Baseball: Maryland Terrapins vs Towson

Baseball's not my favorite sport to shoot, but this afternoon I was longing for Shipley field. I walked outside around 3pm to get something from my car and the weather was so nice. I really looked forward to packing up my laptops and heading down to College Park to shoot a game.

I arrived and found there to be no photographers present. Well actually there was one photographer present: a person from the Diamondback who I've only seen at one other game (the one last night).

I was hoping I'd bump into Greg so we could catch up. I haven't seen him in a few weeks and I've been curious if he's been working a lot on Nationals games in the new stadium. I also wanted to ask him what his plan was for the weekend to see if there was any way we could help him out. But he wasn't there so I guess our catching up will have to wait.

The Terps played Nate Steelman (aka Nathan Steelman, aka Nathaniel Steelman) this evening. He faced 2 batters. The guy from the Sun missed him, and who knows if Steelman will get another shot at pitching this weekend. Hopefully he will and the Sun shooter will get his shot.

Dave Lovell did a good job today with sending out an invite to our entire photos group that details this weekend's activities at Maryland. I set up a schedule a week or so ago in Google Calendar and Dave moved it over into Excel so he could send it out in PDF format. I would've preferred Google Calendar for the collaborative aspect of it, but in the end it probably doesn't matter much with this group of people. They don't seem to be the most technically savvy people I've met and asking them to do collaborative calendaring might be asking a bit much.

The important thing I'm looking for is that people other than me are communicating and doing it in a way that allows the rest of the group to learn. I don't want to create a chain-of-command, or a master-slave relationship at the DC Sports Box. I'm shooting for an informal loosely-knitted group of people that self-organize in ways that are highly transparent. I view the role of the DC Sports Box "editors" to be: provide infrastructure, get out of the way, and help people excel at what they do. The three roles go hand in hand: infrastructure (email lists, IMs, peer-to-peer relationships between photographers and writers) allow the management structure to get out of the way. Management still exists, but it's focus is to make sure that the engine is running efficiently and to make sure we're going in the right direction. Management doesn't necessarily take care of scheduling the timing of the events, who works them, etc ... it just makes sure that the events aren't getting missed. Lastly, we need to just get out of the way and let people excel at what they do best. We should offer some coaching advice when necessary but we need to let photographers go work the crowd, writers to promote their work, and IT people to go wire up new extensions for our site.

All of this is unfolding and will come together in the next few weeks as a business plan for our group. Right now I'm just focusing on putting together thoughts, defining roles, and encouring people to begin thinking of us as a cloud rather than a bunch of individuals. It's a challenge, but hopefully it's one that we can overcome.

In the meantime, please go read about Maryland Baseball's 7-4 win over Towson at the DC Sports Box. Or you can go directly to my Flickr Page that shows pictures of Maryland's 7-4 win over Towson.

Baseball: Maryland Terrapins vs UMES

I've had a few days off (maybe a week) to recharge my camera batteries and it's been some welcome time. It was good to get outside and behind the lens again this evening and I'm sure I'll miss it more during the summer as the shooting opportunities become fewer and further in between. I'm completely sure I'll miss the convenience of Maryland Athletics in comparison to Mystics, Freedom, and Nationals games.

There are a lot of events to cover this weekend. I received word on Sunday that the first rounds of both the men's and women's 2008 NCAA Lacrosse Tournament will be played at Maryland. The men descend on Byrd Stadium at 12 noon and the women take over the Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex at 1pm on Sunday. Both of these high profile events conflict with other events. On Saturday the Terps host the 2008 ACC Softball Tournament semifinal rounds at noon and 2pm. On Sunday the Terrapin baseball has their senior photos, and the 2008 ACC Softball Tournament championship game is played.

Dave Lovell is lending a hand but we could use some more support. Al has taken a somewhat laid-back approach to this weekend's activities and said "we just can't cover it all." I'd like for us to cover as much of it as possible so I'm reaching out to other photographers I know hoping they can step in and lend a hand.

Greg Fiume will also be caught up in this mix. I've wondered what he plans to do with all the events that will take place at roughly the same time. I hoped to bump into him tonight at the baseball game, but given it was against UMES and on a Tuesday night I gave that a 1 in 10 shot of actually happening. Hopefully he'll be at the game tomorrow evening against Towson.

I asked Al to submit me for credentials for the men and women's LAX games. Hopefully he's taking care of that and I'll hear back soon that I was approved. Al's not very communicative through email or telephone and lots of times photographers (and writers) are left uninformed as to the status of their credentials. Sometimes we don't find out until the day of the event. This presents a lot of scheduling conflicts and introduces an unnecessarily level of stress into an already pretty tense (and fledgling) business. I've tried to encourage everyone at the DC Sports Box to communicate more frequently through email, instant messaging, text messaging, phone calls, etc but it seems to fall on deaf ears for the most part. A few of us instant message each other, but we're by no means a majority. I hope this will improve in the future.

Tonight's game was a quickie: just over 2 hours. That's lightning fast for a baseball game. Of course the Terps played a team they have a 5-45 record overall against so that helps. The stands were nearly empty. There were probably 50 people on hand for the event so it was very easy to move around.

I saw a Baltimore Sun photographer on the field who was there to take pictures of #11 Nathan Steelman. The Sun is doing a feature on him where they highlight his service in the US Army. I recognized the photographer from men's basketball games, but I couldn't remember his name.

We talked about online-only entities vs print media, and I told him that we really embrace the richer content we can deliver online. It was nice to describe to someone the richness of online media (podcasts, video, high resolution imagery, sound, smooth transitions between photos in slideshows, mouseovers, interactive behavior through blogs and comments) and have them actually listen to me. Most of the time when I say we're "online only" I get looks from people like "you're one of those people..."

As always you can find my photos of the game over on my Flickr Account and you can read my article and view my photos that highlight Maryland's 6-0 win over UMES in college baseball.

Baseball: Maryland Terrapins vs Georgia Tech (Game 3)

A coworker from my Zenoss gig (Jason Stevens) asked if he could shadow me around for a day of shooting. We hit the softball senior photos first and then headed over to baseball. Jason manned the 300/2.8 lens while I stayed on the 400/2.8.

The game was a little tricky to shoot due to the weather. It rained on and off and the crowds were pretty low and variable. The light changed a few stops a couple of times. It wasn't too difficult to manage but it was a little unusual. High puffy clouds are actually worse because you go from beaming sunlight to a dark field pretty quickly.

