In celebration of baseball season, let’s take a look this week at a bunch of different perspectives on grabbing images at the game. Despite going to as many as 30 Washington Nationals games each year, I rarely bring any camera gear because how restrictive major league parks can be. The below items largely focus on how to shoot minor league and local games, situations where you’re likely to have much more access.
How a Sports Illustrated Photographer Shoots his Kid’s Games
When people see a great pro sports shot in a magazine, they don’t realize that picture was culled from 600 or 700 images. You may not get a good shot of your kid in one game; think in terms of a season and hope for ten or 12 good images.
Takeaway: The title pretty much says it all. Great tips for setting up and capturing your kids’ games. Such great stuff it was tough to decide on a quote.
How to shoot baseball and softball
However, there are brief moments of amazing athletic ability and severe collisions. Because this window is so tight (and the extremely-hard, fast-moving balls [and bats] seem to have PJ magnets in them), it’s important to pay close attention during the entire game. Otherwise the PJ misses the shot and/or wakes up in the hospital covered in blood.
Takeaway: This is your tip article and your public safety article. There’s a great deal of practical advice in here for the photographer that’s doing their first photojournalism-type gig.
Picture-taking techniques – Talkin’ Baseball Photography
Baseball has also been called a game of inches–the difference between a strike and a ball, a fair ball or a foul ball, a home run and a double. Baseball photography is a game of millimeters–the focal length of the lens, and narrow depth of field–and timing–choosing fast shutter speeds and aiming at the right place at the right time.
Takeaway: Nice step-by-step overview of what’s needed to accurately capture all the action at a game.
Featured Photo Contests
Survival’s 2015 Photographic Competition
Deadline: 4/30/15
Subject Matter: Images of tribal and indigenous people from every corner of the globe.
International Kontinent Photography Awards 2015
Deadline: 5/1/15
Subject Matter: This international contest covers advertising, fine art, editorial/documentary and nature.
LensCulture Earth Awards
Deadline: 4/30/15
Subject Matter: The first year for this contest, they’re looking for photos that tell the story of how we interact with nature.
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