Topic: Photo Critique & Suggestions - brutal honesty

[rabbit]

Is this the original, or did you crop down to zoom in on this part of the picture?  I'm guessing you weren't over the shoulder of the catcher and umpire, but I don't know. 

My questions...
1.  Who were you focusing on?  The batter, the ball, the catcher, or the pitcher? 

My suggestions...

1.  The angle that its taken from.  If its the pitcher, place the batter in the left or right side of the frame depending on L or R batter and then focus on the pitcher.  If its the batter, change the angle alltogether because it just doesn't seem to grab me thats who you were wanting to capture. 

2.  Get down!  For one, if you are on the inside of the fence and the ball pops off the bat at you, there is little time to react.  If you are lower, chances are if they get ahold of it, the ball will come off the bat and go up, not down.  If it goes down, it will hit the dirt and isn't going to break you or your camera.  Second reason to get down, like with shooting pics of kids, get down to their level.  Getting down low in sports you will shoot up into the helmets and hats.  It looks more natural. 

How do I improve on this one. I haven't been photographing very long.

1. That is the  original, exactly how I shot it. No photoshop there.
2. I was attempting to get a shot of the ball as it was hit. After hitting the ball, he just simply turned further than I expected.
3. I was actually outside the backstop and shooting thru the fence.