My biggest fear during this game was that our equipment would get wet. I know that the bodies and lenses are supposed to be water sealed, but I'd still prefer not to try it out in the field. We wrapped our gear in trash bags before heading out and those trash bags did us well as the day unfolded. When it did look like storm clouds we used the garbage bags as cushions so we could stay dry. When the clouds opened up we were thankful to have them (we wrapped our gear up in them)!

Jason and I actually snapped almost the exact same shot. It was pretty funny to hear both our shutters fire at the same time. Very eery.

Unfortunately the game was called due to rain and the Terps were down at the end of 5. That gave Tech the official victory even though the Terps had the momentum heading into the sixth. By the time the lightning cleared the outfield was underwater and a resumption of play seemed unlikely. Then the lightning resumed and the game was officially called.

I enjoyed shooting with Jason. Hopefully in the future we'll have more opportunities to shoot together.

Baseball: Maryland Terrapins vs Georgia Tech (Game 2)

After the women's lacrosse final home game I checked in at the softball stadium to see how Dave Lovell was doing. He had on jeans and a pretty heavy shirt and looked mighty hot carrying all that black Nikon equipment. I grabbed a bottle of water for him and threw down some red gatorade for myself. It was the best gatorade I've ever drank.

A few weekends ago I was smitten with a pretty bad sunburn on a chilly (but sunny) afternoon. Today the sun was really bright, the temperature was in the 80s, and I planned on being outdoors for over 8 hours. I reapplied sunscreen constantly and wore my photography hat and that made a difference. By the time I bumped into Dave at softball I was about 2 hours into my day and was already burning up.

I headed home to do some post-processing. In about 45 minutes I cranked through 400-500 frames, cropped, and did some minor color alterations. There's not much you need to do in post-processing when the lighting conditions are so supreme. I was pleased I got through so much in such a short amount of time. I'm definitely improving in the post-processing department.

Heading back to baseball I wondered what the game had in store. The Terps pulled out a win on Friday evening but Georgia Tech was a good team. Would the Yellow Jackets rally back, or would the Terps overcome the No. 21 ranked team in the country?

The game started to head south midway through and Tech took a 13-5 lead. Some fans decided to leave, but most stayed. Many of the fans are girlfriends or family members of the players on the two teams. It's a 50/50 crowd most of the time between family members of the visiting team and family members of the Terps.

Dave Lovell has walked amongst them for the past several games and has done an excellent job in striking up conversation with them. I had a couple of them ask me if I shot with the DC Sports Box. It was the first time someone else asked me about the DC Sports Box (usually I'm the one telling them about our group). It's a good sign...

A pair of DoD photographers were present. I gave them some pointers in where they could and couldn't go in the stadium. They stuck around for about 3 innings before bailing.

When the game got into the bottom of eigth the Terps turned it around. And by the bottom of the ninth the Terps retook the game. I had positioned myself along the first base line to catch the celebration that ensued. It was great to see the Terps pull one out.

I got some decent post-game shots and did pretty well with my action shots for the game. Please go read my writeup and view my photos of the Maryland Terrapins and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets baseball game over on the DC Sports Box.

Baseball: Maryland Terrapins vs Virginia (Game 2)

After taking in some soccer I headed over to Shipley Field to shoot some baseball. The sun had emerged from the rainy overcast that moved during the morning hours. I took up position behind home plate and looked around for other photographers and reporters. Nope ... none. Except for Dave Lovell.

Dave's been doing a lot of Maryland games lately and has done a fantastic job. He started off doing softball but has been shooting more and more baseball games. Up until Friday he was limited by his 70-200 lens and as a result softball was a great fit for him. But he faces the same problems I face with long lenses in low light trying to shoot the outfield at Shipley at night. It's almost better to go short in low light situations.

I shot a handful of innings with Dave and chatted with him for awhile about the DC Sports Box. He's noticed a lot of editing mistakes on our written product. I've noticed them too and have fixed them whenever I have a chance. Dave doesn't have access though so all he can do is send an email and ask one of the publishers (me and Al) to fix mistakes.

I would really like for us to formalize our roles at the DC Sports Box. If we define our workflow and the key roles in our reporting process we can start to tap people to fulfill those roles. But if we don't take the first step of documenting the workflow and the roles we can't optimize it. How do you offer to hire someone without first providing a job description?

I'm going to nudge Al to adopt the roles and workflow I wrote up on Google Docs. He bought into it initially. I just think we need final sign off and then we can move forward with building in some publishing redundancy.

My shots from the baseball game were not particularly good. I was mostly there to talk with Dave and get his feedback on how things are going. I took some shots for my personal use but we decided to go with Dave's set for the actual story. Once the article is posted I'll post a link!

Baseball: Maryland Terrapins vs Clemson (Game 3)

When I woke up this morning it was sunny and I thought "wow, I really got lucky." They called for rain on Wednesday night, and they also predicted rain on both Saturday and Sunday. So far not a drop!

I wrote up my article for yesterday's baseball game and posted it on the DC Sports Box as well as posted several photos from various shooters. Everybody's keep very busy lately and that's good for us. I have noticed though that the captioning could use some help. Some of the shooters are just getting factual information wrong. For example, two shooters misquoted the final score of a game they attended. It's kind of funny actually that both would incorrectly report the final score in their caption.

It's actually a pretty easy thing to do. In one case I misquoted a score and had to go back and re-caption all the images with the proper game score. I then had to re-post the gallery too, which is a hassle.

I'm going to spend some time writing up some photo and writers guidelines for the DCSB. We need some basic documents we can hand to new shooters that go over the ground rules (e.g. how to submit articles and photos, as well as formatting for the title and caption). Nothing too extravagant... Just the basics..

I saw Greg Fiume at the game today and that was nice. He was in lot 1 assembling his gear when I pulled up. I walked over and said hello and we headed down to the diamond together. He told me he's covering the Nats game tonight and he may even have the opportunity to fly in a Park Police chopper for some shots. That's hella exciting - I just hope he doesn't fall out or drop some glass out the door!

