TimmyToodles

One of the more unusual sporting events I shot was the Special Olympics Baseball qulifier in Camden, Ohio. I kept noticing this one really talented kid that all the Mom's called "Timmy Toodles". Tim was probably the most gifted kid on the field.In fact I found out that he had competed and did very well in "swing dance" contests and all the other kids looked up to him.

After focusing on him in the outfield for a few plays, a batter hit a routine fly ball to Timmy that he misplayed badly. In a desperation leap he caught the ball and I caught a great photo. From what I understand, this picture not only hangs in his parents RV, but in the Camden, Ohio VFW Hall where the Special Olympic team meets once a month.


Posted by Cincinnati and Dayton Sports Photographer Vincent Rush of Monroe, Ohio. For more information (877) 858-6295

Swing for the Fences

In shooting sports photography, specifically baseball, set up angles are extremely important. I cases like this, when I was shooting Eaton, Ohio Little League, the centerfield fence was not far away, that I couldn't get a great shot of a batter teeing off on one. In this case I used a Nikkor 300mm and a 1/1000 shutter speed at ISO 400.

One can also see why the batter popped this one up. His eyes are not on the ball.

Posted by Cincinnati and Dayton Sports Photographer Vincent Rush of Monroe, Ohio. For more information (877) 858-6295

Flyin High

In shooting Sports Photography, you may get asked to cover a wide variety of subjects. Baseball and Football are my specialty, but occasionally I get an odd request to do something new. Motorcross is one such event. I went up to a place called Buzzard Valley, somewhere in North Eastern Ohio. I only got two good shots the whole day.

This goes back to what I always say about, understanding the flow of the particular sports in question. I'm an idiot when it comes to this sport. Put me on the Cincinnati Reds, or a Tee-ball team and I'm right at home, but here I was out of my comfort zone.

I positioned my Nikon D200 and monopod at the final jump and let the motodrive fly and was fortunate to nail a good one. I could not see the bikes as they came up the hill, but I could hear them. The overcast day made for great lighting and exposure. The cropping hides the fact that he is only 3 feet above the dirt.

Cropping is one of the most important elements in creating a great sports photo. Sadly enough, many aspiring sports photographers are too lazy to do the extras that seperate them from the masses.

Posted by Cincinnati and Dayton Sports Photographer Vincent Rush of Monroe, Ohio. For more information (877) 858-6295

Out of the croutch

One of my favorite shots is to get a picture of a catcher coming up out of the croutch and getting ready to gun a runner down. Now the tricky question is, how do you get an angle that looks like your're at about the pitchers mound? The answer is, that's almost exactly where I am. Although a photograph of a Cincinnati Reds catcher would be an impossiblility, unless you had field credentials, many little league and highschool games I cover, allow me to roam the field in between innings. This allows me to position myself during warm ups and get some great action shots of infielders tossing and losening up.

Once they are posted, no one cane tell the difference between game and warm up shots.

Shot with a Nikon D200 and Nikor lens.


Posted by Cincinnati and Dayton Sports Photographer Vincent Rush of Monroe, Ohio. For more information (877) 858-6295

Batters Eye

Shooting sports photography can be simple and mundane if you're just going through the motions. I've always said that anyone can take pictures but few can take photographs. While covering a Varsity baseball game between the Monroe Hornets and the Carlisle Indians, I kept noticing that the pitcher for Monroe had this Bob Gibson like fall off from the mound. I envisioned this as having the potential for a great head on shot, much like some of those famous Gibson shots.

I moto'ed through about 10 pitches before I finally got a keeper. Now the trick to a photo like this is a quality lens, like the Nikkor 80-200 f2.8. I was on the other side of the fence and had the lens hood pressed against the chain link fence. My focus is on the pitchers eyes. Everything else is irrelevant in the picture except for the ball it's self. If the pitcher is out of focus, the picture just simply does not work.
Posted by Cincinnati and Dayton Sports Photographer Vincent Rush of Monroe, Ohio. For more information (877) 858-6295

To Flash or Not to Flash....

WHEN IS IT OK TO USE YOUR ON-CAMERA FLASH?

People photos can be some of the most rewarding and challenging shots
to take. They can also be the most lucrative if you get them right.

One of the most important elements you need to master in order to sell
your photos of people (family, friends, or strangers) is light.

The pop up flash on your camera is ALMOST NEVER an option if you want
to sell your photos to magazines, stock agencies, or as fine art. It’s
fine for pictures you plan to keep in your photo album at home, but
it’s not acceptable for photos you plan to sell.

