Paul's Sports Photography

Yet Another Desktop Wallpaper -- Jay Buhner Edition

2008-02-15T00:19:00.000-08:00

Playing around w/a photo I shot at FanFest. This time Jay Buhner was my victim...

Darker/Borderless Version:

Free Adam Jones!

2007-07-17T13:40:00.001-07:00

(Okay, not even Adam would've had that one -- the "Doing it Wrong..." part could just as easily apply to the pitcher, Horacio Ramirez, who happened to surrender that home run)

Griffey, From the Archives

2007-06-24T23:04:00.000-07:00

With Griffey's first return to Seattle since the trade in 1999, I wanted to find a picture that I took very early in Griffey's Seattle career. I couldn't find the specific picture I was looking for, but I did find this picture that I believe would've been taken in either 1991 or 1992. I was crazy back then and into weird things, too. This shot is an in-camera double exposure, with Griffey up to the plate, and Griffey making a catch in the outfield:

I believe a few of the newer dSLRs will make double exposures, but my camera doesn't have this feature. It was sorta fun doing this in film, since you really didn't know how it would turn out, unless you were a seasoned pro. I was just a learning hack back then, so yeah. While I did bring out the exposure a little bit in Photoshop, I didn't merge the photos -- this is how I made the shot waaaay back then...

Panoramic Composite, Safeco Field Opening Day

2007-04-30T21:30:00.000-07:00

Thanks to my mateys over at LookoutLanding, I made my decision as to how to frame the 3-foot wide composite print I made of Safeco Field on Opening Day. I decided on a cross between Teal, green, and blue -- at my frame shop, it's called "Bluegrass":

I can't wait until 'Frame Day' -- this print is huge and the frame will be, too. Now, I just have to find some wall space for it.Next up -- the First Pitch...

Safeco Field Opening Day 2007 Photos

2007-04-04T07:34:00.000-07:00

With the M's already having equaled their win total vs. the A's from last year, I'm pretty speechless, so, well, on with the Opening Day 2007 pictures (click to enlarge 'em).

Yep, it's Opening Day

Ichiro takes his Gold Glove into the clubhouse, while Chuck Armstrong and Howard Lincoln converse about how it may be the last time they get to give Ichiro a Gold Glove.

Typical Jay Buhner -- gooses Raul Ibanez and Willie Bloomquist after throwing out the Ceremonial First Pitch

The real First Pitch, and it was a strike, setting the tone for the game. (First draft of this composite -- I'll have a better version soon).

Dan Haren pretty much matches Felix out-for-out up until Crosby's error in the 6th.

Speaking of Crosby, here he is as one of Felix's 12 strikeout victims...

Chavez swings. But does he connect???

12 Ks and 12 groundouts for Felix. Who says that donuts and cookies are the only good things that come in dozens???

The final line for Felix. I could've sworn that I read that he threw 111 pitches. Oh well, the scoreboards weren't exactly working on Monday.

It's time for the Putz.

Putz gets Piazza out. Have you ever seen so many ZZzzzzs on a baseball field?

The final score. I guess the asterisk denotes the day's heros. Crosby for his two errors, one allowing the 4 M's runs to score; and Sexson for his Funk Blast.

The full album is here. Prints are available and are MUCH better quality than the low-res copies I've uploaded for web viewing. Contact me through my photography web site if you're interested.

FanFest 2007 Photo Commentary

2007-02-02T20:35:00.000-08:00

I put the story on MarinersMorsels, but I wanted to add a few more pictures here. Captions are sooo fun!

"This is Dave Niehaus, and he needs the Frick award NOW!"

"Only 5 more minutes of these silly questions..."

"Yeah, that guy there thinks you're SOOO smarter than Jim Bowden!"

"Omar Vizquel was really only this tall..."

"Él dijo: La esposa de Omar Vizquel es realmente magnífico"

"I hope no one asks me about my elbow."

The full album is here.

