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While it’s fun to look at baseball photos in newspapers and magazines, you don’t have to be a world-famous photojournalist to take exciting baseball pictures of your favorite team, its players, and the drama and elegance that is baseball. You can do it too. All you need is some baseball photography tips.<\/p>\n
What about equipment? The good news is that you don’t need a 600mm lens and a ten-frame-per-second motordrive SLR like the “Hot Shots” have. Of course, heavy artillery like this can help, but you can take great baseball pictures with just about any camera. Here’s how…<\/p>\n
The Inverse-Access Law.<\/strong><\/p>\n There’s one fundamental principle for capturing baseball pictures we made up, that we call the Inverse Access Law<\/em>. It relates to what you have to expect when you go to the baseball game. Simply stated, the “Law” is this: The bigger the league, the farther you’ll probably be from the action. Don’t be discouraged. This “law” applies equally to professional photographers as well as amateurs. In a Major League game, when the umpire cries “Play Ball,” no one is allowed on the field. No one. Period. End of story.<\/p>\n Realize, the professional sports photographer with the right Press Pass and the big lens can be on the sidelines at a football or basketball game…but not at a baseball game. With America’s “National Pastime,” everybody — professional and amateur alike — shoots from the stands though there are press boxes in a few key locations for the pros. However you still have a lot of photo opportunities even from the stands to capture great baseball photos.<\/p>\n And, there’s the rub — even for the professional. The bigger the stadium, the greater the distance from the playing field to the stands. So be prepared: Major League games will give you minimum opportunity for great baseball pictures — especially if your seats are way out in the bleachers. But don’t despair just yet — we’ve got some hints later in this article that can get you closer even in Major League stadiums.<\/p>\n In any event, at the local little league field or humble sandlot diamond, you won’t have any problem positioning yourself close to the action. Usually, you can walk right up to the backstop behind home plate, and stick your camera through the fence for an over-the-umpire’s-shoulder close-up view. Only the catcher will have a better view. And if there are some seats along the first-base side of the diamond, you may be able to claim the front row and make it your personal press box!<\/p>\n What does this all mean? Simply that you’ve got to be realistic and realize that you’ll get closer to the action and get better shots at the small ballfield. But, as we just said, don’t give up on the BIG stadium yet.<\/p>\n First, let’s go over some baseball photography tips for handling the action at all types of baseball fields. We call these baseball photography tips, the Six Commandments<\/em>.<\/p>\n The Six Commandments for Great Baseball Photos<\/strong><\/p>\n 1. Get as close to the action as you can.<\/strong><\/p>\n Wherever possible — in big stadium or sandlot seats — try to nearly fill the frame with your subject rather than have him or her show up as a distant speck.<\/p>\n How close is close enough? The closer the better. Following our “Inverse Access Law,” you know that you probably can get right on the sidelines — or in the first row of seats — at a sandlot, Little League, or high-school game. For college games, semi-pro, or spring-training Big League games, you can usually get pretty close — especially if you apply some added charm or “weight.” If you’re an NYI student, your NYI Press Pass<\/em> can provide this added “weight.” With or without the pass, if you have any trouble getting close to the action at these games, we advise that you call ahead for a later game and speak with the press or public relations office. Explain that you’re a serious photographer (if you have any exotic equipment, here’s a good place to name-drop) and you’d like to get access to the press box for the game. If this fails, ask for permission to photograph the pregame warm ups.<\/p>\n What about the regular season Big League game? You probably won’t get really close to the action. (As we said a moment ago, no one does!) But this doesn’t mean you’re out of luck with trying to take great baseball photos.<\/p>\n It simply means that you’ll have to use a longer lens to fill the frame. How long a lens? This, of course, depends upon where you sit. From most seats in the stands, a 200mm lens (or an 80-200mm zoom) will probably do fine. But realize this: Unless you have professional gear, the maximum aperture of your 200mm lens is probably around ƒ\/4.5. It’s not very fast. This means that you may not be able to shoot at a fast-enough shutter speed to stop the action, especially when your subject is in a shaded area of the field. It should, however, be fine for action in sunny areas — so concentrate on those. (At the end of this article, we discuss the equipment brought by the big-time pros. What we’ve said here may give you an inkling of why he or she probably uses a 300mm lens with an ƒ\/2.8 maximum aperture.)<\/p>\n Another point, it’s all well and good to sit in the bleachers and have your 200mm ready to catch the action, but…. Be realistic. What happens when that home run is hit out of the park or there’s a close play at home? Right. Everybody stands up! This means that your 200mm will get an out-of-focus view of the back of the shirt of the person in front of you, but little else.<\/p>\n How can you avoid this? By planning your position in advance. If possible, try to get seated in a front row where your view will be unobstructed. You can’t get such a seat? OK.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n