How to Photograph Baseball and Softball

[@bbolden36]

SO incredibly helpful and exactly what I was in search of! Very appreciative!

[@xMiiDNiTe]

this is my new favorite channel. super helpful for a beginning sports photographer

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thank you!

[@anthonyklam7549]

I have 200-500 lens and never used it. Matter fact i was thinking of selling it until I saw your video. My baseball pictures were sucked but not anymore, thanks to your video which help me improve and capture great pictures for the school. Thank you!

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thanks, glad I could help!

[@michaelgracephotography8308]

You have quickly become my favorite sports photography channel. Thank you for all the work. The tips, tricks and techniques have been tremendously helpful. Thank You

[@Brettsgrasscapades]

Super helpful! Just picked up a sigma 150-600 to shoot my daughters travel softball team and these tips are great!

[@TacoTeaser]

Great video. I’m new with baseball photography and have found that focusing is the biggest challenge. Your suggestions in this and other videos are helping a lot. Thank you and keep the videos coming.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thanks for watching!

[@russelltate6481]

Z9 with the 200-500 in crop mode from left, right, and center outfield over the top of the fence off of a step stool with monopod can get you ‘full frontals” of the batter, as well as action at all bases. Some minor cropping and run through DeNoise, or better yet now, PhotoAI , makes for a very useable photo.

[@danielverdugo9151]

Thank you. Great information.

[@JGZphotography]

Thanks, Jack, for the informative video, As a media photographer, I am more into the action captures like slides into a base and home run celebrations for story documentation. While MaxPreps has greater interest in the more portraiture styles that sell images to parents. Interesting, even credentialed media photogs often shoot from outside and through the cyclone fence, and telephoto lenses can see through transparently, except when sunlight reflects from the fence's mesh. Black nylon meshed netting behind the plate and wrapped to points along the first and third base line for more practical shooting. I learned a terrible lesson shooting inside the fence, when the softball third baseman cleated my leg going after a foul popup. I'm only in the field during warmups. Covid-19 still remains an issue, so I tend to stay out of dugouts whenever poasible, even though triple vaccinated and wearing an N95 medical mask when close to players. For daytime ball games, the Sigma 60-600mm 3.5 -6.3 is a favorite. For night baseball games, the Sigma 120-300mm 2.8 along with a second camera body with a 24-105mm 4.0 are my choices-zoom lenses are great for framing varying distance shots. High school ball fields are not as well lighted, so experimentation is a must to determine ISO and shutter speed shooting in manual. Most parents shoot in Auto mode, and those shots are variable in exposure consistancy. Everyone has their preferred style and methods-experimentation is your best teacher.

[@HOGG1Photography]

im a beginner shooter and wan to jump in some sport photos. i have a 55-200 but on my crop sensor, its 82mm-300. so far all the videos ive seen 300 seems to be good enough. i havent shot sports yet, but im gathering my skills. thanks for your break down

[@juleskarney4009]

Hi jack, just looked at your video. Lots of good information here. I am a Maxpreps guy too. I shot with a D4 200-500 5.6 and D500 80-400 4.5-5.6 vr. Good shooting.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thanks!

[@PhanchaiSiam555]

I want to visit next month my first baseball match ever in my life and want take some pictures. I study this video more than 3 times 😅😅. Thank you Jack for great informations. It will help me a lot. At the moment I dont know much about this game and I am unsure what will be a good camera position. I think I must shoot through the fence and they will not allow me as a foreigner to go somewhere else..... My Z9 and my Sigma 60-600mm is ready to shoot.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

I’d look around for spots, off the field, where you have an unobstructed view. I’d start over near first base. Good luck!

[@EdwardFPeters]

Thanks Jack, I think I will go the pre pay formula, here in spain, things go diferently.

[@ds-qr3dm]

Hey jack, love your videos, thank you for sharing your work and best advice! I'm a mom of 2 multi sport athletes, and struggle with the fences in baseball and softball. Most of the time I can get the frame where the majority of the gray haze is gone, but in those instances where I can't, can you please do a video on post for cutting out haze, or lines, or removing things like that? I'm new to editing and struggling to learn my way with Lightroom. Any help you have I sure would appreciate!!

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thanks for watching! I have to tell you, I avoid fences like the plague. In fact, with the company I do most of my sports photography for, we've been banned from shooting through fences because it is so difficult to remove that haze. Grey is bad, black is a little better, but green fences are the worst! I'll see what I can do about coming up with some tips.

[@jjmoyles]

Excellent vlog Jack, I shoot different sports here in the UK but what you say stands up in any sport, keep up the good work.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thank you, Sir!