Million Dollar Boot

2006-12-03T23:37:00.000-08:00

Man, I just can't get over how Money Josh Brown has been. Not only did he tie the NFL record with his 4th game-winning field goal tonight, but the ball-jarring hit he laid on the poor Bronco kick returner showed how incredibly tough he is. Here's a shot I took at Monday Night Football. It's not the greatest, sure, but it's still a good one of the ball being destroyed by Josh.

Go Hawks!

More MNF Pix, Full Album Link

2006-11-29T23:50:00.000-08:00

A few more pictures from the Seahawks vs. Packers MNF game. The rest that I'm sharing (in their current, batched-processed, therefore lesser-quality, state) can be found on my photography site. All but the first one were taken with my 'new' Tokina 80-200 f/2.8 ATX SD manual-focus lens. I'm pretty darned impressed with this Tokina, even on the bleagh Tamron 2x teleconverter that I used. The top one was shot with the venerable 18-70mm f/3.5-4.5 AF-S ED G D70 kit lens, and it's a great lens, too.

Brett Favre about to throw his umpteen-thousandth NFL pass

Jerramy Stevens almost pulls a Michael Vick in responding to the boos of the crowd.

Monday Night Snow Bowl In Clickable Pictures

2006-11-28T20:03:00.000-08:00

Thanks to my brother-in-law, who scored some free tickets, I had the most fun I've ever had at a football game last night. Monday Night Football at QWEST Field in the snow. Aaaah yes. It doesn't get much better than that, save for a better performance from the Hawks' offense in the first half. The commute home, however, left much, much to be desired...

Seeing this backfield reunited, too, was very, very nice:

I wasn't much for these folks, however, especially since I was sitting in a sea of 'em:

I'll add more pix later today...

Noon Edit to add more pix:

Shaun Alexander during one of his 40 carries on the night:

Jerramy Stevens reaches for the ball off his facemask...

...and gets hammered by former Seahawk Marquand Manuel

Hasselbeck is roughed up:

"Is that a penalty flag in your ass, Pork Chop, or are you just happy to see me?"

Cheney Stadium Matinee 8/22/06

2006-08-23T01:04:00.000-07:00

Well, since my son's babysitter's house burned down on Friday and she's still getting back on her feet, we're tag-teaming with our work schedule and hangin' out some more with the little guy. Checking the Cheney Stadium calendar, I discovered that I could actually pry him away from the tv and catch some sun while watching a ball game. Since I'm a multitasking king, I was able to snap a few photos of the game.

I'd wanted to catch Michael Garciaparra actually playing in a game. Fortunately, the injury bug granted him reprieve, and allowed me to snap this picture of him:

I kept this one darn near 100% full size, so when you click on it to enlarge it, notice the timing of the bat and the ball. You can see the bend in the bat. This, to me, is a better picture than the one I took of the angle of the ball changing after Shin-Soo Choo hit it.

I also noticed one Wilson "Exxon"/"Mr. Coffee" Valdez playing shortstop. He was a popular guy over at The Morsels once. Interestingly, in spite of his reputation for stellar defense, he was caught in -- how shall I say it -- an interesting position by not calling for the ball and waiving off 3B-man Sergio Garcia on an infield popup early in the game:

Finally, it happened to be kids day -- busloads of kids from area summer camp programs probably tripled the stadium attendance. Milwaukee has the Sausage Races -- Tacoma has the "$1 Leftovers" races (between ice cream, cotton candy, and hot dogs) to see which item will have the closeout price over the last two innings. Rhubarb, the Rainier's mascot, ran in from right field, and knocked down the hot dog and the ice cream mascots, and picked up the pink cotton candy mascot (I assume she was a girl) and carried her across the finish line (to the delight of one of the camp groups):

You can find the rest of the pictures that I've uploaded here. Man, I have too many blogs and web sites to keep track of...

Baseball Photo Search Bank Update...

2006-06-23T01:41:00.000-07:00

I updated my baseball photo search bank tonight, adding the pictures I shot from Wednesday night's Rainiers vs. Beavers AAA game. I also pilfered some Javascript code I modified for a project at work so that you can start typing a player's name and the first match that comes up will appear in the lookup/combo box.

