MLB Kansas City at Seattle
I have for some reason never brought my camera to a Mariners game and we had 14th row seats so I thought I would give it a go. I was shooting across the crowd and there was a guy with a hunters orange hat that left an unfortunate orange glow on the bottom of some of my pics. I was happiest with these, any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I was shooting in manual and I'm still trying to get the hang of it to where I feel comfortable. I was changing ISO on a lot as with my lens I was struggling to get enough light to freeze the action.
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Kyle Seager by Dan Price, on Flickr
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DSC_8627.JPG by Dan Price, on Flickr
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Wade Miley by Dan Price, on Flickr
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Salvador Perez by Dan Price, on Flickr
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Safeco field by Dan Price, on Flickr
1.
Kyle Seager by Dan Price, on Flickr2.
DSC_8627.JPG by Dan Price, on Flickr3.
Wade Miley by Dan Price, on Flickr4.
Salvador Perez by Dan Price, on Flickr5.
Safeco field by Dan Price, on Flickr 0
Comments
-- Sara
Thank you, I love Safeco field but I have a lot of great memories of the Kingdome.
Thank you, and you should swing by, Safeco is a beautiful ball park, unfortunately it is also in the top 5 for most expensive fan experience among all MLB stadiums. I paid $12 for a beer and I think $7 for a hotdog.
www.cathausphotography.com
Overall these are really nice. Baseball is hard to shoot because it is so slow, except when it's not and then it's really fast. Here are some of my tips for capturing action in what is otherwise a slow game:
1. Batters: The hardest shot to get is the bat connecting with the ball. This is part luck, part timing. (Don't rely on burst mode; even the fastest frame rates are too slow.) However, some of the most interesting shots are after the batter has hit the ball and he's heading away from the plate and following the trajectory of the ball. Here you have a chance to capture the face, the body in motion and the bat being flung away. It's not hard to get these, but you need to remember that the action doesn't end after the ball is hit.
The other standard good shot of the batter is the brief time just as the ball is pitched when the batter lifts his front leg in anticipation. He's off balance and ready to swing.
Lastly, don't forget about the reactions after a batter strikes out. These are some of the best images in baseball.
2. Field plays: Here you just need some luck and anticipation. For example, if there's a runner on first and the team needs to get him into scoring position, be ready for the steal or the double play. If you're lucky you'll get the second baseman jumping in the air and throwing to first just as the runner is sliding in. The other nice shot is the shortstop or third baseman diving to catch the ball. About the only way I've found to get this is to have the camera on the field player BEFORE the play.
3. Pitchers: I always look for the distinctive moves of each individual pitcher. Sometimes it's the windup, other times it's well after the release.
4. Settings: For any action shot you'll want to shoot at 1/1250-1/1600. It looks like you have some room to bump up your ISO in these shots, but I don't know what your upper limit is on this particular body.
Hope this helps!
John
Thanks that is some really awesome feedback! I have some of the hitters at the moment of swinging as well as some check-swings too. I also have some decent ones of both pitchers but because I couldn't get the shutter fast enough (my fault for having the ISO too low) I ended up with too much blur in the pics.
For example here is Seager hitting a 3-run home run:
and a couple others with pitchers showing some of the extreme arm angles they hit during the pitch. I am really not sure how high I could push the ISO before it gets grainy and weird, I think most were 800-1000 that night. One benefit of Safeco field is that all the lighting is now LED so the light is pretty even, so much better then the old field lighting. Baseball can be a little slow at times and I got bored and I did get some candid shots of the players in the dugout. This one I need to redo, I wasn't happy with how it came out:
www.cathausphotography.com
Candids are always really fun, especially in baseball because it's so slow.
Look forward to seeing more images from future games!
John
An "accurate" reproduction of a scene and a good photograph are often two different things.
Yep, despite all the technical limitations of the time, it tells the story really well!