At Work
by Structor

Comment:
I'd love to know what bag this is and if it has rollers and a long handle.

The Apprentice
by Art Roflmao

Comment:
Riley? :D

Wild Pitch
by bspurgeon

Comment:
I voted this a 5.

The image had some real potential especially based on the amount of pixels you had to start with. To me the catcher and all the dead space in between the two players does nothing for this photo. take a nice vertical crop of the batter with the ball in the air, it eliminates the dead space and the distractions in the background and you have a much stronger image. And yes the timing could be a touch better, but there is still the sense of anticipation and action to it that draws the viewer in.

leading with two laps to go
by bmartuch

Comment:
I voted this a 4.

I think you already know why you finished below 5, but I'll put a few thoughts to my 4 vote. The focus is a pretty big issue on this, either that or a bit too slow shutter speed, sharpness is compromised by one or the other. The sharpest point I can find appears to be the front runners back shoulder. The nice tight shot is good and the black and white is pretty decent, although I might put just a bit more contrast to it. If this is a tight shot and not a heavy crop you really have to nail the focal point as the longer your focal length and tighter the shot the smaller DOF you will end up with. This isn't a photo that would make it through the pick to send to the editor.

No pain... No game!
by Maggye

Comment:
I was one of your 54 6 votes on this image.

The image shows good action, near peak and has good colors. What would I do different? I'd go in real tight on the crop and remove the player entering into the right portion of the screen. The image is sharp enough and has excellent colors and could easily handle a much tighter crop I think. I can't show you exactly the crop as DPC will no longer let me grab it to show you. So this is just a screen print with a crop in paint. ignore white on the right. See how much stronger if the this crop is even with a loss of the limb?

Intensity
by FourPointX

Comment:
I voted this a 5.

Gives good action, a sense of anticipation to see if the "tackle" or flag removal will be made or not. I would have liked to see the shutter clicked a little later closer to the peak of the action. I realize this is tougher to do with the shutter lag of a point and shoot. After seeing the original I'd suggest a different crop. Left crop point is good, upper I would go ahead and include the entire player that you have beheaded, and lose a bit off the bottom. I'm not sure of what editing program you are using but if you do a quick curves adjustment picking the white point on the 1 or 9 on the defenders jersey, this photo will really pop a bit more.

Reverse sweep for 4!
by acg83

Comment:
This got a 5 from me.

The crop has a lot of dead space in it that do nothing for the photo. The image also seems to lack sharpness in the subject. You could have easily cropped behind the player some and just to the left of the ball. I can't say anything about the game as I have no idea of how the game is played to know if the play is an important one or not. If possible you might have moved to your left to try and get the tree out of the background.

The Pass
by rooum

Comment:
This got a 4 from me.

This one would have not made the first culling in lightroom when picking my photos to send to the editor. To me the action is where the ball is in this photo and that is totally out of focus. Even the player at the back who I assume will be getting the pass is not in the focal plane. It appears to be in front of him. I'm not sure if the exif data is correct that you have uploaded, however 50MM is not something I'd attempt any field sport with and F1.4 isn't either. Especially not in daylight when I can get 200ISO.

Header
by BeckyT

Comment:
I scored this image a 5 during the voting.

My reasoning is you captured the moment very well as far as timing, although I might have gone vertical with the camera to avoid cutting off the feet or gone even tighter to go waist up on the crop. The issue I have with this entry is the exposure. The areas where the exposure is correct are places that don't matter. You have really nice whites on the uniform and the ball with very little blown highlights even with harsh sunlight. But honestly I don't care about that area. Expose for the faces in direct sunlight facing you, then either make quick changes with your camera during shooting to compensate for shadows or do it in post. I'll gladly blow highlights on the uniforms and ball to get a good exposure on the face. Uniform exposure is only good for product shots, sports photos are about the players and that is what I expose for.

Safe!
by vawendy

Comment:
I voted this image a 5.

The shutter speed is just too low on this shot. It appears to be a bit back focused as well. In my shooting this is one that wouldn't make it through my first Culling in lightroom. So why did I still chose to give it a 5? The shutter speed is really all I can complain about. You had the low angle, the timing, facial expression. now just get that shutter speed up and lock your focus on this shot and you have a fantastic shot. This is one of my favorite shots to take during a game. I keep a second body next to me just to shoot the pick off play at first.

My suggestion for getting focus on this shot is when a situation arises that you think a pick off play is coming. Go to one shot AF on your camera focus in the area where the player will contact the bag, focus it, then keep the shutter half pressed and wait for the pitcher to throw to first, hit a small burst with the camera.

Typically I try not to fall below 1/1600 on a shot like this because even at that you can get a bit of blur.

Message edited by author 2010-05-13 09:46:57.