higgmeister · August 2, 2005

with those above. Wonderful shot. The copyright notice is a bit large and distracting though, a smaller, less conspicuous one will still work and not detract so much.

Thanks for the post,
Chris

Ben C · August 2, 2005

ltdesignphoto wrote:

Great shot although I agree that the composition is a little tight on top. Otherwise this is an awesome shot. I love it!
-t

Hi, everyone, I am a professional sports photographer and am credentialed to shoot various games. This shot as well as with majority of my shots are taken with a 400mm f/2.8 IS prime lens. This shot was taken from the 1st base photo well and is mostly in camera cropped. There is little time to compose the shot while the batter is dipping his head as he goes though the swing; I just try to keep him in the viewfinder without cutting off his lambs. I appreciate your inputs, thanks for looking. Ben

coldclimb · August 2, 2005

Awesome timing! I definitely love shots like this, that capture an instant so perfectly. Great stuff!

Ben C · August 3, 2005

coldclimb wrote:

Awesome timing! I definitely love shots like this, that capture an instant so perfectly. Great stuff!

Coldclimb, thanks for your kind words. I appreciate this.

Ben

DJ-S1 · August 3, 2005

Welcome, Ben! Really nice stuff, I'm looking forward to seeing more posts from you. You mentioned the lens, but what body are you using?

Ben C · August 3, 2005

DJ-S1 wrote:

Welcome, Ben! Really nice stuff, I'm looking forward to seeing more posts from you. You mentioned the lens, but what body are you using?

Hi, DJ-S1, this was taken with a Canon IDMKII. Ben

pathfinder · August 4, 2005

Ben C wrote:

Hi, DJ-S1, this was taken with a Canon IDMKII. Ben

Welcome to dgrin Ben.

Great shot - peak of the action, captured perfectly.

Now.... tell the truth - was this a single frame, or one of a large series of frames on "8fps motor drive" with the 1DMkll and its 8 frames per second motor drive? I shoot with a 1DMkll sometimes also, and the motor drive does capture some shots that I would never see otherwise too.

Either way - a great capture!!

And my 3000th post - WOW!!

ian408 · August 4, 2005

Ben,

Nice shot. But others have suggested a crop. I don't see how you could crop
without losing the ball or the top of his head.

Ian

marlof · August 4, 2005

ian408 wrote:

others have suggested a crop. I don't see how you could crop
without losing the ball or the top of his head.

I don't read that in this thread. All I read is that some say that the current crop might be bit too tight in the top area. I don't think anyone would suggest an even tighter crop. To me, as stated, that's just a very minor thing, that I mentioned in the category "if there's one thing I'd like to see different". I like the picture as is, and surely understand the dynamics at work trying to shoot pictures like this. I'd love to be able to capture images this good.

Ben C · August 4, 2005

pathfinder wrote:

Welcome to dgrin Ben.

Great shot - peak of the action, captured perfectly.

Now.... tell the truth - was this a single frame, or one of a large series of frames on "8fps motor drive" with the 1DMkll and its 8 frames per second motor drive? I shoot with a 1DMkll sometimes also, and the motor drive does capture some shots that I would never see otherwise too.

Either way - a great capture!!

And my 3000th post - WOW!!

Hi, Pathfinder, in shooting a batter, I am trying to capture the batter’s face and with a ball in the frame, preferably ball on bat (bob-see below), therefore, all my batting shots are shot with a single frame although the camera setting is on 8 fps. Because I work for a deadline wire service, I just don’t have the time to download and go through the extra unwanted frames. I am transmitting the 1st and 2nd inning shots by the 3rd inning. In the wire news business, every minute counts. In addition, you are not likely to get bob shots, even you are firing at 8fps. Let’s do the math, at 8 fps, each frame is firing at 0.125 of a second; most bob shots are timed to hundred of a second. Having said that, had I knew the bat was going to be broken; I would have shot at least 4-5 frames.

The capture of broken bat shot is a bit on the lucky side because I only shoot batters as a last resort at the games. By this I mean if there is no man on base (no double play, stealing base or sliding to base possibility) and only if the batter is facing me (if I am at the 1st base photo well, he has to be a right handed batter; conversely if I am at 3rd base photo well, he has to be a left handed batter). Even with the bob shots, it is way too common and there is no “news” worthiness in the shot. So the likelihood for me to capture a broken bat shot is slim. But, I guess if one shoots enough games, one would get lucky soon or later. Ben

Steve Cavigliano · August 4, 2005

Ben,

Excellent shots

You obviously know what you're doing, unlike some of us....

I have passed your request up the channels and I hope to have an answer for you today

Steve

Oh yeah, and welcome to Dgrin

Ben C · August 4, 2005

Steve Cavigliano wrote:

Ben,

Excellent shots You obviously know what you're doing, unlike some of us....

I have passed your request up the channels and I hope to have an answer for you today

Steve

Oh yeah, and welcome to Dgrin

Thanks, Steve and others. I just recently discover this site and you guys make feel very welcome. Ben

gluwater · August 5, 2005

Ben C wrote:

Thanks, Steve and others. I just recently discover this site and you guys make feel very welcome. Ben

Welcome

I'm pretty new here too and you'll really find nothing but friendly, helpful, knowledgeable people here. Well some are more knowledgeable than others and the rest of us just try to keep up :bash. Keep posting your great shots.

Nick

4labs · August 5, 2005

Ben,
Welcome to Dgrin and thnxs for sharing these excellent shots. I do have a question about your White Balance. Were the Rangers actually wearing purple uniforms? Did you change the color? I always thought their uniforms were blue. If you changed teh color you did a great job because it looks natural to me.

Ben C · August 5, 2005

4labs wrote:

Ben,
Welcome to Dgrin and thnxs for sharing these excellent shots. I do have a question about your White Balance. Were the Rangers actually wearing purple uniforms? Did you change the color? I always thought their uniforms were blue. If you changed teh color you did a great job because it looks natural to me.

4labs, you are not the first person mentioned this to me. I did not purposely change color of the uniform. Perhaps in my attempt to lighten the face using a 3rd party PS plug-in it created the colorcast. I just haven’t got around to play with it in PS yet. Ben

wxwax · August 5, 2005

Ben terrific shots, all of 'em. And thanks for sharing an insight into your technique with us. Great stuff!

I realized a while ago that shooters have to have their heads in the game every bit as much as players, in order to know where the action will be.

Broken Bat Shot

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