By the time I made it to the Terps game the sun had hidden behind a thin overcast and I was forced to shoot at slower speeds than yesterday. That wasn't too bad though because a cloudy sky produces fewer shadows. The colors don't pop as much and the photos aren't as vibrant, but at the same time I tend to get more eyeballs when it's an overcast sky. When it's overcast it's easier to avoid overexposing and blowing highlights. When it's sunny its' really difficult to do. I think if you turn down the contrast on your shot you can do it. But that then takes away from the shot.

I posted my write up of Maryland's Game 3 loss to Clemson along with my photos. Please go take a look!

Baseball: Maryland Terrapins vs Clemson (Game 2)

After shooting a softball game I headed over to Shipley to take in game two of the Tigers vs Terrapins matchup. It was a pretty warm day and there was a good amount of sun available, so I looked forward to this game on the way over.

I bumped into James Lang at the game. He was there on assignment from Greg Fiume while Greg worked the track and field event. Dave had remarked that he would have liked to shot the track and field event. I would have enjoyed that as well but I don't know how to write for track and field. It seems like a lot of it would be just posting of stats from the event, so in that regard it might be pretty straight forward. I wish we had some more Terrapin writers...

The baseball game was pretty good and the Terps turned around a 3-0 deficit to emerge victorious at 5-3. I got all my photos processed last night and wrote my article this morning after waking up. I was knee deep in post processing softball and baseball photos, as well as posting Dave's baseball and softball photos, Al's Nationals photos, and Mike's lacrosse photos. It was a lot of bit-pushing last night!

I scored my first sunburn of 2008 today. I didn't realize I was getting a burn during the day but it definitely came out last night. My lips started pulsing from the burn and my forehead and face caught it pretty badly. Definitely need to add sunscreen to the go-back in my car.

Google News continues to be good to use in so far as our hits on DC Sports Box. We've doubled or tripled our site traffic just by getting into their index. That's great news for us - hopefully it will help with advertising or in cutting deals with people in the future.

Please cruise over to the DC Sports Box and read my article on Maryland's 5-3 victory over the Clemson Tigers at Shipley Field. The story sucks, but I don't pretend to be a writer.

Baseball: Maryland Terrapins vs North Carolina

I avoided some out-of-travel this weekend in order to spend some more time at home. Earlier today Julie and I went up to her brother's house for our niece's 2nd birthday party. I was looking forward to taking pictures of the kids because they're so animated and lively. They find excitement in almost everything they do and as a result they make for excellent subjects in photography.

I played around with using motion to isolate my subjects and liked how it turned out.

After Cassidy's birthday I headed home and did some post processing. I've been growing more and more frustrated at my laptop's performance as of late. I recently installed Time Machine and despite claims from Apple that it "only runs in the background" I've found that backups frequently zap my computer of any responsive behavior. I constantly get the rainbow spinny ball while the Time Machine runs and my kernel waits on I/O.

Aperture has also frustrated me lately. I upgraded to version 2.0 and my Automator script I use to caption everything has gone from taking about 30 seconds for 30 photos to taking over 20 minutes. It seems to apply each individual IPTC tag on each image as a separate transaction rather than doing a bulk update. I adapted by using the Lift and Stamp tool in Aperture but come on Apple - please don't give me the finger after I paid you $200 for Aperture. I'd like my v1.5 Automator script to function with the same (if not better) performance after an upgrade to v2.0. Is that so unreasonable?

Aperture itself has irritated me as well. They have made some good performance upgrades and fortunately it no longer takes me 5 minutes to start up the application and get to work. But the import is still extremely clunky as are copies/moves of masters and versions from one album to another. I copied one set of photos from Album A to Album B and was able to delete the photos in Album A without any change to Album B. Then I came along and did the same thing but found the photos in Album B were gone. Fortunately I had a backup but still... Stop giving me the finger Apple - I gave you $200.

I went to the Maryland baseball game this afternoon to get a few shots for my own personal use. Dave Lovell was there on a DCSB assignment so I got to just enjoy myself and shoot and not pay much attention to what was going on from a reporter standpoint. It was very refreshing and I can definitely get used to it. I got a LOT of action photos from the game today and I was very pleased with my results. Oddly enough I caught 3 or 4 players with their eyes closed in the middle of an action shot.

Usually I don't quite catch the exact moment of an event because my timing isn't very sharp and I only use a D200 or D2H. But today I caught the exact moment where a player swung on a pitch, an outfielder caught a fly ball, or a first basemen reached out and caught a ball to record an out. In many of those photos the player has his eyes shut. It was really odd to see!

I can't link you all over to a DC Sports Box article just yet because we're waiting for Game 3 to be played tomorrow before we post our story. But once it's up I'll come back and update my post with a new link.

I also started taking photos for Julie's blog tonight. She'd like some more pictures to use in it so I offered to be the photographer she can use for free. Well maybe not free... I did ask her to bring me up a Coke from the basement as payment for tonight's piggy bank photo.

Baseball: Maryland Terrapins vs Hofstra Pride

Back to baseball... Kinda where this all started a year ago. After wrapping up women's basketball year I found myself looking for sports to shoot and baseball was really my first venture into the sports photography realm outside of the Comcast Center and women's hoops. I had some fun with it last year but I only had my 70-200mm f/2.8 lens along with a 2x teleconverter by the end of the season.

This year I'm back with a 400mm f/2.8 prime lens and I was looking forward to seeing how well it performed. I'm also strutting my stuff with a D2H. I was quite jaded and disappointed with the D2H and it's performance in low light situations like night time field hockey, soccer, and basketball. But outdoors it's a fantastic camera. I used it on the 70-200mm today and had great results. You can hardly tell the difference between it's shots and the shots from my newer D200.

My shots on the 400mm lens were very sharp. I was very pleased about that. I love day time games and the sharp a prime lens will get you.

It was pretty blustery and cold for today's March 1st game and I bumped into Greg at Shipley. Both of us were in our winter coats along with gloves and hats. He commented to me "you must be incredibly dedicated or incredibly stupid." I laughed and said it was the latter.

I had a good time shooting the first game but the real fun was in the second game when the sun got lower in the sky. It really put that wonderful light on the field that I enjoy working with so much. During midday games the sun is directly overhead and that creates shadows under the hats of the players. When the sun is lower in the sky you can see under their hats more and can catch their eyes if you are low enough.

Maryland took it to Hofstra in Game 2 and 3 with big-run innings, and ended up winning the series 3-1. Of course you can view my photos over at our DC Sports Box website.