One picture I thought was pretty funny was this one of Cha Seung Baek making some facial gestures:

Anyway, I hope someone finds this stuff useful! The pictures, of course, are heavily compressed, both dimension-wise and file-size-wise. With very few exceptions, they're right out of the camera, batch-processed only to reduce the dimensions. Makes it faster for me to build these photo albums. Of course, I can modify and clean up most of the pix on this site, and do so as requests come in...

Enjoy!

Edgar Martinez Day, 10-02-04

2006-05-06T13:30:00.000-07:00

I grabbed a few photos from the archive. I was lucky enough to attend Edgar Martinez' retirement party, where he played his last game at third (okay, he came in for 1 pitch), and Ichiro got hit #260 for the year (which I have on video).

My favorite shot is of Edgar in one of his final career at-bats:

Here's the album.

Looking for Photos?

2006-04-25T12:03:00.000-07:00

I'm currently hosting three photo albums on my new web site:

http://PaulMPhotography.com

Enjoy!

Camera vs. Photographer

2006-04-23T10:32:00.000-07:00

Rather than take up space at my main blog, I'm going to jot a few notes down 'round these parts.

I'm just getting back into "real" photography after mostly sloughing it off since my last college photography course back in 1993. Sure, I have taken quite a few pictures since 1993, but really, the last time I was serious about composing the picture and making sure everything was set right was back about that time frame.

About 10 years ago now, I traded the first SLR I ever bought (the original Canon Rebel) for a Minolta 7000i system. I used it a little bit during my days at Western Washington University, and hoped to take a photography class up there, but that didn't really pan out. I shot a few pix up in the North Cascades, but I couldn't tell you where those pictures are today. Probably buried in my garage somewhere. I hope.

I've never really been much of a sports photographer. I've mostly concentrated on scenics, and have literally hundreds and hundreds of rolls of negatives of various mountains around the greater PNW (and a few pix from Germany, Florida, Washington D.C. and Montana). To this day, the only game I ever shot while sitting along the sidelines (and not in the stands, or during my son's YMCA youth leagues) was a soccer game I asked permission to photograph while I was back in high school.

The rest of my sports photography experience has come from sitting, usually, waaaay up in the 300-level of various sports arenas. As long as I've owned an SLR, I've had a 200 mm. My first digital camera only had a digital zoom, and that was at 640x480 resolution. Not very good. A few years ago, I got a point-and-shoot digital that had a 4x optical zoom, with a 2.2x digital zoom booster. That helped, sure, but even with the 4 megapixels, it wasn't very easy to read the letters on Ichiro's bat as he raised it up in the air (like he does during every at bat). Nowadays, I'm really starting to prefer sitting closer to the action. I'd love to hook up with some of the people I know on the Internet who could probably get me on the field. But that has yet to happen.

As the photography world has evolved, so has my interest in both sports and photography. I longed for the day that I could relearn all my old photography skills, combining my love for sports with my (former) love for photography. But with the cost of film developing, I also longed for the day where I didn't have to feel guilty for blowing through 150-200 frames. Digital point-and-shoot cameras really should be called something else. More like "Point, push the shutter button, wait for 10 seconds for the meter to meter, another 10 seconds for the camera to decide what it's focusing on, and then shoot. Then wait another 30 seconds before you can take another picture, while the camera writes the image to the card. Even the good ones that shorten these lags give you limited control, and the lack of lens interchangability limits you even further.

When the dSLR came out, I was in camera-envy heaven. Now that a good 7-8 years has gone by, the prices have come down significantly. They're still expensive, mind you, but nowadays you can get a very decent Nikon D50 with a Nikon lens for $600 at Kits Camera (not exactly known for their in-store camera prices). And used, lower-megapixel, older dSLRs can be found for even lower.