It’s a classic sign of a “snapshot” and it’ll ruin an otherwise
acceptable image.

...That being said, I am not advocating that you never ever use your
on-camera flash again. I am, however, encouraging you to know the
difference between saleable images and those that you tuck into an
album and pull out at family dinners for a giggle and to reminisce.

The above shot is an example of using a natural light source for a more dramatic
photograph.

It’s a wonderful shot of a friends 82 year old Grandmother.
Had the light source been a pop up flash, you would have had a bright intense light on the forehead and a big shadow on the wall behind her head.

I was asked to come take some photographs of my friends "Nanna" who has not been in very good health the past couple of years. I had a very small dimly lit home that gave me very litle astetical advantages. I found out that religion and her Bible were a very important part of her life. In her Bible she keeps obituaries of her late friends, one of them being her late husband. I used an Expodisc to get a proper light temperature reading and bracketed my exposures. The end result was this family keepsake.

One thing you can do during the day is simply step out onto the front
porch and use the natural light from outdoors. Another thing you can
try is moving her to a window-lit area of the house.

Be careful to stay away from bright midday sun or areas that have a
mix of direct light and shade. Instead, watch for “even” lighting.

And if, for some reason, you must use a pop-up flash, try diffusing
the light, using something to make it spread out. You can do this on
the run with something as simple as a white Kleenex slipped over the
flash. There are also products you can find online made specifically
for this. One is the Puffer by Gary Fong, which fits over your
on-camera flash and softens the direct light. I often use the Gary Fong LightSphere. But you can find the right diffuser for your flash at http://garyfong.com

While these options are not perfect solutions, they will give you
better results in a pinch if no natural light is available.

For more examples of natural or diffused light portraits visit http://rushintl.smugmug.com/gallery/2302283_jaJrf#480252706_rpfgY

All were taken either indoors with a Gary Fong Lightsphere, light coming from a window or outside with natural light. Notice that none of them have harsh shadows. And that my subjects aren't blown out by the intensity of an on-camera flash
(because I didn’t use it).

And again, I’m not suggesting that you never use your flash. I’m
simply saying that there’s a lot of money to be made out there selling
photographs of people. And with a little planning and readjustment of
your subject, you might just be able to cash in on it.

Pay Dirt

Anticipation, Timing, Understanding of Game Flow and a little luck. Sometimes as a sports photographer, you've got to take a fishermans approach and cast the line out one more time. This was exactly the case while covering the Monroe Hornets 3rd grade football game against the Eaton Eagles.

I was wrapping up an assignment for a parent and heading out of the stadium when I noticed the ball on the far side of the field. Monroe had been running the strong side sweep with success all day. I decided to set up the mono pod and wait. Sure enough this little guy turns the corner and heads 68 yards to pay dirt. I let the moto drive use up its capacity and this was the big fish that got stuffed and mounted.

This picture was also published in the 2008 Capture Cincinnati Book. Shot with a NIkon D200. Monroe Hornet Photograph, Cincinnati Sports Photographer Vincent Rush

Wind Up

One of the mistakes that I see a lot of aspiring youth sports photographers make, when posting the days shoot, is simply downloading 2-300 pictures with no editing, cropping or filtering involved. What a lot of youth sports photography sites consist of, is a bunch of random shots with no story telling signifigance in any of them. Typical symptoms include,kids too small in frame, too slow of a shutter speed, too many out of focus pictures

If you want to sell enough pictures on your site to buy more equipment or pay for your gas to the park, you have to put eye popping action shots that are of baseball card quality, to keep parents clicking through untill they find their little superstar on your site.

I shot this picture on a Sunday during Fall League, in Fairfield, Ohio with a Nikon D200 at 1/1200th of a second and cropped it after downloading.

Cincinnati Reds Opening Day

One of my favorite days of the year. Opening day for Major League Baseball and the Cincinnati Reds. I've only went to one opening day. In 2003, my friend Dave Fallat and I went to the very first game at Great American Ball Park, to commemorate me becoming a newly qualified Emerald in Amway. Dave had went Emerald the year before. Today was a great example of why I usually don't like to go...37* at the start of the game. Cold, wet, damp and a 2-1 loss at the hands of the Mets. The Cincinnati Red's are now on pace to lose 160 games.

Cincinnati Reds Opening Day...24 Hours

Shooting a game between the Cincinnati Reds and the LA Dodgers,I just happened to catch a big swing...and a spit, from Reds Second Baseman, Brandon Phillips.

