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Archive 2013 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)

  
 
rddayton
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


It has been a busy this summer shooting baseball, but I frankly have fallen down on the job when it comes to posting my work for C&C. I was contracted by a Pittsburgh-based travel baseball organization to shoot games for them all summer. Kids range in age from 8 to 18, and their teams play all over the place. Parents receive a limited number of photos of their son as part of their fee -- and I have the opportunity to sell many more photos as the team photographer -- and I have sold many more the opponents as well.

Here goes. Primary body is Nikon D3s (perhaps a few D300's) with primarily paired with Nikon 300 (with and without 1.4 TC). May be a few other lenses used as well, but EXIF should be there. I can't wait to hear your thoughts.




1 That's gonna leave a mark






2 Turning two (shortstop is our middle son)






3 Golden hour light






4 Change up






5 Don't think a bat is supposed to bend that way...



Edited on Jul 25, 2013 at 07:18 PM · View previous versions



Jul 25, 2013 at 07:14 PM
rddayton
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


6-10




6 'Yer Out!!






7 Broken bat






8 Good old fashioned ball on bat






9 Line drive to left center






10 "For the Love of the Game"




Jul 25, 2013 at 07:16 PM
rddayton
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


11-15




11 How low can you go?






12 Man on the run






13 Play at the plate






14 He's gonna have to hurry






15 Steely focus




Jul 25, 2013 at 07:23 PM
Aqualung
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


Some nice work Rick,

1. Nice timing on the plunk
2.6 is cool even without the ball
3. The problem with all the batter shots is there isn't one set of eyes, do you have any?
4. 11, I remember a is,liar shot of mine where folks suggested itididnt indicate any action/motion, I see that here too
5. 12 seems a little late
6. 13 nice timing
7. 14 wish just a fraction sooner

Chris



Jul 25, 2013 at 08:36 PM
kris416
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


Some stellar stuff here, but I agree I'd like to see more expression at bat (both sets). I say this without having posted work anywhere near this good
Love the pitchers shots in both sets.



Jul 25, 2013 at 11:37 PM
rddayton
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


Aqualung wrote:
Some nice work Rick,

1. Nice timing on the plunk
2.6 is cool even without the ball
3. The problem with all the batter shots is there isn't one set of eyes, do you have any?
4. 11, I remember a is,liar shot of mine where folks suggested itididnt indicate any action/motion, I see that here too
5. 12 seems a little late
6. 13 nice timing
7. 14 wish just a fraction sooner

Chris


Chris, thanks keeping me honest. I liked number 6, too. Ball is already in the glove as he jumped to catch it and tried to get back on the bag ahead of the runner....



Jul 26, 2013 at 04:40 AM
rddayton
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


kris416 wrote:
Some stellar stuff here, but I agree I'd like to see more expression at bat (both sets). I say this without having posted work anywhere near this good
Love the pitchers shots in both sets.


Sure appreciate you looking at both sets. Thank you. Getting pitchers is sooooo much easier for me. I have thousands of good shoots of them, but really struggle to get the same quality out of hitters. The helmets make it much more difficult. I guess the only thing I can do is keep shooting, right?



Jul 26, 2013 at 04:42 AM
P Alesse
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


Rick... 12,13,14 are your gems here.


Jul 26, 2013 at 05:52 AM
rddayton
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


P Alesse wrote:
Rick... 12,13,14 are your gems here.


Thanks Paul. Think I am starting to see what you see. Thanks for your patience.

Rick



Jul 26, 2013 at 06:05 AM
kris416
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


rddayton wrote:
Sure appreciate you looking at both sets. Thank you. Getting pitchers is sooooo much easier for me. I have thousands of good shoots of them, but really struggle to get the same quality out of hitters. The helmets make it much more difficult. I guess the only thing I can do is keep shooting, right?



I hear you on the helmets. Might be a silly question but do you shoot in bursts? I wonder if there are other shots you get where we can see face but maybe ball contact hasn't happened yet. Another angle i tend to like is being on the batters back and getting their follow through as they've swung through the ball. I'm not cropped in enough for most peoples liking, I know that. Just another angle I like to capture sometimes for a different perspective.












Jul 26, 2013 at 06:15 AM
dj dunzie
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


Rick... thought I commented on these 2 sets last night but seems my post was eaten in cyberspace somehow.

You have some absolutely incredible captures in here... some crazy crazy bat bends and breakages, and awesome timing on BOBs (including butt on ball). I'm with Paul on 12 and 14... love those frames. But I also wish I had some of your timing success (luck?) with the broken bats and other cool shots of the game. Maybe I need to machine gun more, but I was brought up a timer (maybe because you couldn't delete film shots!)...

Well done.



Jul 26, 2013 at 07:30 PM
rddayton
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


DJ,

Really appreciate your feedback, especially since you took the time to do it twice. You have always offered such great critiques. The fact that you like the set means a lot.