[@angelicanavarrodominguez1466]

Thank you so much! i'm starting to work with my local team, and i felt so lost, this helped alot!

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thanks, I’m glad it helped!

[@rayberg1]

Hi Jack you make excellent videos. What is your choice of website to distribute the photos?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

It depends on what you are distributing them for. If you're trying to sell individual photos or even whole galleries, I use SmugMug. If I shot a game or even for someone, I have them download them all from Google Drive.

[@lour7753]

I shoot softball with my D850. I have the 200-500mm and 70-200mm, and rarely use the 200-500mm. I shoot Raw medium on the D850 and crop a little, and I’m happy.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Yeah, if you're next to the dugout, you're right on top of third or first base. I'm kind of an in-camera-crop-tight kind of guy so I like the longer reach. My struggle with softball as opposed to baseball is that the field is so much more compact, I have players getting in the way of my shots.

[@scottaspden7235]

What great shots... wow..

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thank you!

[@garyfournier3938]

Thanks Jack, great information!

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thank you!

[@HolmstromRules]

Another thing you can use to help with shooting through fences is a can of "fence-away" (AKA fast drying flat-black spray paint) on any obstructing part of the fence. "Fence-away" is used standard in auto racing photography for when the track hasn't cut photo holes in the fencing. If the fence is unpainted metal, the black paint will not really be noticeable. However, do NOT use this with fencing that is painted another color (such as green). One other tip for shooting through a fence, take off the lens shade and get the front element as close to the fence as you can as this will reduce the interference with the fence. Lastly, be sure to center the opening of the fence with the center of your lens.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

All good ideas, but I think the local high school might get pissed if I start painting their fence! 😀

[@HolmstromRules]

@@JackBeasleyMedia That's why it should only be applied to bare metal fence. It really is not noticeable. Bare metal fence looks "black" from any distance.

[@Jerseymikephoto]

Lots of good info. Thanks for the video.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thank you, Sir!

[@ThePauliver]

Great video! I used to photograph these types of sports all through my high school career. When you use your D5 with 200-500f5.6 I saw there was a monopod you had. Do you use a ball head or a gimbal? Also, which make/model do you use? I’m looking for a potential Manfrotto monopod that can hold my D4s and 200-500

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

I listed the monopod in the description. It’s actually an Amazon knockoff that I’ve been using for about a year with no issues. I don’t use any kind of gimbal or ball head.

[@creativecreativemediafgmed4449]

I enjoyed your video so much and thank you for taking the time to making it. I am trying to start with sports action photography, so far I’ve taken photos of my girls softball games and a lot of parents like how the photos came out, how do I start doing this legitimately, I saw you had a badge and an a polo shirt, I have ordered a customized vest, but how do I handle the logistics part of it, do I need approval from the league and so on..?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thanks for watching! As for your question, it sounds like you are already getting started. I don't know where you are or the legalities there, but in the USA, you can legally photograph anyone at any public event. Some clubs and leagues, however, may expect vendors (which you will be one) to have some sort of agreement with them. It may be as simple as talking to the person in charge, telling them who you are and what you are doing, and getting their permission (or at least acknowledgment).

[@creativecreativemediafgmed4449]

@@JackBeasleyMedia thank you for the advice. I’m assuming that you definitely would have to get the parents permissions to be able to post these photos as part of your portfolio if so, how do you go about doing that? I thought of creating small flyers and handing them out to the parents at the beginning of the game to let them know how to access the photos which would be to a website and with a pass code to be viewable that will ensure the safety of their kids and prevent any negative feedback.

[@creativecreativemediafgmed4449]

@@JackBeasleyMedia also if you don’t mind me asking how do you go about pricing for these events I figured I would charge between 50 to 60 per game and I also would like to provide printing services. What are your thoughts on this?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

You don’t need parental permission. You only need permission if you are selling the image to a third party. You can pass out cards, but a better way may be getting something like a bright yellow caddy vest with the words “EVENT PHOTOGRAPHY” on the front and back. It makes you look official and people will ask about how to get photos. Then, use your card idea.

[@creativecreativemediafgmed4449]

@@JackBeasleyMedia Jack… you are the man! Thanks for answering, and thanks for the tips

[@codith7456]

Jack, Tonight I shot my first soccer game for my nephew. I feel like some of my camera settings were off because the weather was perfect. I just couldnt tell what. Would you use single point focus or bump it up to maybe the 9 focus points? Also, on my d850, should I have the setting at at 1 for 1 or should i change that? Thank you for your informative videos

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

I’d use the group or 9 points focusing modes.

