Play Ball: My Experience in Baseball Photography
Baseball was what jump-started my photography career. My curiosity for photos of the game actively started n 1993, when my interest for the game was actually sparked. I started collecting photographs that came out in newspapers and magazines, and glued them to a notebook —I didn’t know at the time that we call those “scrapbook”. Also, a lot of my school snack money was preserved to my crusade of invading houses where old books, magazines and baseball cards were sold.
At the time, all you could get was from politically controlled publications. The Cuban Communist Party’s Granma would come out every day sauf Sundays; the Young Communist League’s Juventud Rebelde was only available to that neighbor on the big Sunday edition; Trabajadores, the Cuban Workers’ Federation paper would come out on Mondays; ¡AHORA!, the local newspaper for which I would end up working later on, came out only on Saturdays. Other outlets, with less frequency and more difficulty to acquire, would include magazines like Bohemia and Somos Jóvenes (although baseball would rarely be present in the latter). Older publications, which were no longer available in Cuba when I started my baseball photos crusade, included more sports-oriented magazines like LPV (Listos Para Vencer) and El Deporte. The economic crisis prompted by the collapse of the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe also caused paper scarcity, which led to many publications decrease their frequency or disappear altogether. I would end up getting my hands on some of those by visiting used bookstores, mainly in private homes.
I still remember some of the names of photographers that caught my eye at the time: Juan Moreno, Ricardo Lopez—whose son, Ricardo Lopez Hevia is also a photographer whom I have met—Luis Toca, Ernesto Mastracusa, Elder Leyva and Edgard Batista. The two latter would later be coworkers of mine.
The Explosion of Curiosity
By 1995, my baseball craze was so big that my father ended up getting me to MLB magazines at five dollars apiece. That price was EXTREMELY expensive in Cuba, mainly in the mid-1990s, when the economic crisis was still at its peak. One of them was The Sporting News baseball yearbook, which featured Frank Thomas on the cover, and which was perhaps what triggered my interest in baseball photography the most. Inside, there were photos of great professionals of the lens, the most predominant being John Williamson, Tom DiPace and Michael Ponzini.
It is important to note that this magazine was 100% the inspiration behind the creation of Universo Béisbol, the independent online magazine that would open many doors for me in the future, including many baseball photography opportunities.
My fascination with baseball led me to collect baseball trading cards—even writing an article about that on my Universo Béisbol website, as I grew more and more curious about baseball photos.
Even though I had harbored curiosity for street and documentary photography before thanks to National Geographic, it was when I took a point and shoot camera to Estadio Calixto Garcia for Periódico ¡AHORA! when I felt like a “real” photographer for the first time. Baseball had been my passion for a long time, and baseball photography had with no question been a motivation as well.
My First Baseball Photos
Wielding my Samsung KENOX S760, I ventured onto the stands of Estadio Calixto García in my native Holguín. It was November 8, 2010, and Holguín was playing its regular season home opener of the National Series against Santiago de Cuba. Even with a point-and-shoot camera, I managed to capture a couple of really well timed and decently composed images.
My favorite one was Santiago de Cuba’s first sacker Pedro Poll making contact with the ball to hit what would be his only homerun of that season. That photo was my favorite baseball photo for years, even after I improved my gear. It was a moment of luck, more than anything, taking into account what I was using.
Santiago de Cuba’s first baseman Pedro Poll launches a homerun against Holguín.|Credit: Reynaldo Cruz Diaz
Although my knowledge of photography was limited at the time, I knew the game, and I had seen enough baseball photos in the past to be able to recognize a nice angle or a good moment to press the shutter. Also, my baseball knowledge helped me anticipate plays where they could potentially happen, so I was a little ready for them.
Little by little, I started getting better, thanks to having upgraded to a bridge camera. I used two different Fujifilm FinePix of the S series: first the S1500 and then the S4200. For day games, they were both fantastic, but when I could shoot night games, I didn’t get the results I was hoping for. In that case. I was very much affected by the poor lighting of ballparks in Cuba, making me push the ISO to the highest possible standard without bringing noise, and having a shutter speed of less than 1/100 seconds.
For certain images, the results were “okay”, but when a lot of action was involved, the motion blur was a constant nuisance. It was after I got access to my first DSLR (a gift from Teófilo Villa Toledo, precisely because of baseball) that I was able to make a slight improvement on my captures. Yet, the lack of a powerful lens still limited my capabilities. I would not learn about how much it did until 2016.
Gear Improvement and Honing My Craft
The upgrade to the Canon EOS system was indeed coupled with me meeting AP photographer Kathy Willens. Willens, who would later become the closest person I have ever had to a mentor, met me in a baseball game in Holguín, while I was still wielding the Fujifilm FinePix S4200. A seasoned photographer, with a long experience covering sports, she was forgiving of my initial photos because she knew the gear I had.