There is no doubt that there is an element of luck to getting those shots, but I will share my "timing secret." And let me start by saying that I am not a machine gunner either. Typically 2, maybe 3, shots for each swing. When you shoot 3 or 4 games per day, I simply can't take the time to go through all those extra shots. When I am shooting batters, I mentally put myself in the batter's box and through my non-shooting eye, I watch the pitcher's delivery. When he throws the pitch, I press the shutter when I think I would swing at the pitch. It is amazing how well it works, even in single shot mode. Even today when I shot with an old D300 for some extra reach, it worked great even though its frame rate is much slower than my D3s. Try it. It works.

Hope your summer is going well.

Rick



Jul 26, 2013 at 07:54 PM
Ted ellis
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


Hi Rick:

I too think 12-14 are tops. #15 is close, I think it would be right up there with the other three if the horizon were fixed.

Ted



Jul 27, 2013 at 08:14 AM
rddayton
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


Ted ellis wrote:
Hi Rick:

I too think 12-14 are tops. #15 is close, I think it would be right up there with the other three if the horizon were fixed.

Ted


Thank you for you input Ted. I know you have seen a game (or 10,000) in your shooting career.

Help me with straightening horizon on 15. I have straightened it for the dugout roof, for the painted line in the dugout and for the grass of the playing field. None of them look right. What do you think?

Rick



Jul 27, 2013 at 09:00 AM
P Alesse
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


rddayton wrote:
Thank you for you input Ted. I know you have seen a game (or 10,000) in your shooting career.

Help me with straightening horizon on 15. I have straightened it for the dugout roof, for the painted line in the dugout and for the grass of the playing field. None of them look right. What do you think?

Rick

Single subject photos parallel to focal plane are easiest to align. Just draw a line from toe to toe and you'll see its off. This is a good example why verticals may not always work when doing horizon. The rail on the right may not be plumb or even the ground could have a swale. The ground has a slight down slope to the right but its so slight. If you want to take the time to align it I would rotate counter clock a degree or less.



Jul 27, 2013 at 11:32 AM
Ted ellis
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


P Alesse wrote:
Single subject photos parallel to focal plane are easiest to align. Just draw a line from toe to toe and you'll see its off. This is a good example why verticals may not always work when doing horizon. The rail on the right may not be plumb or even the ground could have a swale. The ground has a slight down slope to the right but its so slight. If you want to take the time to align it I would rotate counter clock a degree or less.


Rick,
Paul is dead on, another way to look at it is the hitters back foot is uphill versus the front foot.

Ted



Jul 28, 2013 at 08:38 AM
Eric Smith
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


1. No face.
2. Would be better with him throwing the ball, as well as if you were outside first, you would have him nearly looking at you.
3. Pass. Zero emotion; funky cropping.
4. Needs to be tighter or cropped vertically.
5. Nice contact; no face.
6. Kind of cool; no ball.
7. No face, no ball. If this had been shot from outside first, you would have nailed it.
8. Nice stick-out of his tongue.
9. Nice.
10. Crop vertically.
11. Pass.
12. Way, way, way too much separation between the player and the ball. Look at all the dead space.
13. Nice. Would have liked more of the the runner's face.
14. Part of the ball is cropped out. Sorry to be nitty, but it matters.
15. This is fine.

Also, with these pitcher shots, try getting behind the backstop and framing the hitter with the the pitcher. Sometimes you can get some really cool looks back there.

Best,

Eric



Jul 29, 2013 at 06:58 PM
Gkross
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


Personally I loved both sets. All the images no matter the favorites are all crisp clean and most have great backgrounds. Your knowledge of the game shows through and more importantly you have some athletic sons. Congrats on some great images. 13 is a great shot IMHO and I also like 12 the dark background frames the ball nicely



Jul 29, 2013 at 07:53 PM
amlsml
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


Rick, nice set, if I was a parent at this event , I would buy these shots. 11,12,13,14 are my favorites but I bet number 10 will also sell, great candid shot showing the FUN of baseball. really why we shoot? great work


Jul 30, 2013 at 07:47 AM
timgangloff
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · Boys of Summer -- Part 1 (Image Heavy)


I echo what some or most of the others are saying here. All of the shots are fine for posting in galleries to sell to parents. But for posting here to show the quality of your work and start fine tuning your game, post a few less and go with your best images.

For example, 13 is really nice. Great action, good angle, etc. Sure, I'd love to see some faces, but that won't happen on all of your peak action shots. On the other hand, you've got a great view of the face in 3, but I would not post that here. Way to boring. Yes, the light might have been great, but lets see some action during the gold hour.

12 and 14 are very similar. Normally, I try to give a variety of action shots. Pick your favorite between those 2 and post that 1.

Oh, and I am not enamored with ball on bat shots unless you have some face to go with it. Basically, it takes a lot of luck and frames to get the BoB. It's kinda cliche now.

And ditto what Eric said about your shooting position as far as the batters go and with the pitcher shots.

While some of the critiques you have gotten here might be viewed as a bit harsh, it is what will force you to bring your game to the next level. I usually try to temper my comments based on the skill of the photographer. Since you are not a beginner, I'll be a bit tougher on you. And I wouldn't want anything less in return.



Jul 30, 2013 at 08:23 AM





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