Baseball: It’s all in the details

Posted on September 28, 2009

Nate Schierholtz #12 of the San Francisco Giants drops his bat in the batter’s box and runs to first base against the Oakland Athletics during the game at AT&T Park on June 14, 2009 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Brad Mangin)

 

Over the course of a baseball season I will photograph around 90 or so big league games from the first pitch of spring training to the final out of the World Series. Over the course of the eight month season there are many moments when NOTHING is happening and that is when it is fun to try and get out of your comfort zone and shoot somethi9ng different. I tried to do that a few times this season by shooting some details around home plate of the many things that happen there. I did alot of experimenting to see how a batter drops his bat as he runs to first base. These pictures, shot tight with a 400mm lens were very difficult to get, but I ended up with a like, like the one above, that I really liked.

When I am shooting these details of fast moving body parts and baseball equipment my percentage of keepers is very low- especially when I am shooting so tight. However, every once in awhile I come across something where the light, composition and moment comes together and I get a fun picture that says “Baseball” to me. I ended up really enjoying shooting the home plate umpires this season, starting with an intersquad game in Tucson during spring training.

All of the pictures in this post were shot from behind the plate. You need to be very close to make pictures like this- and it also helps to be able to have your camera on the ground because the low angle accentuates the subject and makes everything like the dirt granules really pop to show movement and action. I am really glad I started shooting these details this year, and I hope to come up with some new images that I like in the coming seasons.