MLB: Washington Nationals vs Philadelphia Phillies (Game 3)

Thursday night's game between the Nats and the Phillies was pretty empty from a photographer standpoint. 2 of the regular photographers attended the Mystics game and that freed up a lot of space!

At RFK there are 4 on-field positions from which you can shoot. 2 of the on-field positions are beyond the dugouts. That's where the TV camera crew camps and shoots. It starts at roughly the 1st and 3rd bases and goes out maybe 100 feet or so.

The other 2 on-field positions are between home plate and the dugouts. Those spots are "prime" locations - you can good looks at the pitcher and you also get great looks at the batter. When somebody scores you also get great looks of the player returning to his dugout and high fiving his teammates.

The 2 prime spots have size limitations. One allows for 3 photographers and the other only has space for 1 photographer. During the 2 games I've shot so far those spots were hard to come by. But tonight they opened up after the 3rd inning because 2 photographers were at a different sporting event. I jumped on them as soon as I saw one open up and I didn't see anyone else go after it!

I shot the game tonight using ISO400, 640, and 800 and manual mode. I still find myself making adjustments to my shutter speed based on which subject I'm shooting and it was very perplexing. I'd have to make adjustments after all the sunlight was gone and the only lighting was the stadium lights. I noticed that that pitcher is ridiculously bright while home plate is a lot darker.

This sucks because you have to use around 1/1250th shutter speed to freeze the ball when it's being hit by the batter. There's barely enough light out at the pitcher's mound for that speed but there really is insufficient light at home plate for that speed shutter. I thought this was kind of strange and thought I might be imagining things so I asked Greg about it.

Greg confirmed what I had suspected and commented "there's a good 3/4's stop more light on the mound than at home plate". So it turns out I wasn't imagining things after all!

I've been trying my best to shoot everything in Manual mode so that I can learn to better judge the light. I've noticed that my camera's meter doesn't seem to react very quickly to changes in lighting, and when I use Aperture priority mode I tend to under or overexpose. Using manual mode I've had a lot of success and one area in particular has recently opened up...

When I shoot a batter swinging I need 1/500th or faster. But when I'm covering a player stealing a base I can go down to 1/320th and sometimes even slower. This significantly lightens my pictures. If it's too much light I can step down my aperture a quarter or a half stop and get a slightly sharper image on my D200. Alternatively, I can reduce my ISO to 400 in order to create a better picture.

Tonight I experimented with this technique a lot and it was pretty successful. My shots of the infield are brighter than before and I consider that a good success. It's more work to keep an eye on the camera's "suggested" meter and then make my own adjustments to speeds, but it seems well worth it.

One problem I've noticed is that I'll use my 70-200 to cover the batter and I'll have the shutter up around 1/500th. My ISO will be 800 or 1000, and my f-stop is 2.8. I take a few shots. I put the camera down and switch to the other body with the 400mm lens and take a few shots as the player goes to 2nd. Then I pick up my first body again and prepare for the batter to steal 3rd. My settings are still ISO 1000, f2.8, 1/500th of a second. Since I don't need that kind of sensitivity for a runner I drop the ISO to 400 and adjust the shutter speed accordingly. This takes time.

My D200 and the D2H have a presets capability, and this may help me with these transitions. I may look into setting up a preset for batters, pitchers, and infield and store those in the camera. That might make it easier to go back and forth between configurations quickly.

I also took some time tonight to try to shoot from different locations. Al sent out an email today to all photographers specifying guidelines for covering events in the Fall. One recommendation he made in the guidelines is to be creative and to look for unique vantage points that are not commonly used but could offer compelling photographs. He's trying to separate us from the rest of the crowd and I agree with this approach.

I've always thought that the candid photos of the players offer a view of the game that is seldom seen. Lots of organizations look for the slam dunk photo, but equally compelling can be the corresponding reactions on the player's and coaches faces after the slam dunk. The picture of Brandi Chastine removing her jersey is an example of such a reaction.

I looked for some interesting spots and I found a couple tonight. In the upper deck to the right of the foul ball poll in right field is a fun position if you have a 400mm lens. You can frame all of home plate (including the circle of grass around home plate), and you have unobstructed views of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd base.

When you shoot from the on-field positions you're constantly blocked by other people on the field. If you're in the prime locations you're blocked by batters that are on-deck warming up. If you're in the outside spots you're blocked by the 1st base or 3rd base coaches. Or you're blocked by the 1st base and 3rd base umpires as they run into the infield to call a player safe or out. Or the shortstop blocks your view of the play at 2nd.

Shooting from the outfield you're looking from above and beyond the action and you can see everything. I only spent 1 inning up there but I got several decent shots. It really surprised me how well some of the photos came out. When I looked at them on my D2H I thought they were going to look crappy.

It was also a good spot to shoot batters because you actually are in front of them. When you're on the field the batter is standing perpendicular to you if you're in the prime spots, and maybe at a 45 degree angle if you're shooting from outside. But when you're in the outfield he's at a 15 degree angle from you and you can get some great shots.

Al complimented my outfield photos but suggested I try it during day games. He said that you can get really beautiful shots from out there at f4. The next time I cover a game I'm definitely going to head up there.

I also shot from the handicapped sections behind 3rd base. During last night's game I shot from the 1st base handicapped section and those shots came out pretty well. Shooting from behind 3rd offered shots of players coming off the field. The drawback is that you lose the in-line shot from 3rd base to home, so you miss the players high fiving on their way to home plate. But you get them coming back to the dugout from home plate so I guess it's ok.

During the game there were times where I spent a lot of time using one particular lens. When I was in the outfield I stayed on the 400 the entire time. When I was on-field I used the 400 for some close ups of the pitcher and batters but I used the 70-200 for a lot of in-field coverage of steals. I decided to swap bodies several times so that I could use the D2H's 8fps mode to shoot as much as possible.

The D200 works great but it's pretty slow when you're shooting baseball and you want to get a picture of a player hitting the ball. The D2H does a great job of that. I'm still a little sloppy on swapping bodies because I'm fearful of breaking something. But I see a lot of other photographers doing it while on the field so I figure it's a safe thing to do.

So as the week winds down I was able to cover 2 games and that was pretty good. Next week looks to be a fun week: the Baysox are in town, and I've gotten permission to shoot some Maryland Football practices for the MGN. Unfortunately I can't post the pictures from the football practice, but I do get to get out there and shoot on the field.