I have already written about my experience with her and how much I owe her. Yet, her first true lessons for me in terms of composition, framing and timing were meant for capturing baseball photos.
Of course, having the possibility of shooting three frames per second, as opposed to my previous one-shot experiences was a major advantage that I found myself having for the first time. Even with that improvement (many of my peers had cameras that shot seven frames per second and higher), I struggled to capture what I wanted. For those who call baseball a slow and boring game, they must know that a lot can happen in a second, and it might not be caught on camera.
Another aspect that improved was being able to bring up my ISO without causing noise which enabled me to shoot at a much faster shutter speed. Therefore, freezing the moment became a much higher possibility than ever before with any of the other cameras I had owned.
I also started learning about the power of positioning: how high, low, near, far, left or right we were to the subjects had a direct influence on the outcome. Many times —due to local restrictions— I could not get to the position I wanted to be at, and the quality of my images suffered the consequences.
Learning from the Best
Kathy Willens was without question my biggest mentor, but she was not the only one. Jean Fruth, whom I met through her indirectly, provided a whole new view of baseball photography for me.
Kathy opened a series of new doors for me, enabling me to access several opportunities, all of which I have mentioned in the past. Working alongside her and a bunch other photographers in Yankee Stadium was perhaps the best hands-on experience for me as a baseball photographer.
Jean, on the other hand, joined Kathy in providing critique for my work, and several times helping me choose the best options for different types of baseball series. The pinnacle of her help for me took place early in 2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, when she vouched for me to be a free student in a masterclass organized by Summit Workshops.
The class, which was going to be led essentially by Jean herself and Steve Fine, director of photography for Sports Illustrated. Despite the internet restrictions in Cuba, I was able to attend virtually, and I got to meet some young and talented photographers online.
Seeing the work of those photographers online has also taught me things. In photography, you never cease to learn, and the more willing you are to understand that and the more open you are to criticism and advice, the better you will get.
I was even provided critique on some of my work, and Steve Fine did a great job explaining why this photo was not good and why this one was great. One of the phrases that stuck with me during the workshop with Summit was that “Photographers are not good editors of their own work.” So, I also learned that sometimes you have to let other professionals look at your work to make sure you end up making the right decision.
Short To-do List
Throughout my experience, and mainly thanks to having worked alongside great photographers and having learned from others, there is a small list of things that I do while covering a baseball game:
Check batteries and SD Cards. This applies to every shoot involving more than an hour of work. It is important that your batteries are all fully charged and that you have enough space in your storage devices to be able to take as many photos as possible. Baseball games involve a lot of moments of fast action, so there will likely be ten-frame or twenty-frame bursts on occasion.
Plan in advance: Every shoot that you have to do takes planning. Doing it in advance will ensure that you prepare everything for your shoot and do pre-adjustments depending on the circumstances. Those include time of day, lighting, position and even the weather,
Be there early. It is of paramount importance that if you are going to photograph a baseball game you should be there at least an hour before the first pitch. It is important to collect all the information that will help you do your job better. It will also help you shoot some behind-the-scenes photos, including warmups and batting practice, or capture players in a more relaxed demeanor or interacting with the fans. Making it to the game early will also give you the possibility of scouting and choosing the most adequate location for your photos.
Know the game: You definitely need to know the game of baseball. Photography techniques alone will get you through some, but knowing baseball will get you way farther.
Be informed: Knowing only about the sport is not good enough. You need to know what is happening around it, what players are playing that day, who is benched and why, so you can shoot emotional portraits of them. You need to know who is playing their last game, who is making a debut, who is injured, who is suspended.
Know your gear: It is important that you know what gear (mainly lenses) you have to work with so you get your location established and can plan in advance.
Draft your story in advance: One of the most important things to do as a baseball photographer is to take into account many of the instructions on this list. It is important to realize that as a baseball photographer, you need to be a storyteller. Telling the story is
Be there early: This applies to every shoot. With the experience working in Major League Baseball and Minor League Baseball, I have learned that every game provides a series of information to the media. From starting line-up to substitutes (including the numbers of the players and whether they are right-handed or left-handed), you get every bit of information that you need in order to promptly prepare for the shoot.
Do BTS: It is important that you realize that sports, performances and everything that involves an audience includes a lot of preparation. It is important, both as a live performance photographer and as a sports photographer, to realize that rehearsals and warmups are just as important to photograph as the action itself.
Find your spot: Unless you are on a specific assignment to capture angles of a specific player, the best location for baseball photos is ground level. To be more specific, you want to be past the third-base dugout or the first-base dugout, and as low as possible. However, those are not the only locations, as you can also angle yourself closer to behind home plate so you can capture photos of the pitcher’s delivery. If you would like roving, you can use the whole ballpark, including different angles and distances. You always need to consider what lens you are working with, but if you are doing sports only zoom lenses are recommended.
Shoot. shoot, and shoot: One of my biggest lessons when it comes to sports photography, mainly baseball, is that you need to be ready to shoot all the time. Those people who think baseball is a slow and boring game should try to capture the release of a pitcher or a batter making contact with the ball. I have captured both (not as nicely as I wanted to) and I understand that there is more to it than just pressing the shutter.
Capture details and emotion. Details are also crucial for baseball photos. A baseball bag signaling a commemorative moment or event, a scuffed baseball sitting on the dirt, the hands of a player getting ready to take the plate, a glove on top of the benches in the dugout, a hat. Everything that can be detailed is photographable in a baseball game, and it not only helps with your story, but also provides generic stock photos that you can use in other situations. Also, emotions like frustration, celebration, sadness or despair can help you with your storytelling.
Capture sense of place. I learned this during the Summit Workshop in 2021. For some time, I liked to see photos that gave you a hint of where the game was taking place, but I had no idea that it was something professional baseball photographers focused on while taking the pictures. There are certain landmarks of billboards that will definitely tell you where the game is taking place. An old classic car in the background—even though cars in the background are not welcome for sports photos—can say “Cuba” automatically, the Green Monster screams “Boston”, the waterfall past centerfield will shout “Anaheim”, the black dirt with no diamond will read “Hanshin”, and so on,
Use a fast shutter speed. For some time, I focused on shutter priority while photographing baseball games. Then, I toggled between fully manual and aperture priority, mainly because my lenses did not have a fixed aperture. Yet, with a much better camera that allows me to use high ISO today, I can bring it up and focus on a higher shutter speed. It is important to remember that baseball is an extremely fast-paced game when there is action, as a fastball can sail sometimes over 100 miles per hour off the pitcher’s hand and over 110 miles per hour off the bat. A fast shutter speed is, in this case, imperative. Don’t be bothered by a little bit of noise/grain in your photo, and use a high ISO.
Mind the audience: Just as you have to do with live performance photography, the audience in sports (also in baseball) plays a pivotal role both in player performance and in photos to be taken in the game. Shooting opposite the players is always going to be a smart decision.
Try to include the ball. The biggest sign of action in a baseball photograph is the presence of the baseball itself, mainly if it is midair, being released by the pitcher or in full interaction with the bat (about to make contact, during impact or afterwards).
Anticipate where and when the action will be. Knowing the game of baseball will allow you to get ready for certain plays. It is known that with runners in scoring position, when ball gets hit to the outfield, you need to look at the plate; if you have a player who has the propensity to steal, you need to be able to focus on the second base bag; and so on. Knowing the characteristics of the game and the specific situation at that moment is imperative to be able to capture great action pictures.
Expect the unexpected. In baseball, out of all sports, there is a chance you see something you have never seen before, after thousands of games and thousands of hours watching it, either on TV or in person. There is always a chance that something really unexpected happens. As a photographer, you have to know that: be proactive and think fast.
Go close (tight) or far (loose). Sometimes it is good to close up on something or to go all wide. Certain images don’t work when the distance is intermediate. They provide neither great detail nor a wide range of elements. Sometimes it is better to include great parts of the stands to show that the game was crowded.
Avoid signs of propaganda and advertisement. This one is currently almost impossible to accomplish, as most professional baseball stadiums have a lot of advertising on the walls. That makes it a virtual chimera to be able to obtain clean propaganda-free photos of athletes. That is where the angle comes into play, so creativity will be at the most,
Never discard the power of luck. Baseball is such a fast sport when there is action that it is very easy to miss “the shot” all the time. However, you continue to shoot all the time and there is a chance that you may be lucky and capture that “wow” moment that everyone wishes to photograph while on any assignment. When it comes to photography, most of the times the lucky ones are those who are really good at it.
Learn from others. The best way to go about learning how to photograph a baseball game is to look at the work of others. Perhaps that’s why I felt so inspired by baseball photography back in the mid-1990s. Having that copy of The Sporting News changed my life in ways that I find very hard to explain. Seeing the work of others is an inspiration to both emulate them or be different.
Final Thoughts
Today, I am still doing more documentary photography than sports photography. At the time of me writing this post, I am looking for new avenues to get into baseball photography more, one of them being the possibility of shooting at the school where I teach.
Softball has been also available to me, thanks to the Los Amigos Softball League, an amateur league in Hartford, CT, which features former professional, semiprofessional and amateur baseball players of Latino descent. I was able to shoot in the final play off of both 2022 and 2023.
The presence of the Hartford Yard Goats (the Colorado Rockies AA affiliate) is also something I intend to take more advantage of. A working cooperation with them has opened the door for me to do it with better access and in a more habitual way once the regular season is underway.
However, I still believe there is way too much to learn. Sports photography is not baseball alone, and I am yet to learn A LOT from the game.
Trying to get better every day is my number one goal in this field.