Nikon D200, Nikkor 80-200 2.8 at 1/1600th of a second. Cincinnati Reds Photo, Cincinnati Sports Photographer,Vincent Rush

Primping

As the Eaton, Ohio Little League season gets ready to kick into full gear, I was looking back at some of my photos from last year, whaen I came across this gem. In my opinion, one of the things that sets a good youth sports photographer apart from the picture takers that post up every frame that they shoot, with no editing or cropping, to their web sites, is having an "Eye" for the unusual and unexpected.

I was shooting Eaton Little League Tee-Ball one Saturday, and I noticed that this little girl had stopped on 1st and 2nd to adjust her hat so it was "just right".

I was rewarded with this picture when she hit 3rd. It may not be an action shot, but it is typical of the innocence of little league. Shot with a Nikon D200, 1/250 at F8.

Eaton Little League Photograph. Cincinnati Sports Photographer, Vincent Rush

Opposite Field

During the Summer, I have carved out a nice little niche shooting kids sports photography, specificly, little league baseball. Parents love seeing their little superstars in a "Sports Illustrated" quality photo. In this picture, I am the parent as my son Zachary, playing in Eaton, Ohio Little League, goes the opposite way as a left handed hitter. I set up on the first base line and used a Nikon D200, Nikkor 80-200 2.8 lens and 1/1600th of a second shutter.

A great deal of Sports Photography is about anticipation and understanding the flow of the game. My son,Zachary who is 10, will be playing in both the Monroe and Eaton Little League's this year.

Cincinnati Reds Opening Day in 48 Hours

The Cincinnati Reds arenow less than 48 hours away from opening day in the 2009 season. Chris Dickerson is another rising star in the Reds organization that figures to have a big impact on the success of the team.

In this photograph, I positioned myself down the right field line and waited for a lefty to turn on one. I used a Nikon D200 with aperature priority at 1/1200 ths of a second.

Cincinnati Reds Photograph. Cincinnati Sports Photographer, Vincent Rush

Nikon D400...soon to be released?

Just when I was getting ready to go out and buy a Nikon D700 for the noise reduction factor, I come across this article from a publictaion called "Electricpig" out of the UK, dated March 20th.

"A few weeks ago we picked up the first rumblings concerning a new D400 digital SLR from Nikon, apparently due to launch in the summer. Well, now some specifications have apparently appeared on the German Nikon website, before being mysteriously removed minutes later. The plot thickens…

Nikon Rumors received the tip-off from a reader, who emailed in a screenshot of the Nikon Germany site with the D400 camera added to the existing line-up with a “New” tag next to it. The camera’s blurb reveals that the D400 has a 15.4-megapixel CMOS sensor, 6fps continuous shooting mode, ISO from 200 to 6400 and the ability to shoot full HD 1080p video via its Live View mode.

But by the time the folks at Nikon Rumors had checked the site, the D400 had disappeared from the listing - suggesting either that the picture was a hoax, or that Nikon had spotted its premature listing and taken it down before anyone spotted it.

So it remains a mystery for now, but it does seem as though the D400 will launch eventually. As we reported last month, a guidebook for the camera has already appeared on Amazon’s German store, written by a man with a substantial back catalogue of Nikon tomes. We’ll keep an eye out for more news."

For all of us Nikon users that have clung to our D200's up to now, this could be a nice reward for the wait.

Personally I will not get too excited until I hear it from Ken Rockwell at http://kenrockwell.com Ken tend to be one of the leading authorites on Nikon and his website is unmatched in my opinion.

6 days till Cincinnati Reds Opening Day

Less than one week till Major League Baseball's true opening day, and that is Cincinnati Reds opening day. When the season opens, Jeff Keppinger, seen in this photograph in a late 2008 season game against the Pirates at Great American Ballpark, will not be on the roster. Keppinger, a fan favorite in Cincinnati, was traded yesterday to the Houston Astro's.

For this photograph, anticipation played a key role in getting the shot. I set up along the first base line and focused on secondbase, once a runner was on first. Sure enough a few pitches later a 6 to 3 double play developed. This is one of my favorite Cincinnati Reds photographs. The only thing that would have enhanced the shot...fans in the stands. Since I have zero Photoshop skills, that was not possible. Picture takenwith a Nikon D200, 80-200 2.8 lens at 1/1600th of a second.

Cincinnati Reds Photograph. Cincinnati Sports Photographer, Vincent Rush