MLB: Washington Nationals vs Philadelphia Phillies (Game 2)

This week was looking pretty busy when I checked my sports calendars in iCal on Sunday evening. The Baysox were in town, the Nats were at home for 2 series, and the Mystics played on Tuesday and Thursday evening. It appeared as though there were going to be lots of chances for me to use my 400mm lens this week!

Over the weekend Al offered me the choice of the Phillies series or the Mets series. I chose the Phillies since it was during the week and I didn't know how my weekend was going to shape up. Julie's close friend's husband turned 30 this week and was having a large celebration at a pub downtown on Friday night. And on Saturday I didn't know if I was going to be working at the Farm or not.. So I chose the Phillies.

I let Al know that I couldn't shoot the first game of the series due to another birthday commitment and Al responded that he would prefer to put a single photographer on an individual series. He also said he would prefer to assign a photographer to a series that can make the first game. Anything can happen and lead to you not attending the subsequent games, and in that case the DC Sports Box wouldn't have any photos of the series. It makes sense but it was very disappointing: my 2 commitments were on the opening nights of the series. And, one of the commitments was on a night the Mystics played!

So it looked like my week of ridiculousness was going to fizzle. Fortunately for me things turned around an Al managed to get a credential for Anthony (a DC Sports Box photographer and writer) for the first game and he put me on the second and third game of the series. I was very excited when I heard the news!

I was also looking forward to seeing Greg Fiume again. Greg and I are close in age (I believe he's 5 years older than me), but Greg's been shooting since 1992. I like going to events where Greg shoots because I watch what he's shooting and his technique.

The more I shoot the more I appreciate the value of experience. My first shots of Maryland outdoor sports (baseball and softball) were soft and primarily focused on the pitcher. They were soft because I didn't realize the problems at 200mm/f2.8 on my D200. But they focused on the pitcher because that's the only action I saw. Watching other more experienced photographers and doing more and more shoots I've realized that there's lots of action going on during games thats difficult to notice.

In baseball it's a pitcher making a fist and screaming in victory after striking out the last batter on the opposing team. Or it's a batter knuckle-bumping the first base coach after a great hit. Or it's the batter's response to a questionable call by the umpire. These are things I never noticed before. Now that I've been shooting baseball all spring and summer I've started to pick up on them and have tried to capture them. Greg does a great job of this in his photos - whenever I look at them I see parts of the game I totally missed.

I was a bit nervous about this shoot because it was my first MLB game at night and I didn't want to disappoint Al. I've covered the Mystics for the Sports Box and a daytime Nationals game, but never a night time outdoor game. I was nervous about this because the lighting at Maryland's baseball stadium is pretty awful and as a result my photos were pretty dark (or noisy but bright).

To my surprise the lighting at RFK was exceptionally good. I started off on ISO 400 and f2.8 and 1/500th of a second shutter speed and the exposure looked good. I decided to give Auto white balance a shot to see how well it worked. Auto white balance worked surprisingly well. That was a nice thing to learn: I've fought with white balance so much during the summer because most of my games are in the early evening when the sun sets and the lighting transitions from the sun to the stadium lights. I think I'll be using Auto white balance anytime there is changing light conditions.

I was also surprised that ISO 400 was sensitive enough for the stadium lights. Several of my shots were dark and I ended up increasing my ISO to 640, 800, and even 1000 at different points in the game.

I also decided to carry around both bodies at the same time. I did this at the Baysox game and managed the complexity pretty well. It was awkward at first but I managed to get used to it. I was pretty nervous about carrying both bodies around at the Nationals game given the tight areas in which we work. Getting in and out of the photo booths is very narrow and walking around with 200mm lens and a 400mm lens requires some balance and a lot of carefulness!

Using both bodies raised the question of: which lens do I use on which body. I decided to go with the 400mm on the D2H and the 70-200mm lens on the D200. Since I was using the 70-200 on the D200 I stepped down to f4 when possible to improve sharpness, or I tried to limit myself to 135mm at f2.8. I thought about switching my bodies and taking some test shots on the D2H on the 70-200mm lens at f2.8 and 200mm but decided against it. I wasn't there to experiment with lens and body combinations - I was there to cover a game for Al.

The game was pretty uneventful for the most part. Greg wasn't there unfortunately, but some other photographers I've met before were present. It's nice to start to recognize some of the photographers and to interact with them. They're a pretty tight group of people that seem to all work together to cover the games in the DC area (albeit for different organizations). It'd be nice if I got to know them better...

I was also able to get a spot at the "grown ups" table in the media room. This is basically one of those plastic tables you get from Costco. During the games 6 photographers crowd around this table with their laptops, card readers, power transformers, and wifi cards. In my last Nationals game I sat in the "kids" area (where the TV and radio reporters sit and interview the managers and players after the game), and it was not a very good place to work.

Since I've started to recognize some of the photographers I decided to ask them if there was a free spot at the table. They said that the KPT Photo guy wasn't coming tonight so I could take his spot. It makes a world of difference putting your laptop on a table and working vs on your lap in a crowded environment.

The shoot went pretty well given that it was my first MLB night time game and I was working with 2 bodies in the stadium for the first time. The pictures aren't great, but they're not too bad either. I'm looking forward to tomorrow night's game and improving my shots.

Baseball: Bowie Baysox vs Binghamton Mets (Game 3)

Here's my advice on getting started in the photography business: get out and shoot!

I'm far from being in the photography business, but I'm experiencing first hand how one can start a career in photography if that happens to be one's goal. It's remarkable how pervasive photography is these days as a result of the digital revolution. In the film days you had to have some level of seriousness in order to shoot. But in the post-film era you can pick up a digital camera at Best Buy for $100 and start to become knowledgeable.

At Maryland games this past Spring I talked to a few spectators in the stands who inquired about my equipment. Some photographers may consider this a distraction but I actually find it quite enjoyable. It's a lot of fun to listen to people talk about their equipment, hear what they enjoy shooting, and learn from their experience. You have to take everything with a grain of salt, but several times I've had someone make a comment that got me thinking about some of my own techniques.