I was finally able to buy my first dSLR, and while I initially wanted the higher-megapixel D70s, I was able to snag an older Nikon D1H for $300 less. I actually am glad I have the D1H over the D70s now, though. While I do make decent money at my day job, I don't have a very large photography budget. Hence the "Lens Fund" button on all my blogs. We still have lots of debt from our college and newlywed days, and we're still trying to pay it off. I've got lots of room on my credit cards, but since we're in what's called "Debt Snowball" mode, using a credit card for anything is completely verboten. So, moral of this story-ette: money is an object for me. I have to maximize the limited money I do have.

Going back to photography, though, I've heard a lot of people, myself included, say "If only I had a better camera -- I could take pictures like _________!" Sure, it's true. A better camera will help you take better pictures. A camera that's faster will help you take pictures faster. A camera with a longer zoom will help you take pictures closer to the action. Certainly upgrading from a "Point-and-wait" camera to a SLR will solve a few problems. But it won't necessarily make you a "good" photographer.

With my once-$4,000 camera and a pretty intimidating-looking telephoto lens, I've had people ask me what paper I work for. I may "look" like a photography professional to the average Joe and Suzi with their 8-megapixel Point-and-Wait cameras, but I'm a long, long way to actually being a professional photographer. For one thing, the lenses I have are bargain-basement low budget. When I switched to Nikon gear last fall, it was for the glass. I wanted to enter into the world of Nikon optics, even knowing it requires a bit of a budget. Since any nikon F-mount lens will "fit" on any camera (how well it works, of course, is another story), I figured I could slowly ease my way into the Nikon brand by buying older manual focus lenses (which I assumed would fit my budget better).

While the lenses technically work with my camera, the MF versions I've seen haven't really been much cheaper than the AF lenses. I bought my current Nikon 70-210 f4 Series E on eBay (where else!), and while it's not exactly the best lens for shooting sports photography, having the extra f-stop (f4 at 210, rather than a typical f5.6) really helps. While it's a Nikon lens, with Nikon optics, it's still a bit lacking in its tack-sharpness. It may be because my manual-focusing abilities aren't quite as good as an AF system would do. I also suspect that the fact that I lose my matrix metering (one of the best metering systems in a camera, even to this day) doesn't help things, either. It's still better, though, than the lenses I've had in the past.

I'm rather disappointed, too, with the Tamron 2x teleconverter I bought. While I like having the 400mm lens, having it at f8 isn't anywhere close to being useful other than in extremely sunny days. I could've done just fine shooting Sunday's Felix game in the bright sunshine. I might've actually been able to squeeze a 1/1000th at ISO 400. I was lucky to shoot 1/100th wide open at ISO 1600 back a few weeks on Opening Day.

My other lens is a Nikon 28-80 3.5-5.6 Series G lens. It's a fabulously sharp lens, and with the matrix metering and autofocus, I can really sqeeze some good shots out of it. Unfortunately, though, even with the 1.5x zoom factor shooting with the D1H, it's just not quite long enough for sports photography. I'll probably keep this one around, though, until I can afford (and find) the new 18-200 VRII zoom. It's well worth the $45 I paid for it (attached to a semi-functioning Nikon N75), and helps eat some of the cost of the Tamron teleconverter.

While having decent equipment will help anyone take a good picture, the photographer has to be a) familiar with his/her equipment, and b) comfortable with his/her equipment. You have to have things organized to capture the right shot quickly. There are all kinds of decisions to make, especially in the dSLR world.

Even with my limited experience shooting sports, I do know a few tricks for taking better pictures. Always, always, always keep both eyes open. That's really tough to do at times, but when I'm anticipating a hitter's swing, I keep one eye on the batter through the lens, and the other eye watching the pitcher. This requires a lot of trial and error. I have taken several shots, though, with the pitcher winding up and quickly following the ball to the batter. People ask me how much of the game I am able to watch, when I'm shooting, literally, hundreds of pictures. I watch different aspects of the game, of course, and, well, shooting through a telephoto is a lot like watching a game through binoculars. Sure, you have to pick out what action you're watching. It can be hard to change camera positions quickly, too (i.e. watching a pitcher throw to a base in keeping a runner on -- switching the focus from the batter to the baserunner). But, again, with both eyes open, you start to see pitchers' pick-off moves.

