Picked Off

Pickoff plays can provide some of the best baseball action photos.

Medford High base runner stretches in vain to get back to first base as Arlington second baseman tags him out during Arlington’s 5-4 win at Medford (© Michael Maher).

The Photo:
This was my best pickoff photo ever, even though it was one of the first baseball games I photographed. Because I understand the game, I can anticipate where action will likely occur, and use the time between pitches to stake out the best shooting position for the plays I’m expecting. As this game progressed, I frequently aimed at the bases where I thought plays would unfold, and shot several action pictures. When a fast base runner reached first with another runner on third, he took a big lead, so the pitcher threw over to first repeatedly to prevent the runner from stealing second. I positioned myself between home and first with a 200MM lens to have the option of shooting an attempted pickoff at first or a play at home. I focused on the first base bag and set my shutter speed to 1/500. On the first pitch, the batter bunted in the air to the pitcher, who quickly threw to the second baseman covering first and picked the runner off for a double play. I luckily timed the pickoff picture perfectly to capture the runner’s fingers just off the bag with the ball inside the fielder’s glove touching the runner’s body. It was an ideal pickoff shot, a direct result of anticipating the play, and putting myself in the best position to photograph it. Note that the field’s layout forced me to shoot this picture into the sun.

3 Tips:
1) Anticipate the next plays and where they are most likely to occur.
2) Reposition yourself and aim your camera to capture the plays you expect.
3) Ideally, try to avoid shooting into the sun, but sometimes it is unavoidable.

Foul Ball

Sometimes a clever caption creates an additional meaning to make a picture more powerful.

Foul ball gets batter right where it hurts during high school baseball game in Pelham, N. H. (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:
I wanted an unusual photo of a batter, so practically all I photographed at this high school game were hitters swinging. Close-up photos of baseball batters making contact require a little luck because it’s difficult to precisely time when a hitter’s bat and a pitched ball meet. You’re shooting at shutter speeds of 1/500, 1/1000, or 1/2000 of second, while both the bat and ball can be moving over 100 miles per hour at the moment of impact. Framing the batter’s full body, using a 180MM lens and a 1/1000 shutter speed, I repeatedly tried to time the swing of different batters to capture the ball being hit. The key is to take the picture as the batter begins to swing the bat forward. I already had some strong images of the batter making contact with the ball, when this high schooler hit the ball and fouled it off his protective cup. I timed it just right to get the picture, but what the photo doesn’t show is that it barely grazed him, and he wasn’t hurt at all. He only reacted slightly, mostly in surprise, instead of falling to the ground and needing medical attention as you might expect. When you publish a shot like this, a creative caption helps convey the humor – we eliminated bad ideas like “ball three” – but “foul ball” summed it up.

3 Tips:
1) Always photograph some hitters batting.
2) Time your photo as the batter starts to swing.
3) Use a very fast shutter speed (1/1000 or 1/2000 if possible) to capture both the bat and ball in motion).