A Swing & A Missby
TommyMoe21Comment by dahkota: Greetings from the Critique Club :)
This is a great stop action image. Your timing and shutter speed were excellent, allowing just a slight blur of the bat to show the movement taking place. The focus is razor sharp and the lighting is good to show detail. Your Point Of View, at level with the subject, is good.
Compositionally, the subject has excellent placement. Also, the triangle formed by the arms leads the viewer's eye right to the bat. The viewer then follows the bat down to the end. This is effective. The round yellow ball is in contrast to the lines of the fence and lines of the subject. This, combined with its yellowness (there is no other yellow within the image), really attracts a viewer to that spot - a very effective use of shape and color.
I would agree with the previous commentors that the background is distracting. I can see that you shot this with f4 - this wouldn't allow you to get the blur you would need without moving much closer to the subject. Also, this was a basic challenge so post processing the background with a blur was a no-no. Since you have no choice but leave the background as it is, maybe a looser crop on the top so the observers are not beheaded would be in order.
Overall, this is an excellent representation of a stop action shot.
Photographer found comment helpful.