[@codith7456]

@@JackBeasleyMedia greatly appreciate the response. Quick follow up. When you’re usually shooting your sports, do you ever change your area mode or do you keep it the same. I think that’s my issues. What would you suggest, 36x24?

[@tylarsen3154]

Hey so I'm just getting start with photography and I was gifted a cannon eos 4000d, and I was wondering if doing sports photography is something thats it does okay in. Because from what I notice the shutter isnt very fast.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Honestly, it's not the best. It was Canon's budget DSLR when it came out. The frame rate is only 3 frames per second, which is OK to start, but it's hard to capture all the action. Also, the highest ISO that is native is 6400, which means it will struggle in dark gyms and at night. Having said all that, in daylight, with a good lens, you can still catch some good action.

[@tylarsen3154]

​@JackBeasleyMedia okay thank you I appreciate the feedback, as of right now I was planning on doing softball this spring, and I have a couple of lens my highest going up to 300mm so I should be able to do good as long as it's sunny right?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

@tylarsen3154 yes, I would think so.

[@alexg0742]

Good video jack.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thanks!

[@erik5024]

Haven't had a chance to shoot baseball/softball yet, so I ask myself: WWJBD?....and there's likely a video for that! I'm meeting up with another semi-local sports photographer this summer to shoot some youth softball and talk shop, so this is very helpful. Most of my questions were answered, but I couldn't make out what you said for daylight shutter speed. Something with a "3" in it. 1/3000th? Also, although I have some more-than-adequate gear, I don't have a super-telephoto zoom option. My 3 sports lenses are 24-70, 70-200 and a 400 (all 2.8). I sold my backup body (6D) so all I have is my primary (1Dx), but my goal is to have a backup body in the next few months (either a 7Dmk2 or another 1Dx). If you had to pick only one of my lenses for softball, which would it be? Thanks again!

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

I believe I said 1/3200 to stop the ball and bat. The 70-200 is fine, as long as you’re next to the dugout and shooting the infield action. Outfield, you’re looking at the 400.

[@erik5024]

@@JackBeasleyMedia Finally got a chance to try out this info, and very pleased. I shot three high school playoff baseball games, from overcast to mostly sunny. 1/3200 shutter speed worked great, and in sunlight, my auto ISO was at or below 500 for most of the shots. I found there is still a slight blur here and there (ball, bat end), but I'm perfectly OK with it. I ended up on the 3rd base line about 10-20' behind third base, and the 400 can get most of the action, except when shooting players near third base, where my 70-200mm came in handy. Ended up taking about 2k pictures the last game, and still missed some action because I was enjoying the action and forgot to actually take pictures. Got some celebration shots and such too, which I think are underrated. Next baseball season, I may invest in a folding work platform because sometimes the venue is completely fenced off, and shooting over a fence is the best option.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

@@erik5024 Sounds great, have fun!

[@bobdavies2075]

Awesome!

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thanks!

[@russelltate6481]

How many times have you been pegged with a foul tip or missed throw while inside the fence? I’m nervous just shooting off the corner of the dugouts outside the fence.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

I’ve only been hit once, in the head, and that was on a throw in from the field during between innings warmups. I was faced away from the field so didn’t see it coming. Other than that, I’ve had to duck out of the way several times.

[@mikethomas3498]

Good video, thanks. Having your camera on the backseat not wearing a seatbelt, what have you slam on your brakes. Bye-bye camera

[@EdwardFPeters]

Helllo Jack, good work. I work in Madrid, Spain, with youth soccer players, what is your selling strategy?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Thank you! The company I shot for in this video posts the galleries and maintains those galleries for years. They are well known in my area, so I am recognized when I show up for a game in branded gear. Then, when the gallery is posted, I hit all the social media - Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and tag as many of those schools' accounts as possible. I'm trying to push harder into the club sports, especially with school letting out and summer leagues starting up. There, it'll be direct customers paying me to shoot their kid's games.

[@forestworgum3629]

You say to use a 200-500mm, but what if you use a a crop sensor? I have a D500 do you still recommend the 200--500, or a 70-200, 300 prime?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Even standing in the dugout, I find myself shooting about 300mm at batters, 250mm for first / third base (the one closest to me), and 600mm (500 is all I can go, but I really need 600) for cross-infield action. Those are full-frame numbers. On your crop frame, the equivalents would be about 155mm on the low end, and 370mm on the high end (if my math is correct). So yeah, that 200-500 would be about perfect, with room to spare on the high end. I think you'd be shorting yourself with a 70-200 (although it's still a great overall lens). It would only be good for the close-in stuff. The 300 prime would also be good, but you'd have some cropping when shooting across the infield. Also, it would be too long for the short stuff (the base closest to you, for example).

