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.

Prom Pose

Taking a good prom picture can be a big responsibility, but lighting can ensure you get the best shot possible.

Colleen Maher (L) and Danny Kane pose for their prom pictures in Chappaqua, N. Y. prior to departing for the Horace Greeley High School prom festivities (© Michael Maher).

The Photo:
How do you take the best possible prom photo? Proms are an important event in a teenager’s life, so you want the picture to be outstanding and spur fond memories in future years. It is a lot of pressure for a parent to do a stellar job of shooting the prom picture, which is why some hire professional photographers to do it. There are really only two things that matter in a prom picture – the people’s faces and their dress clothes. Capture happy expressions and show off the clothing, and you’ll have a great photo that the participants will cherish forever. Therefore, when it came time to photograph my own daughter and her prom date, I made sure it was well lit by using a technique called rim lighting. With the sun high in the sky behind the subjects, I positioned the two prom-goers against a dark background, so a halo of light surrounded their heads and well-dressed torsos. Because the sun was shining from behind, and not on their faces, I could show the joy and excitement in their expressions, which I repeatedly reminded them to display, while I took many pictures. As a father, I was delighted and relieved we managed such an outstanding prom photo. Rim lighting does result in slightly duller colors than if the sun shines from the front, but the advantage is beautiful highlighting and clear facial expressions. This technique also works well for close-up facial portraits.

3 Tips:
1) Rim lighting is a superb lighting technique for portraits.
2) Keep the sun behind your subject, high in the sky, and line up your picture against a dark background.
3) The result is a halo of light around your subject’s head and torso, with a clear view of the facial expression.

Anticipating Victory

The best photos of kids' sports capture their emotions, reactions and expressions.

Acton, Ma. Girls’ softball players react as their team explodes for six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to rally for the win in a Youth League tournament game vs. Woburn, Ma. (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:
Nearly all the action was over when I arrived during the final inning of a girls’ softball game, but I didn’t want to settle for the boring picture of last resort -- a pitcher throwing the ball. Luckily for me, this Acton girls’ softball team was in the midst of rallying after trailing for most of the contest. I had never before seen a group of kids jointly react so strongly in anticipation. The players on the bench got increasingly more excited as their team scored six runs to win. Throughout Acton’s rally, these girls showed their excitement and amazement in an increasingly animated way. I didn’t take my focus off the bench players because I knew their facial expressions would far exceed anything I could shoot on the field and, therefore, I didn’t need to photograph any action plays during this game.

3 Tips:
1) Periodically focus on the faces of players on the bench or in the dugout.
2) Use a longer lens to provide close-ups of players’ facial expressions.
3) Keep shooting until you have a powerful photo of animated expressions.

Friends

Friendship among children often creates warm, touching photo opportunities.

Three friends walk arm-in-arm together in Lowell, Ma. (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:
This may have been the easiest children’s photo I ever shot. As I returned from taking another picture, I saw these three kids with their arms around one another, walking ahead with their backs to me. I stopped the car, put on a long lens, and walked behind them, following until I got the photo I wanted of them walking in a group embrace. The only hard work I had was catching up to them and getting their names for the newspaper caption. It was a warm, touching moment of three young kids genuinely showing affection for one another.

3 Tips:
1) Children often show affection for one another in a way that provides strong photos.
2) In most cases it’s better if you capture the kids’ faces, but sometimes the warm embrace is powerful enough without facial expressions.
3) These types of photos need to be shot candidly, without interrupting the touching moment.

4 Faces of Cowens

The emotions and facial expressions of basketball coaches often provide better photos than the game action.

Boston’s Dave Cowens displays a range of emotion and intensity during his debut as player coach against the Denver Nuggets, as the Celtics won to end a six-game losing streak (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:
Dave Cowens of the Boston Celtics was one of the NBA’s most emotional players. As a 6”9” center, he needed to play with intensity to be successful against opposing centers who were much taller and stronger. Earlier in his career, Cowens was called for a series of cheap fouls during a game, and he ran across the court hard into the Rockets’ Mike Newlin, knocked him to the floor, proclaiming to the referee, “Now THAT’S a foul!” He once took some time off and drove a Boston cab because he wanted a break from the intensity of NBA life. So it was no surprise when Cowens, who was in his first game as Celtic coach while also still a player, leaped off the bench to exhort his teammates and direct referees during a tense time of a tight game. Positioning myself between the team benches, I used a long lens to capture several close-ups of Cowens’ many expressions, and published the four best. (I was a bit too close on one picture where I missed the tip of Cowens’ index finger.) The photos also reflected how frustrating it was for Cowens to play for and coach the Celtics that season, after John Havilcek had retired and before the Larry Bird era. These photos were transmitted via the wire services around the country, and you will still occasionally see one of them published whenever there is a story about Dave Cowens. Good close-up photos of famous people will often be reused for years.

3 Tips:
1) Emotional coaches can provide outstanding sports feature photos.
2) Sit near the player benches and concentrate on the coach for an extended period of time.
3) Close-ups are the best pictures, so use longer lenses as much as possible.

Face of An Archer

Close-ups of archery can provide very strong images, as I learned the first time I photographed the sport.

Archer never loses his concentration as the bow mangles his face during an archery championship at U. S. Olympic Festival (© Michael Maher).

The Photo:
I never shot archery before, and with little advance warning to do any preparation for the event, I had to learn as it unfolded. The first thing I noticed was how tightly the archers pull the strings against their faces before they shoot. All the world class archers in this event seemed to do it, although some made much more interesting pictures than others. I shot several photos of them releasing the arrows, and reacting to their shots, but I kept thinking back to the scrunched-up faces – there was nothing better visually that day to convey their intense concentration and the difficulty of the event. I found one archer who had the best face of all, for he never wavered in his concentration, no matter how much he distorted and abused his poor face with the bow string while aiming. I don’t remember his exact place in the event, but he was easily the top archer for concentration.

3 Tips:
1) Because archery is about shooting the arrows at a target far away, the best photos capture the archer, not the target.
2) Archers provide great photos as their faces concentrate very intently before shooting.
3) Another terrific photo is the archer in the act of letting the arrow fly, but avoid being in the line of fire.

Overturned Shopping Cart

Kids are often so intense in their play activity that you can take photos without them even noticing.


Make-believe “king” directs his friendly subjects to pull their makeshift rickshaw, a shopping cart equipped with mattress and rope, until he leans back too far, the cart tumbles over, and they must right it to start over (© Michael Maher, The Lowell (Ma.) Sun).

The Photo:
Passing a school playground, I saw three boys playing with a shopping cart. I stopped and watched as they took turns letting one kid climb into the cart and get pulled along by the others. As I pointed my camera, one boy started acting like a king, ordering his subjects to pull him along. The other two boys pulled him extra quickly and extra hard, to get it moving very fast and teach him a lesson. As it raced along and they yanked it again, the cart fell back and the boy playing “king” fell backwards out of the cart. This gave me a funny series of three pictures -- the boy being pulled, the cart tipping as the boy riding in it fell out, and the three boys trying hard to right it. Either the first or last photo alone would be strong by itself, but the series told the most interesting story. I briefly interrupted to tell them I took the pictures and get their names, but they immediately went back to their fun, and my shooting turned out to be a minor interruption. I didn’t stick around to see if the “king” got revenge on his friends later.

3 Tips:
1) Spend enough time watching kids play to see if a great photo opportunity happens.
2) Try taking candid photos without the kids noticing you or interrupting their play.
3) Sometimes a series of photos tells a more compelling story than one single shot.