Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
Matt Moore wins his first playoff start
LHP Matt Moore of the Charlotte Stone Crabs at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland Florida, May 11, 2009 (Scott Jontes)
Rookie lefty Matt Moore of the Tampa Bay Rays won his first playoff start on Friday against the Texas Rangers. Moore went seven innings and only gave up two hits and allowed no runs. The Rays won the game 9-0 to take a 1-0 lead in the American League Division Series with the Rangers. When Moore was with the Charlotte Stone Crabs, the High-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, I had the chance to photograph him in Lakeland, Florida at Joker Marchant Stadium on May 11, 2009.
LHP Matt Moore of the Charlotte Stone Crabs at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland Florida, May 11, 2009 (Scott Jontes)
This was the only chance I had to photograph him in the Florida State League and I actually drove to Lakeland to get photos of him for the Florida State League top prospect card set. I submitted the other photos of him that I took that night to Four Seam Images, and Topps used three of the photos I took for their 2010 Pro Debut Card set. Not a bad outing for me that night but Matt definitely stole the show on Friday!
LHP Matt Moore of the Charlotte Stone Crabs at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland Florida, May 11, 2009 (Scott Jontes)
LHP Matt Moore of the Charlotte Stone Crabs at Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland Florida, May 11, 2009 (Scott Jontes)
Gear Used
Canon Mark 3
Canon 300 28L
Lowepro Classified 200
Scott
My Photos in the iPad issue of Sports Illustrated
My friend Tom Priddy sent me a few screen shots of my photos that are in this week’s iPad issue of Sports Illustrated. The photos are of Delino DeShields, Jr. in the Houston Astros farm system. I took the photos at a Gulf Coast League (Rookie Ball) game last year at the Astros Spring Training Facility in Kissimmee, FL.
Gear Used
Canon Mark 3
Canon 300mm 2.8L
Lowepro Classified 200
Scott
The Frozen Ball Trick
When you’re shooting baseball, don’t forget to try capturing some shots that are a little out of the box. When I’m covering a game, I mainly shoot stock photos for baseball card companies, but around the mid point in the season I mix it up to keep things fun. One of the shots I like to try is the frozen ball shot just to get a little different perspective on the game. This shot is easier to capture than a lot of people think and can also be taken from the stands if you can get seats behind the plate. You can try a few variations to the shot by including the batter, umpire, and catcher in the shot or just focus on the pitcher like I did.
What I like to do is take a few shots of the pitcher to get an idea of his release point and his throwing motion. I also try to watch for the ball’s flight through the frame to get the angle that I want. Then to get the actual shot, I pick a point between the mound and home plate and focus on that spot. Now switch to manual focus and time the pitches as they come into the frame for the shot. Remember to try and time the shot instead of relying on the frame rate of your camera to get the shot. My settings for this shot were f/2.8 @ 1/3200, shot with a canon 300 2.8L at ISO 320. I would try to stay at 1/3200 and above to ensure that the ball is sharp, but I think you could actually freeze the ball with a slightly slower shutter speed. In the photo below I enlarged the ball a little so you can see the detail of it more clearly.
If anyone has any questions on how I shot this please leave me a comment below and I will try to answer any questions that you may have.
Gear Used
Canon Mark 3
Canon 300 2.8L
Lowepro S&F Series
Scott
That Had to Hurt
That had to hurt!! That was my first thought when I looked at this photo on the back of my camera. I captured this shot a few night ago while I was shooting the Daytona Cubs and Charlotte Stone Crabs game. I just wanted to share one of those happy accidents that happens from time to time while shooting.
Gear Used
Canon Mark 3
Canon 300 2.8 L
Lowepro S&F Series
Scott
Knowing Your Subject
Michael Burgess of the Daytona Cubs (Scott Jontes)
I was recently asked as to how I was able to get this shot Michael Burgess of the Daytona Cubs hitting a home run during a recent game. To tell the truth I usually do not try to get shots like this because normally when you shoot these kind of shots you can not see the players face. To get a shot like this all you need to know is your subject and the sport that you are shooting. I try to pay attention to a players tendencies and I also pay attention to the situation in the game. The players all come of out of the batters box a certain way or like in the picture below the way they throw their bat. This can all lead to some pretty inserting shots.
