Welcome to the next generation of the baseball card photo!!!
Action shots of a baseball game or a football game is always fun. The bat impacting on a ball, the receiver stretching out for a one handed catch, the kick of a soccer ball always makes for a great image. These moments are sometimes tough to catch, but always worth it. Now, jumping in the way back machine, along with exciting game pictures, baseball cards and bubble gum were sold. And the portraits of great baseball players were collected and traded from generation to generation.
Again in the way back machine, but a lil closer to the present day. Photographers started doing all kinds of sports portraits on those trading cards; swimmers, soccer, baseball, football, basketball, rugby, lacrosse, everything was fair game. Getting off the field, the right pose, some good sunlight, and you had a beautiful picture for your card.
Well, things have gotten even cooler these days. Getting off the field allows for much more control over the image. Bringing in high powered and high speed synched strobes, adding some neutral density filters, and some great fog or water droplets to the background has added some amazing drama to the traditional portrait. And, no, I don’t know who coined the term, but I love it – Sportrait Photography.
Without a doubt, the best thing about being off the field allows you to control the angle, the direction, and the lighting of the shoot. Not to mention being able to simply re-shoot over and over to get it right. As opposed to just catching the action when it happens.
High speed sync strobes and even some continuous lights are now powerful enough to balance with the sun, allowing the settings on the camera to be changed and making for much more dramatic shadows and lighting.
And finally, no more fence or gym wall as a background. Lights in the background that look like stadium lighting, flying dirt, atmosphere spray (fog), and even water droplets add an incredible effect to the sportrait! It’s a whole new world for the trading car biz…