And there's something about carrying around a 400mm f/2.8 lens that starts up conversation. It's usually "that's a big lens!" and that leads to further discussions. Tonight I was shooting the third game of the Baysox series against Binghamton and I spent a lot of time shooting from the stands. I made my way all the way down the 3rd base line hoping to catch some good foul ball shots of the batter and I ended up sitting next to a gentleman named Rusty from St Mary's. Rusty told me all kinds of facts about minor leaque baseball that were really quite interesting. He also told me about some new teams that are starting up next season.

Although I'm not a reporter I do consider myself something of a photojournalist, and a huge part of reporting is listening to people talk. Listening to Rusty describe the minor league and some of the history of the pitching coach of the Mets taught me a lot about the teams.

Game #2 of the series, and early in the game tonight the pitching coach was ejected from the game. The person I was sitting next to (I didn't catch his name) told me that in Game #2 the pitching coach and the umpire got into an argument and the coach kept pestering theI also sat next to an older gentleman who sits slightly down the 3rd baseline but next to 3rd base. I missed umpire throughout the game. The guy speculated that the pitching coach was ejected prematurely to send a message to the Mets: Don't mess with the umpires.

Another gentleman passed me while I was on my way between two spots and asked me what kind of lens I was using. When I described it he asked the cost and mentioned he was thinking about going into the photography business and wanted to know if I had any advice. I laughed at the thought of me giving someone else photography advice because I'm usually the one soliciting advice! He's retiring and is thinking about doing some work on the side as a photographer. I didn't catch his name but I gave him my business card and told him to email me if he had any questions.

Lastly I spoke for awhile with a gentleman named David Hartcorn. It turns out that David and I have a lot in common both professionally and photographically. We both work in the same domain space, we both occupy office space in Annapolis MD that's close to each other, and we both shoot Nikons.

David told me that he his car was recently burglarized and all of this equipment was stolen. This really reinforces my desire to obtain insurance and to do it soon. He said that he had a dashboard navigation system as well as a satellite receiver on his dash and the thieves used a slim jim in broad daylight at Hunt Valley golf club in Columbia MD to break into his car. Once inside they lifted his satellite and navigation system and made off with his suitcase of equipment.

He lost two D2XS bodies, a 70-200mm/f2.8, 50mm/f1.4, 85mm/f2.8, 105mm/f2.8, 17-55mm/f2.8 and I believe a 400mm/f2.8. He also lost a few teleconverters, spare batteries, media, and all the other assorted accessories we all carry in our bags. I'm not too worried about theft of my gear from my car because I take my bag into my office with me during the day, and when it's in my car it's always in my trunk. But still... hearing about someone losing ALL of their gear sounds like a devastating thing to have happen. Fortunately David has commercial photography insurance and was able to replace all of his equipment. I'm sure he missed a few assignments tho while he filled out police reports and waited for an insurance claim to be processed.

We had a pretty lengthy discussion of lenses and when I started describing my 70-200 and D200 combination and it's performance at 200mm he completed my sentence by saying: "It's soft isn't it..." His statement is consistent with my personal observations and what I've read on Nikonians.org's forums: the D200 and the 70-200mm lens is soft at 200mm and f2.8. Stepping down to f4 or f5.6 helps though.

He also told me that the D2XS body and sensor are so sharp and perfect that they really expose "bad" lenses. I'm not too sure what he means by "bad" lenses since I'm not a physicist and I don't know about the laws of light and how chemicals impact it's progression through the lens elements. I only know about AF-D and AF-S style lenses and the differences in the focusing mechanics. For me it's not a problem since I'm on a D2H and a D200, but I thought it was an interesting comment.

Tonight's shoot was a great experience from a lighting perspective. The Baysox tend to start the Sunday games at 6pm rather than 7pm, giving photographers and extra hour of sunlight. This makes a huge difference, and I wish that they started every game at 6pm. I realize this would probably reduce their crowd size (because people may still be at work at 6pm) so it will probably never change. But when they play at 6pm I like to get to those games because the lighting is perfect! You can get a solid 5 innings in before you have to go to ISO800 or ISO1000.

I decided to give a shot at using both my 400mm lens and my 70-200mm lens at the same time. During Friday night's game I just carried around the 400mm lens because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to handle 2 bodies, one of which was attached to a monster lens. I like to play it safe, so I decided to shoot Friday night's game using just my 400mm lens on my D2H body. But when I shot that game I felt too close for a lot of shots.

It was nearly impossible to catch any steals using the 400mm lens from the lower level because I was in too close. I had to go up to the upper level to shoot, and I wanted to stay down low so that I could get excellent profiles of the players while they bat. I kept thinking on Friday night that my 70-200 would really work well for catching some of the steals where you need to be wider, and the 400mm lens would be great for the up-close profile shots as well as the candids that I love shooting.

It was a bit awkward at first negotiating between the 70-200mm and the 400mm lenses, so I decided to shoot from down on the field to get started. I figured that by shooting on the field I'd be all alone and wouldn't have to deal with the complexity of the crowd moving around and possibly stepping on my equipment. Down on the field I have my own little chair I sit in, and I can safely place one camera on the ground while I use the other camera.

It was surprising to me how well it worked. The only awkwardness I encountered related to the extension on my monopod. I use a monopod on my 400mm lens, and to put the 400mm lens down I place it hood down on the ground (not on it's side). When the monopod is extended it's too much weight on one side and the camera wants to tip over. But if you reduce the monopod to it's storage size the camera and body stand upright just fine.

Observing this made me think about the AF-S II lens and how it's slightly lighter than the AF-S I lens. My 400mm with a D2H and monopod hanging off of it is somewhat unstable. I imagine that if my 400mm had it's weight reduced by 1lb or slightly more that it would not longer be able to support the D2H body and the monopod, even when it's fully reduced. I'll have to ask some other photographers with 400mm lenses how well their rigs hold up. Maybe that's why some people by those carbon monopods (because they are light).

After 2 innings on the field I was extremely comfortable going from the 400mm to 70-200mm lens and I decided to journey up into the crowd to get some shots from above. This worked out pretty well except the children posed a challenge in some cases. Children tend to be attracted to cameras (probably because they like getting their picture taken!) and that can be risky when you're talking about $6k worth of equipment sitting on the ground next to you while you're looking through the eyepiece of another $2k of equipment.