[@garyyee7818]

Do you use Photo Mechanic to ingest, culling, cropping and captioning of your photos?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Yes!

[@louislopez6716]

what's that collar on the 200-500? does not appear to be the original.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

It's not, the original had issues. I can't remember the brand name and it's not stamped on the collar.

[@ronaldwise6563]

Great video, I’ve been shooting high school sports for 3 years. How can I become a sports photographer for Maxsports?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

check out this video! kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIXbqYWXiN-IgsU

[@Nobody2day553]

How's the background so blown out with a 5.6? I use a 100-300 5.6 and i can't get the background blown out, considered switching to a 70-200 2.8 just for that.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Are you talking about the thumbnail? Well, shooting at 500mm helps. Also, there’s a good 30 yards between the subject and the background, so some nice separation.

[@Nobody2day553]

@@JackBeasleyMedia maybe it's just the field size then. I'm shooting on high school fields and I get very little, if any blur in my background unless I'm using a shorter lens with 2.8.

[@kaylahorner88]

Do you have any opinions on the d750? I mostly do baseball and softball.. the county my son plays in the directors all know me so I'm allowed to get on the field and basically go where I want.. I currently use a d7500 with my kit lens 70-300mm and I love the images I get but I wanna go FF but budgets obviously will take some time to rebuild a whole FF lens kit like I've acquired for my crop over the past 6 years.. im worried I won't get the 'reach' I'm used to and I'll resort back to what I'm comfortable with and waste my money..

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Hi Kayla, thanks for watching. I used to own a D750 and I would say it's a step up from the D7500, but isn't a great sports camera. If you're photographic focus is sports, I would consider a used D4S (with the "s", not the D4) instead. A used D4S is just a little more than a D750 and is purpose built for sports - much better AF, frame rate, and low light performance. As for lenses, if you're shooting mostly during the daylight hours, good, relatively less expensive options are the Nikon 200-500/5.6, the Sigma 150-600, or the Tamron 150-600.

[@anthonyklam7549]

What software you used at the end for sharping the images?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Topaz Denoise

[@RedFiveTX]

Jack - How do you deal with sharp sunlight when you are shooting in the day time? I have been shooting softball for several years and my biggest challenge is the sharp shadows and bright lights when part of the players face is in the sun and part of it is not. I noticed that the softball photo that you edited in the video was fortunate to have the player facing the sun, so those issues were not present. I would greatly appreciate your feedback.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

In Lightroom I usually mask the subject, or even just their face, and raise the shadows. You can’t go too much with that or it will start to look unnatural. If they’re backlit, you can lower highlights and whites, raise shadows, and give it a dose of dehaze.

[@juleskarney4009]

Jack would you recommend I use the D4 with the 200-500 instead of the D500 for the extra reach. How much extra reach would I expect from using the D500 to D4?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

If my math is correct, using the D500, you'll get the equivalent of a 258-645mm on that 200-500mm, so I'd certainly give that a try for baseball and other daytime field sports. Here's a link to a comparison between the sensors of the D4 and D500. www.digicamdb.com/compare/nikon_d500-vs-nikon_d4/

[@juleskarney4009]

@@JackBeasleyMedia Thanks Jack appreciate the info.

[@3-piece129]

Is it better to shoot landscape or portrait? I tend to post to Instagram and find that i shoot in portrait style more.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

I shoot based on the best cropping for the image. For baseball, I shoot a variety of both landscape and portrait depending on what I'm trying to capture. Instagram will post images in 4x5 no matter what direction they are in.

[@benberman4656]

Hey there. Most of the minor league games this summer are at 6:30pm. Im looking at getting a lens for my sony a7iii. 200-600 f5.6-6.3 is that going to work for night games or go more expensive like a 100-400 f4.5-5.6? Thanks!

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

I’m going to be honest. Unless that field is VERY well lit, both of those lenses are going to force you into very high ISOs. If I had to choose, it would be the 100-400.

[@benberman4656]

@@JackBeasleyMedia Sony makes a 70-200 2.8 would that be better to go with for baseball? I think for telephoto the 100-400 is the only other option on the sony lineup with decent fstop. Thank you for answering so quickly!