Jae-Hoon Ha of the Daytona Cubs (Scott Jontes)
As I had also said, knowing the situation in the game helps a great deal when shooting. In the photo below I knew that their was going to be a play at the plate. One thing I paid attention to, as I assumed this was going to happen, was the third base coach waving the player home. I also paid attention that their was a runner in scoring position and that he would probably try to score if their was a base hit before the play had even started.
Mario Mercedes of the Daytona Cubs (Scott Jontes)
By having familiarity with the game, the sport and the people in it, I am able to capture action photos much easier when I am shooting. These are just a few things that I try to look for when I am shooting baseball and any other sport
Scott
Daytona Cubs All Stars Program Cover Shoot
All Stars L-R Matt Cerda, Evan Crawford, Michael Brenly, Justin Bour, Aaron Kurcz, Frank Batista
As the team photographer for the Daytona Cubs, one of my jobs is to photograph the covers for the programs that are given to all the fans as they enter the games. The cover shots are anything from action shots to planned photo shoots. For this particular cover the Daytona Cubs media director Robbie Aaron called me up and said that he wanted to do a cover that would highlight the six Daytona Cubs all stars. He asked if I had any ideas for the shoot and if we could shoot it that afternoon before the game. I talked over some ideas with one of my photographer friends and came up with the idea to do a relaxed shoot. The idea was to make it look like a self portrait by balancing the camera on the bat.
I knew that this shot would present a small challenge with making it look both appealing and also including six subjects in the shot. I decided to use sylights.com to help with the layout of the shoot. It is a great tool for laying out your photo shoots and coming up with new ideas before you even arrive on location. I ended up using a fisheye lens for the shot which may not be the ideal portrait lens, but I knew that it would give me the flexibility to shoot this shot plus give me the look I was trying to achieve. I had planned two other positions and poses but with one of the players being delayed for the shoot I had only time for a few shots before they had to be ready for the game. This happens a lot with shoots, where you may not have a s much time as you thought. That is why I like to try to use sites like sylights.com so that I already have a few ideas in mind and setups before I even arrive for the shoot.
Scott
Surf Sequence 2
Here is a another sequence that I shot on Saturday while capturing more surfing action. Once again If you click on the image it will display the full size sequence. Look forward to more of these in the future.
Scott
New Smyrna Beach Barracudas Vs Spruce Creek Hawks
Stephen Jackson (24) of the New Smyrna Beach Barracudas breaks the tackle of Terry McMillon (23) of the Spruce Creek Hawks. During the varsity football game at New Smyrna Beach Sports Complex in New Smyrna Beach on Friday, November 12, 2010. (Scott Jontes)
I got a call on last Friday to see if I could cover the Cudas and Hawks football game for the Daytona Beach News Journal. I told them that it would be no problem to do the game and I was given the assignment. The assignment asked for 4 action photos from the game and to get individual photos of 3 specific players. The deadline was 10:00 pm and the game was to start at 7:00, so I could only really shoot till about halftime then I would need to get my selects together, tag and caption them and get them sent in to be put into the system.
I got to the stadium a little early to try to get the individual players photos done and out of the way. I was able to get all 3 shots at that time and then once the game started I had to get the action photos to be sent in from the game. About halfway through the second quarter I was able to capture the photo above that was used on the front page of the sports section in the News Journal. It was also a good feeling to shoot at game at the same field that I had played football on myself. Even if it was a “few” years ago.
Scott
Work on a Friday?
I normally have off on Fridays but we set up a 3 day photo shoot so I had to “work” today. But when you get paid to do what you love is it really work? The above photo was one of the first from the day. The pilot is of Niklas Daniel who is awesome camera flyer and great canopy pilot. I was doing most of the ground shots for the day and most of those shots consisted of me laying on my back to and letting the guys swoop over me. The photo below shows how I set up for most of the shots today.
And this photo shows the end result.
I took a lot of photos today that I was happy with, and the guys in the air nailed some great photos and videos that are just incredible. I have a few more to share with everybody and then I need to get to bed, I have a full day ahead of me tomorrow.
And if you are curious exactly how close he is to me in the above shot. The photo below was the next frame…
Even with a 15mm fisheye that’s close.
Scott
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