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| Photo by Jack Howard |
| Click photo to launch a gallery of baseball and softball images. |
You've followed all the above advice, you're at the local little league field or college stadium, and it's time to play ball! But where should you stand? It depends on what you're looking for. It is not possible to cover every angle perfectly all at once, but the positions marked with the camera icon on the diamond diagram at right show good places to stand to capture specific action. Don't get locked completely into one set spot if you don't have to in any one position, as these are more "zones" than hard-edged, pinpoint locations. If a base coach slides over into your viewfinder, slide down a foot or so -- you should never start a play with an obstructed viewfinder. (We can't promise your angle doesn't become obstructed as the play develops; but don't start out looking at an out-of-focus obstacle.)
Camera Position 1
Depending on the field, this could be a photo well next to the 3rd base side dugout, or it could be behind the in-play area fencing or line on the third base side. In either event, this is a good position for capturing profiles of pitchers in action, plays at second base, left and center field pop flies, some tight-squeeze frames at third base, pick-offs attempts at first, batters running towards first, plays at home and left-handed batters. Plays at home from this position 1 will generally show the catcher more dramatically than the baserunner because of the angle.
Camera Position 2
Yes, there is most probably a chain-link backstop fence in your way. Who cares! Shoot right through it. Put your lens up as close to a hole in the links as you can, and you can make strong head-on shots of the pitcher! If you line it up right, you can also include the batter in the frame, although only one will be in focus at a fast aperture. If you've got a wide-angle lens in your bag, you can also try to catch a play at home from here, but the chain links may impact image quality on wide-angle shots. For the most part, this position is for capturing shots of pitchers.
Camera Position 3
It's the mirror opposite of position 1. Again, it is good for profiles of pitchers in action, plays at second, right and center field pop flies, some tight-squeeze frames at first, pick-off attempts and plays at third, plays at home and right-handed batters. Plays at home from position 3 may catch a baserunner sliding heroically into home better than at position 1.
Camera Position 4
You'll need seriously long glass to take advantage of this position to its fullest. Think 600mm at least. But from here, you've got a straight shot of the batter heading towards first, a decent reverse angle on plays at second, a shot at getting a decent image at third, and you can shoot both right and left-handed batters from here, along with plays at the plate. You've also got a pretty good angle for any long balls lobbed into the outfield.
Other possible positions
If you can get permission to shoot from the roof of either the third-base or first base dugout, you've got all the advantages of either position 1 or 3, with clean, unobstructed backgrounds from this high angle. It's not always possible, but if you get to the game early and ask the umpire and home field director, it makes for a cool shooting position. If there is a second story "Clubhouse" behind home plate, you can also get some good shots of the infield action and overheads of batters and plays at the plate from here, so long as there's not mesh or a fence in your way.
Selective -- Not Random -- Burst Shooting.
If you've been close to pro photographers at a sporting event, you'll notice that they are not simply machine-gunning a burst of photos from start to finish. It's more like pinpoint sniping.
Wait until the play is developing and fire your first shot with the hopes of catching the peak action in the first frame or two. But keep the shutter down until the play has wound down -- you never know which frame in that burst will be the winning shot! Oftentimes the reaction as the play is winding down is the winner of the series.
But don't wait too long. If you wait until you see the ball in the frame, you'll miss the shot. You've got to learn to read little signals: the first twitch of a bat, the pitcher's windup, a split-second dive back to first should get your trigger finger going. Imagine that you're trying to hit the ball to catch the ball in the frame with a batter. Imagine you're trying to slide into second ahead of the catcher. Slide too soon and you'll stop short of the base. Slide too late, and, well, you're out!
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