The Many Faces of Claudia (image heavy!)

[480sparky]

Claudia is the 9.99726-year-old granddaughter of my next door neighbor. This year (she will be 10 tomorrow!) she decided to follow her mother's footsteps and start playing softball. This afternoon was their first game. Naturally, I was invited to take some photos.

To give you a little heads-up, Claudia is an exceedingly expressive girl. She also can ham it up when she knows a camera is aimed her way.

Now that you've been warned, here's the 'keepers' from this afternoon's game:

Warming up:

First at-bat, hit the first pitch and made it safe to first:

Playing center field:

Playing second base:

Needs a little work on her stance:

Playing second base:

Playing center field:

Made contact on the second time at bat:

Third at-bat:

Safe at first again:

Did I hit it?!?!?!

Got hit in the back with the ball thrown by the pitcher, running to first:

That's the way to play!...CONCENTRATE!:

On way to first base again!

Caught a bit of it..... and it bounced back up a fair ball!

And, of course, sometimes she has a hard time paying attention, especially playing defense (here in center field).

She now has a new nickname: Cla-la-la-laudi.


Comments welcome!

 

[oldhippy]

Nice job Sparky. Bet she was happy these. Ed

 

[Rick50]

I'm thinking she enjoyed the day. Good job!

 

[The_Traveler]

Having titles rather than numbers makes it difficult to refer to shots.

A series of pictures, just like a speech, needs structure, a consistent sense of progress and each part of it must serve a unique purpose.
The order of these might be chronological but thus they have no intrinsic story for the viewer to hold onto.
Several of these are essentially repeats with minor variation.
The first two are static shots and only text tells the viewer what is going on - and the color in general is flat and the skin deadly dull.
In a couple of the shots, parts are chopped off.
Some of the shots are essentially duplicates.

Putting up mediocre shots only drags down the quality on the average.
Post fewer and the better images.

 

[BrickHouse]

She should love these! You caught some great moments. Now, she can look and see what everyone else sees and what her coaches have been trying to tell her (keep that elbow up, aim for the top half of the ball, see, this is why...etc). She'll probably learn a lot from looking at these.

 

[480sparky]

.....The order of these might be chronological but thus they have no intrinsic story for the viewer to hold onto.......

And they're not?

.....and the color in general is flat.......

Next time, I'll tell God to turn the sun on.

.....In a couple of the shots, parts are chopped off..........

If you like, I can post the entire image so you can complain that there's another player / coach / official / light pole / fence post in the frame.

 

[MSnowy]

Nice set over all. Some of them are cropped a little to tight.

 

[480sparky]

...... Some of them are cropped a little to tight.

That's the point.

 

[MSnowy]

...... Some of them are cropped a little to tight.

That's the point.

Perfect!

 

[DarkShadow]

Some are cropped to tight and cut off some body parts and others are nicely captured in the frame. think the color and contrast is good and nice focus on all of them and since I know sports very well,I pretty much could figure out whats going on with words but commentary is always fun.I know how hard it is for fast moving birds,so I can only imagine getting focus,getting body's parts and the bat and glove got to be a challenge when someone is hauling down the base line.Glad to not see a a mysterious foot of a sneaker or a refs big head in the shot.

 

[snerd]

Girlz Rule!

 

[The_Traveler]

.....The order of these might be chronological but thus they have no intrinsic story for the viewer to hold onto.......

And they're not?

No, they aren't

.....and the color in general is flat.......

Next time, I'll tell God to turn the sun on.

Post-processing fixes when Nature isn't adequate

.....In a couple of the shots, parts are chopped off..........

If you like, I can post the entire image so you can complain that there's another player / coach / official / light pole / fence post in the frame.

Don't post if you can't take honest, reasonable critique.

 

[480sparky]

No, they aren't

And you know this.......... how? Oh, you looked at the exif? So in other words, you went out of your way to find fault. What's next? "Why didn't you use a D800 instead of a D600?"? "Why didn't you use the 70-200/2.8 instead of the 70-300?"?

Post-processing fixes when Nature isn't adequate

And might be considered a crutch as well.

Don't post if you can't take honest, reasonable critique.

Reasonable? Perhaps you could recommend solutions along with your 'reasonable' critique then.


Here's the point: I wasn't shooting for the cover of SI. I was shooting a 10-year in a softball game. The ULTIMATE USE of the images is for Mom and Gramma. That's the bar they are to meet.

 

[dennybeall]

I like the pictures and the series. Timing for the captures was right on for all but 1 or 2. Some of them in my personal opinion ( personal opinion not fact!) could use a tad less cropping bt they are still good.

 

[MSnowy]

I really think you did a nice job getting some pictures of Claudia for her mom and Gramma. I think they might have been better received in the General Gallery. As far as posting in this gallery the pictures are in need of some improvements in timing and composition.