The Baseball Pitcher

[Benji]

From yesterday.

Benji

[zona5101]

Fantastic work. really outstanding. if i were mom or dad I'd want this big and on nice textured canvas. very cool.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by zona5101

Fantastic work. really outstanding. if i were mom or dad I'd want this big and on nice textured canvas. very cool.

I did a similar image a couple of years ago and they saw it and asked me to do it again, so I did. I think they are going to like it.

Benji

[gazsus]

Great idea and great shot.

[i speak in math]

Looks nice. They will love it. I assume the ball is a PP effect? Its not obvious in the full size version, but in the thumbnail you can see some bad vignetting. Middle looks white but goes to gray in the corners.

[gazsus]

Originally Posted by i speak in math

Looks nice. They will love it. I assume the ball is a PP effect? Its not obvious in the full size version, but in the thumbnail you can see some bad vignetting. Middle looks white but goes to gray in the corners.

I thought that was deliberate

[Benji]

Originally Posted by gazsus

I thought that was deliberate

It was!

Benji

[sinque]

This is so beautiful! How did you capture this.
The lighting looks so soft and sharp.
What camera & lense did you use.
Thanks for showing us.

Karolyn

[Sterling]

Great shot Benji! Since this is the techniques section how about a little info on how you did it.

[Benji]

Originally Posted by sinque

This is so beautiful! How did you capture this.
The lighting looks so soft and sharp.
What camera & lense did you use.
Thanks for showing us. Karolyn

Great shot Benji! Since this is the techniques section how about a little info on how you did it. Sterling.

Karolyn and Sterling,

As is true for most of my images I stole, 'er I mean "borrowed" this idea from someone else. :-) I'm not smart enough to dream up these great poses myself. Anyway, I shoot about 99% of my in studio shots the exact same way. I figure if it ain't broken don't fix it. Fill light was behind and above the camera, main light off to one side (a 24 x 36 softbox) feathered toward the front of the subject. When the light is feathered the hottest part of the light misses the subject and strikes the area where the hot spot is aimed. So since there will be a shadow in front of the subject, and it will not look real good if it is too dark, the hot unfeathered part of the light is directed in front of the subject to raise the amount of light right where the shadows will be thereby making them lighter and less noticable. A softbox can give you real soft light if you move it in close (and decrease the power) or it can be more specular (but not overly so) by moving it a little further out and away from the subject (and turning the power up.) I use a softbox about 99% of the time in the studio.

Since I needed the illusion that he had tossed the ball up in the air toward the camera, I needed some space for him to "toss" it so got up on the third rung of a stepladder above and in front of him and shot down at him with a wide angle lens. I asked him to act like he was tossing a baseball at me, but his hand was empty. I made the capture and then made a capture of the ball alone in the exact same light. I then put a spin on the ball in Photoshop and added it to the original image. I didn't like his spread apart legs so I vignetted the edges by matching the color (light blue) from the shadow in front of him so it appears he was in the center of a soft spotlight. The background is my white curved wall to floor (a cyclorama.) the beauty of a cyclorama is there is no horizon behind the subject. The background lights overexposed the background by 1 and 2/3rds stops.

Benji