I found a bunch of spots tonight to shoot from and my pictures are coming out better than ever. These days I'm shooting 75% of my shots using group weighted continuous autofocus and it's working remarkably well. The other 25% of the time I use single spot continuous autofocus. The single spot autofocus mode works very well when you have 2 players talking to each other, one shallow and one deeper in your field of view and you want to blur one to bring him out of focus. In those cases the group autofocus locks on both players as one unit, or you go back and forth between the two players. But using spot you're able to point to the player you want to focus on and take your shot.

I'm very pleased with how the quality of my work is progressing. I've been going back over a bunch of old Maryland related photos I shot during the Spring and moving them over to BlunckSports and many of them are really low quality. I'm not ashamed of them at all, but it is remarkable how much of a difference just a few months makes in shooting.

That brings me to the advice I offered in the opening paragraph of this lengthy post: Just get out and shoot! If you're considering going into photography get out there and start shooting whatever you think is interesting. Maybe it's critter-shots or maybe it's nature. Maybe it's sports. Or maybe it's architecture and business. But get out and figure out if you enjoy shooting, and if so what you enjoy shooting. The worst thing you can do is not try.

And with that I'm off to eat some chicken ramen surprise. In my house that's just chicken ramen with some curry seasoning and cayenne pepper. It's the cayenne pepper that's the surprise.

Baseball: Bowie Baysox vs Binghamton Mets (Game 1)

All week I've been looking for a game to use my 400mm, and tonight I got that game.

Earlier in the week I shot the Maryland Terrapins during Media Day, and that was a lot of fun. I covered it using my 70-200mm and my D2H. The shots came out very well. I've really sped up my post-processing speed by using Aperture and adding a second screen to my laptop.

I hate the Windows so I use the Linux and the Mac OSX for work and pleasure. I encourage everyone to take a look at Linux and OSX for their development, professional, and personal workflows. Recently I added a 22" Acer LCD that I purchased from NewEgg for a cool $220. Going up to a 24" more than doubles the cost, so a 22" is a nice sweet little price point.

The screen has a DVI interface and a 400:1 contrast ratio. The brightness is like 3000:1 and it looks great. It's brighter than the glossy LCD on my MacBook Pro, and I do most of my photo editing (post processing) on the LCD and use my MacBook's display for shells, emacs, and other non-graphical applications. I highly encourage anyone doing photo editing to add a second screen because it greatly increases your productivity in post processing.

When posting images up to this blog I used to have go go back and forth between Preview (the picture viewer in OSX) and Firefox using Expose's "All Windows" magic. It was better than Window's solution, but it was still slow. Adding the second LCD I can land my browser on my MacBook Pro's screen and my photos on my LCD. It's then extremely easy to go back and forth between the two. I personally can't think of any photographic equipment these days that costs less than $220, so this LCD is a great deal in my opinion.

The only problem I've had with the LCD is the white balance. I've noticed that the whites on the LCD are definitely more neon-like brighter. That's made me think about the accuracy of displays, and I intend to look into calibration software that I can use to get my MacBook Pro and Acer LCD in sync with respect to white balance. My photos on the MacBook Pro look dark but they look great on my LCD. Likewise, if I adjust brightness when I'm viewing my photos on my LCD they look really bright (kind of washed out) when I look at them on the LCD (and on other LCDs).

I've also been spending a lot of time going back through old photo albums and pruning the "bad" photos. One of the nice things about being technically savy is that it allows me to feed my in born pack-rat tendencies. I hate physical clutter, and digital clutter gets to me too. But organized digital content is the sweet spot. In the past I've dumped ALL of my photos into a directory, even tho most of them are not properly framed, are kind of off with respect to lighting, or maybe a tad out of focus.

I've been shooting a lot of events, and with DSLRs you can create a lot of content pretty quickly. So I've learned about the whole post-processing aspect of digital photography and I now apply post processing to each event I cover. But my post processing in the past simply consisted of me rotating images by hand and deleting the completely out-of-focus. I've quickly chewed up disk space on my fileserver with this strategy and I'm now working on correcting that.

Over on www.bluncksports.com I'm posting my albums for all my games. As I cover a new event I post it over on the bluncksports.com gallery. During off days I'm going back through my photos I shot this spring of Maryland events and posting them. That's occupying a lot of time!

Moving 1.5GB of photos from my fileserver to my laptop takes a bit, and then the disk IO to pull those images into memory takes awhile as well. Sifting through them, cropping, and resaving them takes time too. Fortunately I've gotten through all of the basketball and I'm almost through lacrosse. Then I'll have baseball and softball and I'll hopefully be finished.

A few weeks ago I ordered a ThinkTank Airport International from my local Penn Camera office. I debated the International vs Security but in the end I went with the International. I gave up a little space, but I saved about 10% on the bag because I didn't feel like I needed the extra "security" that the security model provided.

I bought the bag because my current bag was just a small over-the-shoulder style Nikon bag that barely fit my 70-200mm lens. I bought a 400mm/f2.8 lens as well as a D2H body and there's no way I could fit 2 bodies in the original bag. Additionally, the 400mm/f2.8 lens costs several thousands of dollars and I don't want to break it because I'm carrying it around unprotected. I was happy that my bag arrived this week from overseas and I moved all of my gear into the bag.

I still have a little room to grow, but not a whole lot. I'm not very concerned though because I feel like I have 90% of all the gear I'll need for a long time. I currently own a D200, D2H, 70-200mm/f2.8, 400mm/f2.8, 50mm/f1.8, and 2X TC. The only lens I plan on purchasing in the near future is an 18-55mm/f2.8 DX and there's room in the bag for that lens. I also am considering selling my 2X TC now that I own the 400mm/f2.8 and that will free up some space.

With my new bag, new lens, and new D2H body in hand I was looking forward to my shoot tonight. I had my season credential in hand and with the photo bag I walked right past security without any problem at all. It was so nice having that bag. When I wore the bag over my shoulder I was always afraid I'd bend over to the side and the strap would slide off my shoulder. Or I was afraid that when I walked past a door frame I would catch the bag on the frame somehow and screw up a lens inside. With the bag rolling behind me and my lenses between 1" of solid insulation I felt so safe and protected. That bag was so worth the purchase!

I headed to the media room and pulled out the D2H and the 400mm lens and assembled it onto my monopod. I debated pairing my D200 with the 70-200mm lens and carrying that on a strap on my shoulder but decided against it. The 400mm lens is remarkably heavy and large even though it is AF-S. Since it was my first time out with it I decided not to press my luck. I left the D200 and 70-200mm lens up in the media room and headed down to the seats to take some pictures.

