Watch it...

Thought it was interesting that this pitcher would track his own

pitches in. Don't know how common it is, but I hadn't seen it

before.

Your ratings for this pic are a joke. Well done .... Nice sharp focus and I love how you can see his eyes following the ball.

Perfect Shot.

As for the ratings being a joke, I'm not entirely sure. As for originality, this is a pretty common way to photograph the pitcher, so I think that the 4-ish rating isn't far off.

 

As for the aesthetics, while I personally wouldn't have minded having the ball a bit more in focus, I do think that the 4-ish ratings are definitely lower than I would have given it.

 

It definitely is a terrific capture of the pitcher, I haven't seen them following the ball, either!

Good job, Kirt. Like the framing, the focus, and the concentration of the pitcher. Well done.

There's really two ways to get the ball more in focus. Well, other than altering the photo...

 

1. Shoot the shot with the ball closer to the pitcher. That would work except I thought it was interesting that he was looking at his own pitch, and the ones I have with the ball closer to him don't show that as clearly.

 

2. Go for greater DOF, which would bring the background into better focus too, which may or may not have been a problem. Honestly, I didn't think about it at the time, and didn't realize as I chimped the shots that he was watching his own pitches.

 

This was actually my first time shooting HS baseball (and almost any baseball for that matter, though softball is my thing).

 

As for the ratings, well, a set of 3/3s always seems to follow every sports shot I put up. I mostly shoot sports photos to please the parents of the subjects, so if there's originality in my shots, and I'm not arguing about the ratings per se, it has to do with capturing the personality of the individuals in their expressions, etc. That may not even be original in the eyes of the critiquers, and that's okay.

 

What I will note is that if you look at Asthetics/Originality ratings, they generally are within 1 point of each other for most everyone's shots.

 

Seems like whenever I post in response to a critique that the comments pretty much end. Hope not, I like the discussion.

 

Kirt

Wilson,

 

I do think that sports photography in general is something people see a lot of, so I guess that could be part of us being "de-sensitized" to a good sports shot; we do tend to see great ones on a regular basis. I also suppose that to some it follows that since we see a lot of them, it must not be that hard to make them.

 

In the sports pages, most photos are of the famous athlete, not the kid who may struggle to make a college team. Many of my favorite sports shots are of "big athletes" having "big moments" during a "big game."

 

So maybe I won't ever take a great one.

 

Even if we like sports photos in general, perhaps we like them more if we like the sport. My small sample of posted photos makes me think that photos of baseball are valued somewhat higher than those of girls playing fastpitch softball. That is the nature of things at this point in history, I suppose, and may always be. Still, as I tell my daughter, there has never been a better time or place to be a female athlete. Anyway, I digress...

 

It is great to get words of encouragement from you, Wilson, as I truly admire your gift for turning a moment from a sporting event into a work of art. Though I don't know if I can aspire to make the kind of photos you do, they do inspire me in so many ways.