Safe!

[wxwax]

I forgot my hat and my sunscreen.

It was 90+ degrees under a blazing sun. I could feel my skin peeling off. No pressure, but this shoot was going to have a time limit. I gave myself an hour, but actually stayed out for another 45 minutes.

Just enough time to get a few shots from the NCAA Super Regional at GaTech, where the Yellow Jackets hosted the College of Charleston. Not very graciously: they thumped them two straight, no need for Sunday's third game. My hide thanks them.

A play at the plate! The runner's saaaafe! I know this because I can see his tippy toe touching the plate while the catcher's mitt, ball nice and visible, is two states over and stuck in traffic.



http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/74751647-L.jpg

[wxwax]

I invited the umps to look a the piccie. They invited me to take a hike.

Just kidding!

Hey, a steal! Quick, throw to second! This time, the tag's in time, glove meets runner and all is well with the GaTech defense. Ohh nooo? What is that on the ground? Could it be... the ball?

Saaaafe!


http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/74774028-L.jpg

[wxwax]

But when it comes right down to it, baseball's a simple game of toss and hit.

Of course, some tossers ( :lol3 ) are more intimidating than others.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/74776471-L.jpg

[wxwax]

Not all hitters are scared.

Some hop right to it.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/74752999-L.jpg

[wxwax]

Honestly, every time I see a shot like this, I wonder how some guys go for years throwing the ball.

I mean, it looks like their elbow should snap after just one pitch.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/74748593-L.jpg

[gus]

# 3 & 5 mate :thumb excellent !!

[Antonio Correia]

Good work.
I'll try someday... Not with this sport...
Well done and captured.:):
:thumb

[saurora]

Great "catches", Sid....and so sharp!!! Very nicely done! It's easy to see why these guys get severe cases of tendonitis, isn't it! :thumb

[gefillmore]

great shots, sid!--

little horsey dmso (dimethyl sulfoxide) http://www.dmso.org/articles/information/muir.htm
and those elbows will be fine--

[ian408]

I happen to agree with gussy on this one. Nicely done!

[xtnomad]

Great action, I love action shots:lust , May be because I can't be in them any more. Real sharp and great captures. :thumb :clap

[wxwax]

Thanks folks!

You know those videos of pilots that show their facial skin flapping under intense G forces? It looks like a pitcher's arm experiences some significant G forces as well, look at the rippling skin on this guy's arm.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/74944352-L.jpg

[fire1035]

I watched that game. Poor College of Charleston. They had no chance.

Great shots though. Someday I'll be bale to pick up a lens to do those.

[wxwax]

I'm trying a new PS technique to combat the bright sun and shadowy faces. I read this tip in Photoshop User magazine, a wonderful monthly mag sent to NAPP members.

It's a new-to-me way of combining two RAW exposures of the same image. In this case, I have one image that's exposed for the player's shadowy faces, and one that's exposed to protect the detail in the highlights.




Copy/Paste the darker image over the brighter one. Now you have two layers.

In the Layers menu, go to Layer Options, and choose Blending Options (on CS it's the first option, at the top of the list.)

Look at the bottom of the Blending Options dialogue box. There are two sets of sliders. The top slider is labeled This Layer. This is the one you want. Specifically, you want the left hand slider in the This Layer slider box. If you look carefully, it's actually two sliders. More on that later.

Click-hold on the left hand slider. Drag it to the right until you're satisfied with the highlights.

Now Alt-hold and click on the left side of same slider you just moved. You'll see your slider split into two. The right side stays where it is. You move the left side back until you're happy with how the light and dark parts of your image blend.

Final step: in the drop down menu at the very top of the dialogue box, change the General Blending from Normal to Darken.




As you can see, I haven't fully mastered this technique. Also, it adds artifacts to the bokeh. For example, look what it did in the second image I posted. See how weird the College World Series sign looks?

I plan to experiment some more with this technique. I may have to add another layer to deal with the bokeh problem. But it seems a little bit easier than doing the painstaking masking I'm accustomed to.

[Jnichols]

Thanks folks!

You know those videos of pilots that show their facial skin flapping under intense G forces? It looks like a pitcher's arm experiences some significant G forces as well, look at the rippling skin on this guy's arm.

http://wxwax.smugmug.com/photos/74944352-L.jpg

Wow - great capture. I'll never understand the mechanics of the arm when pitching - it makes my elbow hurt. Now it makes my arm hurt!