Mark Teixeira popping out as an Atlanta Brave. Next he was a Los Angeles Angel of Anaheim. Now he's a New York Yankee. But first he was a Texas Ranger.
1/40 shutter @ 200mm, then cropped further to a little more than a quarter of original image size. B&W conversion to bring out the ball motion blur.
This photo was taken on September 15, 2007 in Isherwood, Washington, DC, US, using a Nikon D80.
This photo is visible to everyone
Photo license:
All Rights Reserved
Comments and faves
Lye Tuck-Po (56 months ago | reply)
plus: ___I like the tones, gives a strong journalistic flavour that I like
minus: ___It's lacking some drama, probably because you were far away from the action when you shot it. Nothing you can do about that, I'm sure. But it does give a sense that we're viewing this through a TV or something, so all is not lost!
(from the Plus-Minus Comment group)
Hurith (56 months ago | reply)
plus: I like the high contrast. It strengthens this photograph a lot.
minus: Different people, different opinions (so to speak :). I would like to see this photograph in colours... I too believe that the tones give a journalistic aura to it, but unfortunately most of the black and white shots have that, so I usually try to avoid them. But I guess that this is just a matter of taste.
(from the Plus-Minus Comment group)
Pero Kvrzica (56 months ago | reply)
plus: technically excellent
minus: nothing specific
look like a study of a shot, great!
(from the Plus-Minus Comment group)
leesure (56 months ago | reply)
NEVER seen this perspective before.
Nice timing tho.
-Voted "deleteme" (by the Delete me! Group)
Mike Boehmer (56 months ago | reply)
good timing on this. i like it in b&w
saveme1
dr ama (56 months ago | reply)
Nice BW & a good sense of action
sm2
/seth/ (56 months ago | reply)
Timing is good, but that's about it. And as my wife and leesure pointed out, it's been done to death
-Voted "deleteme2" (by the Delete me! Group)
Parthurpics (56 months ago | reply)
Great moment, so-what outcome. As Tuck-Po says, you're limited by your viewpoint - so it becomes one of a thousand shots we've seen before. It's a photo that I'd be pleased with, but not one I'd expect to be saved.
dm3
lj_scampo (56 months ago | reply)
good motion blur, perfect moment, i like the chosen exposure time and the bw conversion.
though i would prefer it with some of the dmers ass at the ball's place ill drop a
-voted as "saveme" (from the Deleteme! group)
Peopleinpixels - Alfonso Batalla (56 months ago | reply)
well done but not very special. framing a tad loose on theleft and tight on the right
deleteme5
Kurrs (56 months ago | reply)
The thing that really kills this is the "only feet in focus" thing.
Otherwise, really awesome shot.
-Voted "deleteme6" (by the Delete me! Group)
Jim Skea (56 months ago | reply)
I don't see the "only feet in focus" thing as a negative point.
First of all, it's not correct to say that only the feet are in focus. If you look at the DoF (for example by looking at the grass) all the principal subjects in the frame are in focus. What people are calling "out of focus" is actually motion blur. Hell, what a surprise - there's motion blur in an action photo!
In fact I'm surprised there's so little motion blur at 1/40s with a 200mm lens, even with image stabilisation. One of the things which I *like* about the shot is seeing which parts of the players held steady for 1/40s and which moved.
So you nailed a difficult capture in a non-optimal situation and processed the result very well. What's not to like?
-Voted "saveme4" (by the Delete me! Group)
dr ama added this photo to his favorites. (56 months ago)
gdiazdeleon (56 months ago | reply)
Color please... really.
-voted as "deleteme7" (from Deleteme! group)
Lumberg the Loquacious Llama (56 months ago | reply)
Coin toss - best two out of three - You got heads three times in a row you lucky bastard!
-Voted "saveme5" (by the Delete me! Group)
pizzo (56 months ago | reply)
Yes we've all seen this type of shot countles times, but not usually with the blur track of the struck ball, and not usually this good. Way to go RRR. Give my best to Misty.
-Voted "saveme6" (by the Delete me! Group)
Arkady Renko (56 months ago | reply)
What Jim Skea said.