The first thing that struck me was how powerful 400mm is on a DX sensor. DX sensors have a built in 1.5X crop, and that turns my 400mm lens into a 600mm lens (albeit through cropping). Standing up in the stands my subjects at home plate completely filled my frame. It was really odd not being able to zoom out.

It was also the first time I felt "too close" to the action. Most of the time that I'm feeling too-something it's "too-far". But tonight I was "too close" for a few shots. My shots from 3rd base of the batter didn't allow me to see the catcher at all. That's ok but it took a little bit of adjustment.

One comment Al made earlier this week really resonated with me tonight: shoot from far up. He showed me a few photos he took of the Nationals earlier last week from in the 400 sections using his 400mm and they look really good. At that range he's far enough way that he gets the batter in the frame as well as some space around the batter. It's truly remarkable how powerful a 400mm lens is.

I shot the entire game using the D2H and 400mm lens. I started out at ISO 200 and aperture priority mode with group weighted continuous autofocus. The shots looked decent on the LCD, but since it's an old camera it's a little difficult to tell sometimes. I trust my equipment and myself so I'm sure the photos will come out alright.

I also saw Bob again at the game. Bob sits down in the front row and takes notes during the game. He's a true baseball fan and attends almost every game. During the last game he and I chatted while I shot next to his position. He owns an 18-200mm/f4-f5.6 VR lens and a D70 and we compared a lot of notes and techniques. It was good to see him again.

I also met another gentleman named Mark. Mark's a Canon shooter but he's considering switching to Nikon. He rented a D200 and a 70-200mm lens from lensrentals.com and was giving it a shot tonight. I told him about my experience on that body and lens and he was excited about it. If he switches he'll be the first person I know to go from Canon to Nikon. He currently has an EOS-1D and an 80-200mm/f2.8 IS lens.

Towards the end of the game I was up at 1600 ISO and my meter was telling me that 1/250th of a second was needed to properly expose the image. Since the D2H taps out at 1600 I decided to pack it in and head home. It was a great day, and I wanted to go home to catch up with my wife (she got some good medical news today!)

Baseball: Baysox vs Portland Sea Dogs

I'm anxiously awaiting my 400mm f2.8 to arrive, so in the meantime I have to make do with a 70-200mm lens.

With my season credential in hand I decided to stop off at Prince George's Stadium on the way home from Zenoss on Monday evening. PG Stadium is a great place to shoot for several reasons.

First: they engineered the stadium well for photography. The sun sets over 3rd base rather than in the outfield. Since most games are played at 7pm (or in the late afternoon) this makes for great lighting. I'm sure this was intentional: how could you sink money into building a stadium and not think about the position of the Sun in the late afternoon.

Second: the crowds are friendly. This isn't a high priced NBA event. It's a low-key during-the-week event that offers promotions to get fans to attend. Whether it's "Belly Buster" night (free hot dogs) or "Fireworks on Friday" the staff at PG Stadium are definitely trying to appeal to the family crowd. They keep the prices reasonable and that attracts families, and they're (for the most part) friendly.

Third: the proximity to the field is decent. It's not as tight as Maryland Softball, but it's not as bad as Maryland Baseball. You can cover a lot of the field with a 70-200mm lens, and with a 300mm or 400mm you're perfectly set.

Fourth: the staff is fun. There aren't any unions out at PG Stadium... It's all younger folks that are working for the summer or older folks that are looking to do a good job and get picked up at another stadium. They're friendly, professional, and seem to have their act together. Getting into the venue hasn't been a problem (unlike RFK Stadium).

Back in May the Baysox were my #1 target for summer shoots, but they turned me down because I wasn't shooting for a media outlet. Fortunately Jake has helped me overcome that by introducing me to the folks at the Baysox and helping me get a season pass. I wanted to cover the Baysox because on Mondays and Tuesdays I live in College Park MD and commute to Annapolis. PG Stadium is right along the way home.

I've been doing a lot of reading about sharpness on the D200 with the 70-200mm lens. Over at Nikonians.org there are some great forums for owners of various lenses and bodies to discuss techniques and share experiences. On a couple of posts people have remarked that the 70-200mm is not sharp on the D200 at 200mm and f2.8. A coworker (Jason Stevens) recommended reducing my aperture to f5.6 to see if that improves the sharpness. During my tests at the Royals game that certainly helped.

Tonight I decided to expand on my testing by going to f5.6 when the sun was still high enough in the sky and taking several photos. I was concerned about the impact on my depth of field. I love the out-of-focus effect that occurs through a narrow depth of field. And I was worried that by going to f5.6 I would have in-focus foregrounds and only slightly out-of-focus backgrounds. At f3.5 and f5.6 while shooting the pitcher from next to the 3rd base dugout it wasn't too bad. Above f5.6 the stands behind 1st base started to come into noticeable focus though.

The folks over on Nikonians.org and Jason appear to be correct: shooting at a smaller aperture (higher f-stop) on a D200 and a 70-200/f2.8 VR lens improves sharpness. This presents some challenges down the road.

With a zoom lens you're going to want to zoom in and out. At 70mm and even 100 and 135mm and f2.8 my lens is sharp. But if I go out beyond 135mm the sharpness degrades. So when I'm in the field covering an event I'm going to have to give some thought to how I manage my zoom with respect to my aperture.

If I'm at 100mm I can push the aperture open to f2.8 and achieve sharp photos. But if I'm at 200mm I need to reduce the aperture to f3.5, f4, or f5.6 to achieve sharp photos. I can see it is problematic to achieve this, but I'm going to give it my best. If you have any suggestions, experience, or ideas please feel free to leave comments.

Another change I made tonight was using Manual mode exclusively. Most of the time I've used aperture priority mode and let the camera meter for me. Tonight I used Manual exclusively for the first time, and boy did my shots show it!

I constantly overexposed. Ridiculously! While sitting behind home plate I'd be shooting the pitcher while he pitches. I'd be using 1/1000th of a second on f3.5 and the exposure looked good. Then the batter would hit and would start running to 1st base. I pan to 1st base to capture the action, and I'm hit with an enormous amount of reflected light coming from the billboards in the outfield. They'd completely wash out the shot.

I'm not sure what to do in that situation. Now that I'm aware of it I'm going to take a few more test shots of this and see what I