How to Photograph a Baseball Game

Contributor

By Richard Burke
eHow Contributing Writer

Article Rating: (14 Ratings)

Shea Stadium

I have a really good friend that has an Uncle that has really good box seat tickets at Shea Stadium. One weekend we got the phone call asking, “Hey you guys, want to go see the Mets on Saturday?" Of course the answer was, "YES!" It was a perfect night for baseball, and of course, Shea Stadium is a real baseball park where they play outside and on grass. I always wonder what it smells like inside Minute Maid Park or Tropicana Stadium. In any case, there is no place like a Major League ballpark to see the diversity of the human race and something uniquely American. There are a lot of photographic challenges in trying to take pictures at the game. Don’t be disappointed if your shots don’t look like the ones in "Sports Illustrated"--however, if you are patient and persistent--you can get some really good pictures at the ball game. Here are some of my suggestions.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

A camera and telephoto lens
Tickets to the game
Patience

Step 1

Behind The Net

We were fortunate to have some of the best seats for watching the game, directly behind the batter. We obviously had a better view than the home plate umpire based on some of his calls. However, the seats were not good for taking pictures due to the net that protects the spectator from getting killed by foul balls. Sure you can take great action shots like this one, but the net interferes with the eye flow. I can’t think of any way to get rid of the screen other than a lot of critical airbrushing, which I still may try. Turn off your flash since you are too far away, even in good seats, for the flash to be effective. Adjust your ISO sensitivity to at least 1600. This will allow you to use a shutter speed of 1/200 of a second to freeze the action. You will not be allowed to take a tripod into the ball park, so there is really not an effective way to take blur motion shots.
Step 2

First Base Line

It is easy to walk around at the ball park. There are always a lot of people walking around since there is no intermission during a baseball game. Security personnel will not let you just stand around at the railings or behind the dugouts. Shea Stadium was the first ballpark built without poles obstructing the field of view, so you can get good pictures from anywhere. This image was taken with a 200mm lens from the first base side at the top of the section. The farther back you are sitting, the longer the lens you will need. At night games you will be shooting at relatively low light levels, so steady your hands on a railing to minimize camera shake and blur.
Step 3

Getting a Hit

It is an art to get a picture of the ball coming off the bat. The professional sports photographers make it look easy, but it is not. The best thing to do is to take a picture of every pitch. You can always throw away the bad ones. Try timing your shot clicking just as the pitcher releases the ball. This is the best one I got that night. You can see the ball right after it was hit.
Step 4

Mr. Met

Don’t forget to occasionally look away from the action. You may get a nice candid shot of people or someone catching a foul ball. If you are lucky, you might even get a shot of the team mascot. It doesn’t matter if it is Dancing Homer or Mr. Met, you will probably see some interesting fan interaction when they pop up.
Step 5

Americana

I had the chance to attend a game during the last days of Shea Stadium. It really is an historic venue. The Jets won the Super Bowl while playing at Shea, and it has played host to the Beatles and many other famous people in addition to being home of the New York Mets. Regardless of what ball park you visit, make sure you take some pictures of the unique features. The arches at Yankee Stadium, the Fenway Green Monster, and yes, the Home Run Apple at Shea Stadium are all worth a picture. Nobody yet knows if they will move the now decrepit Home Run Apple to the new Citi Field. It could wind up in some Americana Museum.
Step 6

High Five

Good photographs come from the uniqueness of the location. The ballpark itself is unique, but so is each location within the ballpark. I was thinking all night of how to use the stupid net that was saving my life to a photographic advantage. All I could think of was how to get RID of the net, and then during Murphy’s home run I figured out how to USE it. Any location can be used to a creative advantage.