Washington Post Photog Explains How He Got Amazing Photo

[sanyasi]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

He didn't capture the baseball pitcher with Leica gear, but you may be interested in the following description of how the photographer captured the image.

 

washingtonpost.com

 

Notable is the very fact that enough people wrote in asking about how the photographer achieved the result to spark an article.

[luigi bertolotti]

The photo is absolutely great, but I confess that the explanation is not completely convincing me... the stunning effect on public, imho, has something to do with zooming while shooting... while the athlete's body is consistent with the photographer's explanation (briefly, "long" time + panning) : to be clear, I hint a well done PP... nothing bad in itself, and a pro has the right to keep hidden some detail of his tecnique.

[sanyasi]

I agree. There are two focal points in picture: the pitcher's face and toward the left the spiral of the crowd. Given the rotation of the zoom, I fully understand the zoomed crowd on the left, but I don't understand why that didn't affect the pitcher's face. It may be just dumb luck of the how the optics came together--still a great photo, or it could be a little photoshop. My wife wondered whether the left side might have been cropped.

 

Anyway, wish I had taken it.

[kdemas]

That is definitely a zoom effect at work, not rotational. With the 200-400mm I'm still trying to figure out the two planes of focus. I think some heavy PP might be at work as hinted above.

[kdemas]

PS- I am referring specifically to the crowd effect BTW

[d2mini]

I'm guessing the pitcher is moving forward at close to the same speed of the zoom (also guess he meant "rotating the zoom ring", not the whole camera) and it was total luck that the head matched up with the speed of the zoom perfectly.

[01af]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Stephen Strasburg himself obvious has no clue how he did it.

 

He zoomed and panned at the same time during the longish exposure. This creates a center of zooming which is not at the frame's center. Furthermore the panning movement was in perfect sync with the pitcher's head's motion so his face is sharp even though it's not located at the zooming center. The panning was not in sync with the pitcher's hands and feet so those are bblurred.

[zlatkob]

Cool photo!

[jose]

I see three factors: the zooming, the panning, and the VR effect: the image stabilization. The Nikkor 200-400 is an VR lens, and it seems it's activated.

 

saludos,

jose.

[Redridge]

I dont see any panning there.... only zooming. The motion blur wouldnt converge on a focus point like that when panning. The pitcher seems to be floating on air (not touching the mound). A pitcher will always have one foot on the ground. I suspect PP....

[KM-25]

It's a clean shot, no funny PP, I sometimes do this a for ski industry ad clients....but there is no way in heck I would do this on an editorial assignment, it is too much manipulation and frankly, kind of cliche and hokey at this point.

 

I am really surprised the Post even ran this...

[pico]

The picture is a cliche, but an well executed cliche.

 

Does anyone remember the slit-camera 1962 Olympic photos done by George Silk? That was stunning stuff. IMHO. And his diving pictures of Kathy Flicker.

[01af]

I don't see any panning there ... only zooming.

Just open your eyes, then you'll see it.

 

 

The motion blur wouldn't converge on a focus point like that when panning.

The motion blur wouldn't converge on a focus point like that when only panning. But it does when panning and zooming simultaneously. When zooming only, no panning, then the center of the motion blur (or zoom blur, to be precise) would appear at the frame's center. Go out and try it for yourself if you are unable to wrap your head around this. Try panning, try zooming, and try zooming and panning.

 

 

I suspect PP ...

No post-processing required here.

[twittle]

Stephen Strasburg himself obvious has no clue how he did it.

 

That's because Mr. Strasburg is the subject, not the photographer.

[AlanG]

That seems to be the result of combining two images. I can't see any other way.

[ohnri]

This shot is from a Zoom only, then a crop. Not too difficult really. With careful positioning and some trial and error he was able to get this effect where the pitcher's head appears pretty sharp.

 

You can see where the crop was because the center of the zoom is the center of the uncropped shot.

 

No PP needed, except the crop.

 

No two images either, just good technique.

 

And no panning.

 

Best,

 

Bill

[01af]

That's because Mr. Strasburg is the subject, not the photographer.

Oops! You're right. The photographer was Jonathan Newton. So Newton obviously has no clue how he actually did it ... or he doesn't want to tell.

 

 

That seems to be the result of combining two images. I can't see any other way.

It's a plain single photograph, and the explanation how to do it has been given above.

 

 

You can see where the crop was because the center of the zoom is the center of the uncropped shot. No PP needed, except the crop. No two images either, just good technique. And no panning.

While it's possible to achieve the effect through zooming and cropping (and no panning), it is just as well possible to achieve the same effect through zooming and panning (and no cropping). While we can't tell for sure, my guess is the latter.

 

For the pitcher's head being sharp even though it's off the zooming center, it's required that the zooming motion, the panning motion, and the pitcher's motion add up to zero; here, the lens' VR system may help. So the panning motion itself as one out of three components may or may not be zero.

[AlanG]

In the time of the exposure, the pitcher could not have moved far. As evidenced by his right arm still being visible. I don't see how the area behind the pitcher could be so blurred from the off centered zooming yet no part of him or his uniform shows the same effect. And there is no evidence that the photograph is panned.

[jaapv]

If the effect was obtained zooming out, the pitcher could have been moving at approx the same speed as the zoom.

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[01af]

In the time of the exposure, the pitcher could not have moved far.

During 1/30 s, he can easily move approx. 1 ft. And that is just the distance his head needs to travel to create the given effect.

 

 

And there is no evidence that the photograph is panned.

Sure there is. The whole image screams 'pan!'