High School Baseball

Big Red · March 13, 2012

ian408 · March 14, 2012

Nice to see baseball starting again.

I like your third shot. Got the face, a bit of the wind-up and it's nicely exposed.

AceCo55 · March 15, 2012

OK - I'll have another go ... wrote comments last night then had some kind of "seniors" moment and lost it all!
First up, I have never shot baseball, never played baseball and (you're not going to believe this) baseball is a minor sport in Australia so I haven't had much exposure to it. Given that spectacular background, I would be inclined to ignore everything I say as coming from an old, ignorant Aussie!!!
The stand out for me is #6 - I haven't got a clue as to what might have happened but there is so much emotion in this image ... and to me this is why we love sport. I can't tell if it is encouragement / inspiring ... or just a player getting chewed up ... but it keeps drawing me back to the image over and over.
I like #1 and #3 because I can see the eyes and I can feel the tension in the wind up. #7 has that but seems to have an orange cast.
#2 and #5, for me could have been real winners but there isn't enough sense of motion - a bit static. I think if you could have captured a moment with both feet off the ground or one foot just leaving the ground, it would have made for a more interesting and dynamic image. #2 also has less connection for me because he is looking away and out of the photo.
Not sure why you are shooting with such a fast shutter speed (1/3200 - 1/4000 for majority)? Could if you were trying to capture the ball in flight ... or maybe trying to get aperture wide open? In #7 it has forced you to go to ISO640.
As I said, I absolutely love #6 fabulous capture.

Moving Pictures · March 15, 2012

AceCo55 wrote: »

Not sure why you are shooting with such a fast shutter speed (1/3200 - 1/4000 for majority)? Could if you were trying to capture the ball in flight ... or maybe trying to get aperture wide open? In #7 it has forced you to go to ISO640.
As I said, I absolutely love #6 fabulous capture.

Here's the math for you: an average Little League (13-year-old) pitcher hurls at 60 mph, which, when broken down to the bare-bones math, is 27 metres per second. A bat head moves about the same as a thrown ball, give or take.

Grinding some more numbers, a 1/4000 sec shutter speed capture of a ball at that speed will still have 0.6 centimetre (circa 3/8" for you 'mericans) of movement: still not quite "stop motion."

Making a quick troll through my past baseball shots, minor ball was 1/2000 minimum; anything involving high-school kids (and they throw much faster than 60 mph, lemme tell you) is shot at 1/4000-1/6400 (!) at ISOs of 200-500. There were some exceptions, but high shutter speed is best for these things. The pic attached was 1/6400 shutter speed ... and I think you can still seem some motion blur on the ball, as it is fouled back.

jhefti · March 15, 2012

Moving Pictures wrote: »

Making a quick troll through my past baseball shots, minor ball was 1/2000 minimum; anything involving high-school kids (and they throw much faster than 60 mph, lemme tell you) is shot at 1/4000-1/6400 (!) at ISOs of 200-500. There were some exceptions, but high shutter speed is best for these things. The pic attached was 1/6400 shutter speed ... and I think you can still seem some motion blur on the ball, as it is fouled back.

I shoot MLB games every now and then (I'm not a big baseball fan either, though I live in America) and I rarely shoot at these speeds. For one thing, night games just won't allow anything much above 1/2000 sec, depending on stadium lights. Second, the ball comes off the bat much faster than the pitch (which is in the 40+ meter/sec range) so there is no practical shutter speed to freeze a ball just coming off a bat.

Instead, I take the motion blur as a feature rather than a flaw. I recently shot a college baseball game as a favor to a friend who runs a sports photo business aimed at college sports, and I had the benefit of really good light. So I pushed my SS way up and managed to get some shots with the ball nearly frozen. I thought it looked weird and not as pleasing as the shots with some motion blur. Sometimes our eye for technical perfection can obscure our view of the larger aesthetic merit of a photo.

Here's one from a game last season (a two-base hit IIRC) that certainly has motion blur in the ball and some in the bat as well:

AceCo55 · March 16, 2012

"Moving Picture" Re' shutter speed: yes I understand the maths ... but in only one of the images posted had a moving ball. If OP had included more example of ball movement, I would not have commented about the shutter speed but for 5 of the 6 images, I don't believe they needed anything like 1/4000sec.

