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.
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.
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.