I'm still learning a lot as a sports photographer. I know that I've got to get better glass -- preferably something autofocus. But, while having good equipment helps, having a game plan and a vision for what you want to shoot works even better. Knowing when to throw the teleconverter on (even at the sacrifice of quality and f-stop); knowing who to watch; knowing what camera settings to use; knowing the game you're watching; remembering to change your settings back, when you want to try something a little unorthodox to get the image; knowing what good practices are; knowing how to break the rules and still get away with it. All of those things are important.

Cameras don't take pictures. Photographers take pictures. A good camera can make a difference, sure, but the photographer has to have some skill. The more familiar the photographer is with his/her equipment, the better images he/she will make. In sports photography, too, you have to react to the situation. Sure, one of the biggest rules in photography is that the photographer has an image in mind, and knows how to translate that image onto the paper or screen. The syntax of visual communication, composition, too, is very important. But with sports photography, things happen unexpectedly. Being aware of what's happening is vitally important. Images can make themselves, so you have to be ready.

Afterthought:
While I complain and moan about my "cheap" lens, I'm still able to get some very decent results. I didn't shoot a long 5 fps burst in anticipation (although I did shoot 3 frames or so in succession) and I didn't have to have the 18-200 VRII lens, nor the 300 2.8 that I ultimately would like to get to capture this image:

It's all about timing, anticipation, composition, and hair-trigger accuracy with a shutter button. Having a fast camera certainly helped here. But, as the photographer, I still had to compose the picture, anticipate the swing, pre-focus my manual-focus lens and shoot at the right moment to capture 1/2000th of a second. And, before you ask -- no, he wasn't bunting. That was a full-fledged stroke. While he still has a ways to go before he's developed his full batt-speed potential, he still has taken a lesson or two from Ichiro.

I always liked watching sports better than playing them, myself. Fortunately my son likes playing them better himself. Here's to hoping he makes more money as a major-leaguer than his father does as a photographer.

FanFest, 2006 Photo Album

2006-01-30T13:57:00.000-08:00

"No, really, it's that big..."

"You shut yo' piehole, pigeon face Steeler's fan! The Seahawks ARE going to win the Super Bowl"

(okay, that's not really what he said. Well, duh!)

USSM-endorsed blogger (and noted Gnome-napper) Conor Glassey pitching out in the bullpen.

Former Mariners Mike blowers and "Norm Norm" Charlton

M's GM Bill Bavasi during Dugout Dialogue session

El Cartuela!

(Comments taken over at MarinersMorsels, where the accompanying story can be found)

Seahawks Game 11/13/05 -- Part 2

2005-11-14T23:13:00.000-08:00

The Seahawk
Nikon n8008s, SB-28 Flash Prorokinon 28-70 zoom @ 70mm; 1/60th f 4.5; Cropped from original

Pregame Sea Gals Show
Nikon n8008s, SB-28 Flash Prorokinon 28-70 zoom @ 70mm; 1/60th f 4.5; Soft Focus added in Picasa

Opening Kickoff
Nikon n8008s, 70-210 F4 @210; Fuji 800-speed film; 1/500th f4

Prelude to the TD
Nikon n8008s, 70-210 F4 @210; Fuji 800-speed film; 1/250th f4

Shaun Goes in for the TD
Nikon n8008s, 70-210 F4 @210; Fuji 800-speed film; 1/250th f4

Won for #12
Nikon n8008s, 70-210 F4 @210; Fuji 800-speed film; 1/250th f4

Seahawks vs. Rams 11-13-05 -- Part 1

2005-11-13T21:14:00.000-08:00

Actually, credit goes to my bro-in-law Dave for these shots, while I await the processing of the 4.5 rolls of film I shot.