On Shooting Baseball – Or Any Sports Action…And THINKING, Even PLANNING…

David Hobby, aka The Strobist, recently did a guest blog post on Scott Kelby’s site.

In it, David talks about a game he and other sports shooters used to play, called First Frame.

The rules were simple: Two competing photographers shooting the same game shot the first frame of a 36-exposure roll of Tri-X at each other, thus verifying that no rolls of film were switched later. The very next frame was your entry in the game. Whoever had the best action shot (moment, composition, focus, etc.) won.

As David explains, “…it taught you to pre-think something as reactionary as shooting sports. Which, of course, is the secret to getting better sports photos. The better you were at predicting what was gonna happen next — and where — the better your sports photos were.”

He gave an example of doing this from when he covered the Baltimore Orioles, and shares an incredible shot he got of Ichiro Suzuki as a result of doing this.

If you love baseball, as I do, it is worth checking this post out, just to see this photo. I’m hoping to get some more chances to shoot baseball myself, and I will certainly try to think and plan ahead,

But I also want to apply this as best I can to my race shooting. It will be harder to plan ahead for a shot because racing is so unpredictable, but there are enough things to watch for – what line is a particular driver taking, who is driving over their head, who is entering the turns at the wrong angle.

I am going to make a conscious effort in each race to see what I can shoot on that first frame.

If you’re a shooter, do yourself a favor and read “Guest Blog Wednesday” featuring David Hobby – Extreme Photography: First Frame“