Safe, Sore Arm and Happiness

[Thos Quinn]

This is my first post to this “sub” forum. I hope you enjoy the pix but please contribute any criticisms or suggestions; that’s how we learn and grow. Also, as for the quality of these posts, I’m hoping you all can assist me in a perplexing situation (see follow-up post). Anyway, I look forward to participating in this great place.

“STEALING HOME” I could see that the third base coach was just itching to send the runner so I set myself up to frame the catcher and the runner at home plate. The next pitch was a past ball and the catcher flipped the ball to the charging pitcher. The batter scrutinizing the play and the pitcher’s glove at the right edge were bonuses to the shot. The sun was very low, thus the warm tones (some have said “hot”). I played with the K temperature in ACR but decided I liked the tone as shot. I created a mask and gradient overlay to blur the back ground because the fence was really distracting IMO and used the same mask to selectively sharpen. Josh was safe by the way!

D70; Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4-56 D ED at 75mm
1/1250sec, f5.6; matrix metering, aperture priority; iso 200; RAW

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“THAT’S MY BOY” Forest, my son, pitches some, but usually plays shortstop or first base. Given the choice, he would always be on the mound. BTW, he pitched the whole game and we won 16 to 3! It hurts my arm just to look at this picture. Again, low sun and warm tones that seem to work for me anyway.

D70; Nikkor 70-300mm 1:4-56 D ED at 122mm
1/400sec, f5.6; matrix metering, aperture priority; iso 200; RAW
View attachment 12468


“OUT OF THE SLUMP” We have one girl on our team and she is one go-getter. She is our catcher (best in the league) and I can count on one hand the number of pitches that got past her. She’s a good hitter but had been in a 2-3 game slump. In this game she smacked a triple and stole home the next play. That’s when I snapped this shot. Again, as a matter of taste, low sun and warm tones. I applied selective (LAB) sharpening to the eyes and some cleaning and whitening of the teeth (I think she was eating sunflower seeds) in PSCS.

D70; Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8
1/500sec, f3.5; matrix metering, aperture priority; iso 200; RAW
View attachment 12469

 

[eng45ine]

Hi Tom,

I truly like the three images that you posted. I can't point to what I like the most about the first image: Great dirt, facial expression of the base runner, the sense of urgency of the catcher and the facial expression/pose of the batter and the pitcher's glove entering the frame. It all tells a wonderful story. Nothing missing...Nothing to add from my point of view. Great capture.....

 

[Thos Quinn]

Thank you sir! Ya, the first shot sure has a lot of elements working together. And as I said, two of them were serendipity. I can take credit for the positioning, framing and exposure. Ya know, even the cropping in PS was dictated by the postions of the catcher, pitcher's glove (what you see is all that was in frame) and the batter.

 

[MontyDog]

#1064 - You have an error in your SQL syntax;

 

[Thos Quinn]

Paul; thanks for your comments and taking the time to critique. I totally agree with you on the black framing on the first shot. It is the result of laziness on my part when posting. Josh’s (the slider) parents wanted an 8 by 10 (inches) print of it because they had a frame they wanted to use. The elements of the picture, dictated by the postions of the catcher, pitcher's glove (what you see is all that was in the camera frame) and the batter, would not allow for a 4/5 ratio crop. Thus, the black uneven border to bring it to 8x10 for his parents. Lazily, I used that version to upload for this presentation.

Not looking where you are throwing is an old baseball pitcher’s ploy to unnerve the batter. See, it worked on you and you’re not even at bat. In all honesty, I’ll fully admit the second shot is simply a blatant example of a proud dad taking a picture of his son.

I played back and forth with the cropping on the third shot. I went with what I did seeing it as the essence of simplistic framing (a happy face, no more, no less….. nothing going on outside the frame… just happiness). But, I can certainly relate to your point of view and may revisit that shot for reframing.

Again, thank you for taking the time to critique.

 

[mike mac]

Nice shots I like the action captured in the first one, if i threw and my arm was like your sons I would be with a heating pad for weeks.

 

[Gale]

Excellent images and capture of expression and action.

I like the warm tone of the late afternoon light.

 

[Thos Quinn]

Thank you Ma'am!
I'm still having major issues with my postings looking so much "crappier" than the JPEGS look befor I upload them to my pbase site. The subject of a separate post perhaps in the technical forum.

Random House College Dictionary
crapy (adj.) having the quality of being viewed through a pane of frosted glass.

 

[Thos Quinn]

Paul, I think it's called "rounders" where you live. My son used to employ an aupair and when we described our baseball she said she used to play that in school in England when she was a child.

.....and we think WE invented it!

:lol:

Rich

May the ghost of Abner Doubleday haunt your dreams :evil: