finally :l

[dedro]

finally got one off the bat....i was happy when i saw the ball against the bat hahaha. i want to work on the pp on this...see if i can get it right. any suggestions would be appreciated.

[Mike Buckley]

If you're related to this child, you must be especially proud. The execution looks like a drag bunt. Show the image to her to prove that she was violating Rule #1: keeping your eye on the ball.

You'll like the image more if you increase the sharpening of the child, bat and ball.

[Loose Canon]

Great timing Dedric!

Along with Mike’s suggestions if this were mine I’d be looking at cropping the right, top, and bottom to give the batter as much looking room as I could. But before I did that I’d make sure the big post in the background is dead straight vertical (which it looks like it is). I’d try de-saturating the background some, brighten the batters face, and topping it off with a touch of vignetting.

[Mike Buckley]

I also like Terry's suggestions. (I always do.) When you crop, try to eliminate the girl in pink in the background. When her parents complain that you did so, remind them that that's because she wasn't looking at the batter.

[Geoff F]

Yes I would also crop tighter to lose some of the background. Possibly try 4 x 5 ratio?

[Saorsa]

Funny thing, years ago I had a Swedish philosophy professor from the local university as a next door neighbor. His wife was american and they wanted to sign their oldest son up for Little League. They were out in the yard trying to learn to hit a ball one day. I noticed the kid was watching the ball until it was tossed and then looked to his bat.

When I suggested he watch the ball all the way, he replied that he wanted to see it hit the bat. I explained to the the kid that his hands and arms knew where the bat was but only his eyes knew where the ball was. If he watched the ball all the time he would see it hit the bat. After repeating keep your eye on the ball a couple of times it not only sunk in for the kid but the father decided that this was an excellent representation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle and he was going to use it in class.

I suggested be be careful. Introducing 'keep your eye on the ball' as a new philosophical principle in the US would likely be be greeted with 'DOH, everybody knows that'.

P.S. there is no need to crop to standard formats unless you just want to buy the pre-cut mattes for your frames.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done, just a tad bit too fast on the shutter as the ball should be compressed from making contact with the bat, or is it the other way around? Again, nicely done.

[Donald]

Nicely done, just a tad bit too fast on the shutter as the ball should be compressed from making contact with the bat, or is it the other way around? Again, nicely done.

I suspect the speed of bat and ball was not great enough to get the sort of compression John is thinking about.

What I love about this is the dynamism and energy in the image caused by the body angle of that young person. If they had been standing quite strraight and erect, the picture would not have had the energy that it does. With her body angled as it is is and being on the front foot, there is real sense of movement.

[Jeffbridge]

Very cool shot! Great job!

[dedro]

thanks for all of the excellent comments and suggestions....really helps when i head out this weekend for more shots. i shot this at 1/4000 f10 iso 3200. really tried to freeze the ball, but i think i will slow the shutter to gain compression. i will work on that crop luckily for me, i get to practice again this weekend. thanks again guys