More Fall Baseball

Coppin v. NavyThis is football season and I’ve been shooting a lot of high school football lately. But on Saturday when I was picking up my son, James, from the Naval Academy, we attended the Coppin v. Navy baseball game. I always enjoy trying to capture the action at a game and I had my camera, so why not?

The first game was very close–just a one run game. Navy held on to record the win.

Coppin v. Navy

I enjoy shooting at Bishop Stadium in Annapolis, MD. I can go to the top of the stands and get nice, clear backgrounds, like the one above. Backgrounds are critical to a good, quality photograph. A background can make or break a photo. Chain link fences, parked cars, trashcans, and empty stands are all troublesome backgrounds. Yuck!

Shooting a baseball game in the midst of football season was a a good change-up for me. Sorry for the pun, but it was fun! I hope you enjoy these photos from Saturday’s baseball game. More will probably be coming sometime soon. The second game wasn’t as close but it was still a lot of fun to see the athletes in action!

Coppin v. Navy

 

Decent Bull, Bigger Sky

I photographed this decent bull in the last week of September on our Pennsylvania Elk Photography Experience. He is a decent bull, about average for the current elk herd in Pennsylvania. There is a lot of talk in the area that we just don’t see the bigger bulls like we used to see. I tend to agree with this sentiment, but now that we have a hunting season for the elk this makes perfect sense. Both hunters and photographers like to target the bigger bulls!

On this particular evening the sky was dropping down some precipitation, which was the norm for the last week of September this year. The produced the grey sky. I typically like these sky shots, with the bull on the horizon in front of the big sky. A nice blue sky or even an orange setting sun sky is preferred, but you can see how this shot separates the bull from the background and really helps to emphasize the detail of his rack.

The goal of separating an animal from its native background is always the goal of the wildlife photographer. Animals often blend into their backgrounds, which is part of what keeps them safe from predators. Large apertures are helpful in creating a shallow depth of field for the photographer, but there is nothing quite as effective as an animal placed right on the horizon to separate it from its environment. The next time you are out in the wild, try to position yourself below the subject and aim for the sky in the background. I think it works well and makes for some stunning wildlife photographs! What do you think?

My New Baseball Portfolio

I was long overdue for an update on my Baseball Portfolio, so today I spent some time sifting through new photographs, comparing them to old ones, and refining my Baseball Portfolio. The images in this blog entry are just a few of the photographs that made the cut.

I need to be very picky to keep getting better with the wonderful subject of sports photography. Some of my primary goals are clean, clear backgrounds; tack-sharp focus; catching the action (hopefully peak action); and telling the story of a great play with an image. These goals are important to me because they keep pushing me forward. I want to get better so I have to be demanding of myself.

Paying attention to the quantity, quality, and direction of light sometimes keep me on my toes as the sun moves during a game. Keeping a chain-link fence out the background is very difficult at some fields, too. Then there are other times when a base umpire or another player steps right between an exciting play and my camera! Tenacity and a never-give-up-attitude are all very helpful. Another important tip is to never get lazy or give up on a play. Stay behind the viewfinder until you are positive the action of that play is complete. Besides, some of the player’s emotions after a play can make for some real interesting subjects, too. But stick with it because you don’t want to miss any action!

The game of baseball provides hours of enjoyment for the players, coaches, and fans. But I strongly believe the great game of baseball also provides endless hours of enjoyment and even excitement for us sports photographers, too! Time sometimes seems to stand still during a baseball game, but if the photographer gets lured into this false sense of boredom, he or she is sure to miss some of the action! Keep alert and keep shooting!

You can see my new Baseball Portfolio with all the photos that made the cut here.

 

Photo Tip Tuesday – Move Your Feet

Photographers often hear the old adage, “move your feet” when the subject of getting closer to the subject emerges. This is not what I’m talking about today. When I say, “move your feet,” I’m talking about working the background of you image and moving left or right to get the best possible background for your photograph.

In this first time, you can see that the subject is clearly the base runner trying to get back to first base from a pick-off attempt by the pitcher. The baseball is in the image, which helps evoke the action of this shot. But there is a problem with the background — it’s distracting with the fans in the background. If I had taken just a few steps to the right, I could have eliminated this distracting background. Moving my feet would have helped to make this photograph better.

In this next image I was in a good position to eliminate the distracting background. It was actually worse — an electrical unit with a fence around it! But I was in a much better position and thereby eliminated the distracting background.

The next time you look through your viewfinder, stop for a moment. Look carefully at the background. Then move your feet to the left or to the right to get rid of any distracting backgrounds. Remember, move your feet!

 

Backgrounds

Sometimes, many times in fact, the background of a photograph can make it or break it. Baseball season will soon be here and when I am photographing a ballgame, I try to eliminate as much of the background as possible. This helps draw attention to the main subject–the baseball player in this case. The same is often true in wildlife photographs. Animals blend into their habitat very well, which is partly what keeps them safe from predators.

A photographer can use a large f-stop to blur the background out of focus as one tool to eradicate a busy background. But one simple way is to position yourself so the background is not busy to begin with. This, of course, is not always possible but it is something I try my best to pay attention to when photographing a subject.

Then, every once in a while, I capture a background in a photograph that I really like! This is rare for me, but just today I was looking through some photos I captured on my recent trip to Chincoteague. I was scrolling through a number of photos I took in sequence. Many of them looked all alike, until I got to a few where the water was a neat blue color. I stopped scrolling and examined these photos more closely. What was it about this photo that made me stop? Yes, the background! The deeper blue water in the background of this photograph left an impression on me. It caused me to stop and pay much more attention.

Pay attention to the backgrounds in your photographs. They are an important part of the way a photograph is seen and interpreted. Backgrounds are important so they do demand our attention. Blur them out, eliminate them, and then sometimes, every once in a while, choose to highlight the background. You just might be surprised how it contributes to your subject!

Backgrounds

Backgrounds are critical in photography. A bad background can ruin an otherwise excellent photograph. A good background can enhance even a mediocre photo. Backgrounds are critical, so learn to pay attention to the background when making photographs.

This background is nothing fancy. In fact, that’s why it works. The white clouds in the background help to eliminate any distractions and help the subject of the bull elk stand out in this photo. I do wish the blue sky was brighter, but otherwise I think this photo works. What do you think?

 

Stage Lighting and Backgrounds

This past weekend I photographed a Christmas musical that my daughter had a role in as Holly Moss. I find stage light to be difficult and un-user friendly much of the time. The problem is that many different colored lights create all kinds of light casts on the actors and have a way of tinting skin and hair to amazingly unhuman qualities. It can get quite funky!

I choose to go without flash for two reasons: first, most of the time flash is not allowed in these situations, and second, I want to portray the lighting as we see it in the actual performance. These seem like pretty good reasons to me.

I have found that dark, black backgrounds are the best in these conditions. Other backgrounds not only can get busy looking, but they can reflect a lot of different colors that come from the stage lights. Black is predictable more so than any other background and it seems to swallow up some of the ambient light colors that reek havoc on skin tones.

The next time you are out on a photo shoot think more about the backgrounds and try a black one if possible. It works beautifully at times when nothing else seems to work at all.