I agree with jhefti - I don't think you would want to freeze the ball completely. I think it would look "unnatural" ... and I think people would get a good sense of action with some blur in the ball.

I wonder what percentage of baseball shots would you want this shutter speed? If it is only a specialist shot, then I wouldn't think you would leave the shutter speed set that high for all of the OTHER types of shots. When I am shooting motor sport I am constantly changing the shutter speed depending on the type of shot I am taking from 1/60 through to 1/1600.

jhefti · March 16, 2012

About the only time I have the SS that high is when I am shooting an outdoor game in really bright sunlight and have the aperture wide open for the shallow DOF. Sometimes even at ISO 50 I'll need that kind of SS for a proper exposure.

Moving Pictures · March 16, 2012

AceCo55 wrote: »

"Moving Picture" Re' shutter speed: yes I understand the maths ... but in only one of the images posted had a moving ball. If OP had included more example of ball movement, I would not have commented about the shutter speed but for 5 of the 6 images, I don't believe they needed anything like 1/4000sec.

At the risk of being flamed royally ...

... baseball is remarkably uninteresting ... lots of periods where the only thing happening is the pitcher pitching, action around the plate. If that's all that's happening, you'll be set for that action. You do NOT have time to fart around with settings once (if) the ball is put into play. Hence, pictures of the shortstop executing a double play, or taking his hat off to wipe away sweat will almost assurdely run at the same shutter speed as the previous frames.

At least, that's my call ...

Big Red · March 16, 2012

Thank you for looking at the photos and for the the comments. In this game it was very bright outside. In baseball I try to shoot at apertures between 2.8 and 3.5 as I want a shallow depth of field. I typically try to shoot at at least 1600 fps but obviously in some of these photos the camera selected a higher SS due to the ambient light. I typically shoot in AV mode but often use Manual also. In baseball it is tough when the batter is in one lighting situation and then the ball is hit to another part of the field which may be shaded by clouds, etc.

I appreciate the suggestions on blur on the ball, etc.

Big Red · March 16, 2012

I forgot to mention what happened in Photo #6. In that play the player dove head first into home and suffered a shoulder injury. He had hurt it 2 games earlier when he slid head first into second base. I liked the emotion of the coach tending to him.

Jeff

AceCo55 · March 17, 2012

Moving Pictures wrote: »

At the risk of being flamed royally ...

... baseball is remarkably uninteresting ... lots of periods where the only thing happening is the pitcher pitching, action around the plate. If that's all that's happening, you'll be set for that action. You do NOT have time to fart around with settings once (if) the ball is put into play. Hence, pictures of the shortstop executing a double play, or taking his hat off to wipe away sweat will almost assurdely run at the same shutter speed as the previous frames.

At least, that's my call ...

Hell - I'm the LAST person to listen to with all my experience of baseball!!!

... so no risk of getting "flamed" by ME. I can understand your line of argument. I do photograph cricket here (now that IS a foreign game to all my American friends!!) but a sharply focussed ball is not something that we strive to get as a top priority. So "horses for courses" and I bow to you and Big Red's judgement and technique.

Big Red ... thankyou for the extra information about #6. Good story and I hope the lad is OK.

Moving Pictures · March 18, 2012

AceCo55 wrote: »

I do photograph cricket ...

I'm so sorry.

AceCo55 · March 19, 2012

Moving Pictures wrote: »

I'm so sorry.

Touche!!!

It is a strange but (for me) compelling game. You know how you have some people who like watching animal behaviour (baseball / soccer / football) and there are others who like to watch evolution (cricket)!!

jhefti · March 20, 2012

My favorite moment in cricket was when the announcer said, "the batsman's Holding the bowler's Willy'. One of those BBC moments.

AceCo55 · March 21, 2012

There are a couple of other famous commentator lines.
"xxxx has tickled the ball between his legs"
"Lillee caught Willy bowled Dilly"

jhefti · March 21, 2012

Well, it doesn't pertain to cricket, but my all time favorite line from the BBC is, 'Jonathan Head and Judy Swallow discuss the gag order in the sodomy trial of BJ Habibie's brother.'

High School Baseball

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