Shot a few games yesterday on an overcast day and got some good light. Wish there was more action but there were more errors and running than hitting and catching. Managed to grab a few. Shot with the 1dmk2n, 300 2.8 and 1.4 TC. C&C welcome.

Thnaks
Frank Lauri

#1 - Love the face.


#2 - A throw to first.


#3 - Almost popped out. Gotta check the rule on a 1b glove for the OF.


#4 - This little guy actually threw the ball well.


#5 - The one eyed bunt.


#6 - This lad made an excellent play and maintained control for the out.


#7 - During warm ups.

Frank, Very nice series, and great timing on all of these.

Scott

Friggin great job, Frank-- and love your post work. These remind me of Paul's tight kid shots, which are always outstanding. But the last image with that dark green bg just POPS.

Well done.... again.

Very, very nice. Beautiful colors

Bob

i'm always impressed with your captures and the facial expressions in them. Great job! (I am not impressed however with your avatar.... It needs a big B on it instead)

Nice shots but a bit too much sharpenign. Can see the halos in #6.

Nice series Frank, #5 is my favorite.

Tony

Talofa wrote:
i'm always impressed with your captures and the facial expressions in them. Great job! (I am not impressed however with your avatar.... It needs a big B on it instead)

Yeah, that'll go off big next time you're shooting at PNC.

SSSWEEEEEEEETTTT Frank!


Bob

Thanks everyone for your looks and comments.

Tom - I started the tighter shots last year (definately inspired by Paul and his feedback) and I really liked it and since getting the 300...I'm hooked.

Talofa - The Bambino curse to you.....just kidding...been a NYY fan since 2nd or 3rd grade. Thanks...

bobbyz - thanks for the feedback. Not being too up on the PP lingo, not sure what you mean by the halos. Could it be that shot was cropped pretty heavy. Here's a link to the orig. http://flauri.zenfolio.com/p523036054/?photo=529189390

Paul - Wouldn't be too well received up there that's for sure.


Thanks again everyone....

Excellent ! Great expressions, timing, sharpness, colors, ...
Thank you !

Hey Frank, nice work on these. I like the "in-your-grill" approach and the colors really sing!

Espen, thanks much for your feedback.

Russ, thanks....I overexposed a little on this shot so I had some room to dabble a little and took a shot.

Thanks Again
Frank Lauri

Frank,

With Halos I mean the sharpening halos. You can easily see it in #6. Look at his left arm at his hand, where the blue uniform is in front of his face. You see effect which looks like when you shoot/see through hot air coming from fire. That is caused by too much sharpening or sometimes improper sharpening method.

I think one of the best aspects of these is the lack of chain-link fence that is basically unavoidable in youth stuff. even the shots with the fence there, you hardly notice it

we have a saying in the Bronx for that little team with the B.........

Very nice!

Great reach with that lens combo.

-Mark.

I love the crisp clean light you guys get. Here in So Cal we always have mucky skies.

bobbyz, thanks for the explaination on that. I still have a little trouble seeing it on my monitor at home (laptop). I'll check it out at work and see. That is one of the things that I still scratch my head about is the sharpening and to know when it's too much.

grenadier2002, Mark.....thanks for the comments.

Danny, the fence at this field is terrible. One of these types where the old stuff was never removed and new stuff just pieced in and it goes from just beyone 1st all the way to 3rd and it's 25 ft. high. I think by shifting to the tighter shots/crops makes the fence and some of the more unpleasant b/g's more bearable. Hey....I think Igawa is on the move to going back up....Rasner didn't look too bad after that 1st inning the other day. Keep an eye on Giese....he's turning some pretty good numbers down here.

Thanks Again Everyone..
Frank Lauri

Nice series I like the up close and personal touch

Very nice, no chopped limbs, good faces! So what lens/camera combo did you use to blur out the fences?

Go RED SOX!

Mike and Gerry - thanks for the comments....sorry for the late response - been shooting pretty much lately.

Gerry, I used the 1dmk2n and 300 2.8 with the 1.4 TC.

Thanks again
Frank Lauri

Great shots! I really need to get me a 300 2.8 for my Nikon. I was hoping to use some of the gov check to pick one up, but its going to car repairs instead

Did you do much cropping on these out of camera, or were they framed that way in camera? I'm thinking of trying some cropped like that as well. I like how they turn out.

Hey Frank Nice work.

This is more of a general all around question for any of you that shoot L.L. baseball on a regular basis.

I got into shooting L.L. this year. I did the opening day program and the entire first week of games. I have never done L.L. BB before so I did and still do not know what the parents want to see.
Do you find that those tighter cropped photos sell better than ones where the whole kid is in the frame?
Thanks.
I have samples of what I did if you want to see them.

Scott and Homey - thanks for the comments. Regarding the crops....the ones of the outfielders making the catch...these were a heavy crop because of the distance. The other ones were shot tight pretty much what you see.

Homey, since I started shooting tighter, it appears sales have increased. Parents want to see their faces (most of the time). I have on occassion sold stuff that leaves me scratching my head and I have already asked customers why they chose a certain image.

I just sold 4 - 8x10's the other day to parents of a senior of a HS softball pitcher. The mom gave me explicit instructions on how they wanted them cropped. Of all the prints I sold, this was the first time anyone has given be instructions on how to crop. Out of curiosity, I asked the mom why....she told me that the pictures are being put away for a later date and will be put into some "hall of fame". So I gave her what she wanted. (I gotta find out more on this hall of fame thing).

Personally I like to shoot action but if the action isn't there, I start going for a candid sportrait...facial expressions - stuff like that. I also found an increase in sales for the upper levels (high school) as well based on the tighter cropped shots.

Hope this helps
Frank Lauri

Thanks Frank.
It does help a lot.
Since it was my first time I had to trust my instincts and shot what I thought would appeal to them.. Guess I was wrong.
I did get good results of the kids batting. So when I laid out the sample trader card I thought I had it nailed and that I would sell a ton of them.
Here I will show you what I did.
I offered this trader card with the border to be changed to match their teams colors.



This is the full image, no crop, it fits in the frame I made nicely but if its not a tight enough shot then I failed. Or need to crop all of the images.
Also the back lighting may have hurt a bit. You think?

Some CC is always welcome.

I am ready to admit that I have a lot to learn about this subject and am willing to listen to ideas as to what I need to do different next time.

Thanks