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

200 is pretty short for baseball. Even if standing in/near the dugout, you’ll have to do huge crops for anything other than actions at the base closest to you. For me, 300 is the minimum for baseball. There’s times I wished I had more reach on my 200-500.

[@benberman4656]

@@JackBeasleyMedia thanks again for the awesome responses. I saw someone using the 200-600 and then topaz if the noise was really bad.

[@CaptChaos1960]

Hi, sorry I didn't catch the shutter speed you use for baseball 🇬🇧

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

In good, daylight conditions, I shoot at 1/3200 or a little higher to stop the ball and bat swing. Even at that speed, you still get a little motion blur on a crossing pitch.

[@CaptChaos1960]

@@JackBeasleyMedia thanks, I was in the same ballpark 😉 need to try my 200-500 rather than 70-200 f2.8 at next softball game. Might try culling in Adobe Bridge as I already have it and flag good images. Keep up the great work ⚾

[@joseph1172]

I'm a graphic designer and I make media passes and credentials.. it works all the time.. most ppl don't actually verify them anyways

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Oh man, you’re going to set off a fire storm with that. Some people freak when they hear people are making their own passes.

[@aysolar]

Thanks Jack - Great video - Do you ever have parents come up to you and ask where they can see your photos? Do you ever make a point to ask them which player they are here to see and then do you focus on that player a little more?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

I'm recognized as a MaxPreps photographer all the time. I regularly have parents say something to me about getting pics of their kids, but here's an interesting observation - I can count on one hand the number of times I've actually sold photos of a player after their parent said something to me about getting photos of them. 9/10 times, those kid's photos go unsold. The running commentary among MP shooters is that it's the parents who don't say anything to you that buy the most photos.

[@Bushcraft242]

As a photographer sports 🏈 manual shutter

[@shawncola123]

The only thing I don’t understand is why you chose to work with the jpgs instead of raw? Even if you aren’t doing dramatic exposure changes, you still have and keep the most control and detail with raw. Then you could just export as jpg? You could also get rid of that yellow color cast pretty easy with raw

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

As I believe I said in the video, I shot both RAW and JPEG and choose to go with the JPEG to save time because I didn't see any exposure issues. When you're plowing through close to 1000 photos, it helps to move things along. As for the yellow cast - you mean the colors of the setting sun? Maybe it's a personal tasted thing, but I like the golden hour look.

[@shawncola123]

@@JackBeasleyMedia I’m sorry, but that doesn’t make sense. You can filter through those photos just as fast with the raws. I guess when you’re mass exporting, it’s quicker for those jpgs but, exporting raw as Jpg doesn’t take much more time in my experience. And yes, the yellow cast is probably from some settings. I like It too, I just didn’t know it was intensional.

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

@@shawncola123 i hadn't intended to get into to a whole RAW vs JPEG debate. I've talked about it a couple times in other videos - including one I did recently where I said I liked the new version of Topaz Denoise with RAW files and I planned to be using it more.

[@SolelyElectric]

5:23 what ?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

1/3200 sec

[@raymondnanko7008]

Had a hard time hearing your settings. What was your shutter speed for baseball? 1/3000??

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

1/3200 or higher to stop the ball and bat movement.

[@thepauldineen]

Two things: 1. You mentioned that these would go into a maxpreps gallery which which would be promoted to the schools. Who's doing that promoting, maxpreps and/or you? I've been using maxpreps for about 3 years and am on it daily now (for sports reporting in different forms). I'm interested in shooting for maxpreps. I've certainly seen photos there, but have not noticed promotion beyond that by maxpreps. 2. Do you bring rosters to the games and use those as checklists to try to get broad coverage of the participants? Further, do you note (at least the starting) lineups as a further aid for coverage?

[@JackBeasleyMedia]

Hi Paul, here are my answers: 1. I am responsible for pushing the photos. I do it mostly through social media and interaction with members of the athletic departments and their boosters. Having said that, MaxPreps works with the local athletic associations and is well known by coaches, players, and parents in my area. When we show up, they know who we are. 2. MaxPreps encourages coaches to upload their rosters to the website, so I generally don't need one. Varsity coaches nearly always upload, junior varsity and frosh/soph coaches don't always do so. I can request to upload the roster myself if need be. It's important to tag photos with players' names whenever possible, so they can look for their own photos. I cover LOTS of schools, so no, I don't track all the starting lineups for all the sports I cover.

[@Mental_health_first]

I don’t have media access, however, I am a school employee

[@jaredcross3030]

My daughter is playing her first year of softball and the cellphone pictures aren't cutting it. Time to repurpose some of this astrophotography gear. 😅 Thanks for the info!