-Voted "saveme7" (by the Delete me! Group)
Tsjeu (56 months ago | reply)
We don't have that 'in focus' distinction that Jim makes, over here in Hollandia, probably not in Germany either.
Something is either 'scherp/scharf', or not. Doesn't matter to us what caused the blur.
But apart from that I can't imagine why this would be THE moment to capture. The ball between his butt and the open glove would be better f.i. If I went to such a game and came back with this as the best shot, I'd be disappointed.
Bumping the contrast till it hurts and oversharpening the result never saved a shot.
deleteme8
yonas1 (56 months ago | reply)
Well, I actually love the B/W. However, the framing is just a weeee bit biased-left. Also, I'm not quite diggin' the shutter speed considering the action of the bat.
-voted as "deleteme9" (from the Deleteme! group)
Not a bad photo overall, though.
SF Lights [deleted] (56 months ago | reply)
The blur really ruins this.
deleteme10
Rod the Rabid Rodent (56 months ago | reply)
Thanks to all for the comments and saves! I figured the motion blur would be slightly controversial, and I guess I was right... If anyone's curious,
I've also got the uncropped version in color.
And, just for Tsjeu, I've got a couple older pictures he might enjoy.
Ball Butt Glove
Ball Balls Glove
mightyquinninwky©™ and *gumby added this photo to their favorites.
throwinrocks! (55 months ago | reply)
im reading that people dont like the blur... i completely disagree. its what sets it apart from other baseball shots. i like it a lot
Rod the Rabid Rodent (55 months ago | reply)
Thanks for the thoughts on both this and the color version. Some people just hate blur, no matter the cause, and I'm not going to fault them for that, as I have my own pet peeves.
In the end, this got 7 saves, which is actually a better than average performance in the DeleteMe group, so that's something.
NorJon - All Rights Reserved (53 months ago | reply)
I saw this photo in: Baseball Unlimited
Wow! Nice touch.
scilit (52 months ago | reply)
great action shot
from 1-2-3 B&W)
Gabriella Maria Cinà (52 months ago | reply)
Beautiful action shot! excellet black and white!
from 1-2-3 B&W
Al Fed (51 months ago | reply)
This is cool. The perfect moment, great style. A lot better in b&w than the colored version.
Al Fed added this photo to their favorites. (51 months ago)
Rod the Rabid Rodent (51 months ago | reply)
Thanks!
It's one of my personal faves -- I definitely prefer this one as well. The b&w gives it a journalistic feel that I like, as I think it does a better job emphasizing the action and textures present.
David Arran Photography (51 months ago | reply)
Love the sense of motion that the blur engenders. Well executed shot and effective post processing technique.
seattlescott [deleted] (50 months ago | reply)
TGIF at:
The World Through My Eyes
Cool shot, I like it!
vandyll.net (50 months ago | reply)
Great action shot! And definitely like the B&W conversion.
Seen in TGIF at:
The World Through My Eyes
J.^2 (50 months ago | reply)
Great catch!
TGIF at:
The World Through My Eyes
Ran_d (50 months ago | reply)
Excellent!
TGIF at:
The World Through My Eyes
neil_gaudet (49 months ago | reply)
Nice shot. Good action.
sallylondon (49 months ago | reply)
I like the B&W treatment and I love the controlled motion blur! (I found reading the comments really interesting too.)
'ACTION' Theme at:
The World Through My Eyes
fons167, blaine101700, and willemmas added this photo to their favorites.
*Micky (46 months ago | reply)
Great action shot, love the movement!
Sports Action Theme at:
The World Through My Eyes
BENEDiCK DAViD (45 months ago | reply)
Awesome capture. Very strong image. Feels like all who see this are there
justchillin_1, juanvaldez, paco • espinoza, hylander216, and edaniele added this photo to their favorites.
s0ulsurfing (35 months ago | reply)
love the action here, very nice in B&W
B&W Monday at:
The World Through My Eyes
Patnoy, mgratzer, stavroscm, Bernardo G. Macouzet, and xthylacine added this photo to their favorites.