Framing: Too much dead space in most landscape crops - the pitcher throwing at you is a perfect example - too much uninteresting dead space to left and right. People are more vertical than horizontal so most full body shots are better in portrait orientation. Slides, pitcher deliveries from side are exceptions. Don't shoot from behind the pitcher - tougher to get the face in the shot and show the pitcher in the back of the frame so he's throwing into space not throwing into the edge of the frame.
Exposure: most of these are underexposed and lacking in contrast - they don't pop. You need to brighten them up and get some more pop in them. Also in several photos the faces are over a stop underexposed (the pitcher throwing right at you - you can't make out any facial features because his face is so dark). Don't worry so much about clipping a few highlights in uniforms - get the faces exposed - THAT's what makes shots interesting - "WOW, look at that face" - how often do you look at a photo and say "WOW look at that uniform"
Sharpness: did you use any USM on these? they're not OOF, but they don't pop either - it's a combination of color from above and USM that will give them some pop.
Angle: There may not be anything you can do about this - especially if you can't get down to field level, but many of thes shots are missing faces because you're shooting down on the action. The slide at 3b, the play at first and the profile of the pitcher all become less interesting because you're shooting down on the players and you can't see their faces well.
Your timing is pretty good and that's important - many new sports shooters have trouble with that. So, work on exposure, brightening, USM and framing. And, if you can, get lower so you can see faces more and not shooting down on the players and you'll have some really good shots!
Comments
Cropped, sharpened. Pitcher's got a rubber arm.
Shrunk fifty percent:
to hurt the quality for viewing.
shrunk to ten percent
shrunk to 35 percent:
different crop, shrunk to 30%
Framing: Too much dead space in most landscape crops - the pitcher throwing at you is a perfect example - too much uninteresting dead space to left and right. People are more vertical than horizontal so most full body shots are better in portrait orientation. Slides, pitcher deliveries from side are exceptions. Don't shoot from behind the pitcher - tougher to get the face in the shot and show the pitcher in the back of the frame so he's throwing into space not throwing into the edge of the frame.
Exposure: most of these are underexposed and lacking in contrast - they don't pop. You need to brighten them up and get some more pop in them. Also in several photos the faces are over a stop underexposed (the pitcher throwing right at you - you can't make out any facial features because his face is so dark). Don't worry so much about clipping a few highlights in uniforms - get the faces exposed - THAT's what makes shots interesting - "WOW, look at that face" - how often do you look at a photo and say "WOW look at that uniform"
Sharpness: did you use any USM on these? they're not OOF, but they don't pop either - it's a combination of color from above and USM that will give them some pop.
Angle: There may not be anything you can do about this - especially if you can't get down to field level, but many of thes shots are missing faces because you're shooting down on the action. The slide at 3b, the play at first and the profile of the pitcher all become less interesting because you're shooting down on the players and you can't see their faces well.
Your timing is pretty good and that's important - many new sports shooters have trouble with that. So, work on exposure, brightening, USM and framing. And, if you can, get lower so you can see faces more and not shooting down on the players and you'll have some really good shots!
Nice shot, great timing. I'd still crop it tighter, myself.
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