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Washington Post Photog Explains How He Got Amazing Photo


sanyasi

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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.

 

 

 

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

 

 

It isn't panned because the umpire and people above him are fixed. And the left side moves in the opposite direction. It's an off center zoom shot for sure. I'm just tying to convince myself that the pitcher could have moved his entire body in such a way to have counteracted the zoom effect in that part of the image.

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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.

 

 

 

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

 

Exactly, it is an optically induced pan, not just one of body position following subject. So when the photographer also pans in the direction of the throw and tugs on the zoom ring a bit, you get motion / sharpness in several different directions and locations. The "Decisive Moment" so to speak is not really about the photographer sensing peak action, but instead shooting hundreds of duds to get just a few of this type of shot that actually work.

 

And yes, it was probably cropped.

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It's an off-center zoom shot for sure.

Exactly. And that means it is either cropped or panned. Both is equally likely. Still my guess is: panned (with some help from the VR in panning mode), not cropped.

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Exactly. And that means it is either cropped or panned. Both is equally likely. Still my guess is: panned (with some help from the VR in panning mode), not cropped.

 

Unless his 200-400 is severely de-centered, it is cropped to the right....which reminds me that I need to send my 200-400 in to NPS because my zoom ring is way too stiff right now.

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Unless his 200-400 is severely de-centered, it is cropped to the right ...

Sigh. :(

 

When you zoom during exposure then the zooming center will be at the frame's center. When you zoom and pan during exposure then the zooming center will be elsewhere in the frame. If you pan fast enough then the zooming center can even end up outside the frame. Just why is this so hard to understand?

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I just shot a series of tests for this effect. The background effect will happen if you zoom out and pan to the left simultaneously. (e.g the opposite direction to the pitcher and thus not panning with him.) I got a similar offset background zoom look. The fact that the pitcher is in a white uniform and moving opposite to the pan may compensate for the camera motion and zoom. But I'd have to go to a baseball field to prove it.

 

I now think it is possible in one shot. (I still have my doubts how the hat and uniform can look so clean.)

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The background effect will happen if you zoom out and pan to the left simultaneously (the opposite direction to the pitcher and thus not panning with him).

If you reverse both the zooming direction and the panning direction then you'll get the same effect on the background. So if you want the zoom center located in the left-hand side of the frame while panning to the right (to accommodate the pitcher's movement) then you'll have to zoom from long to short focal length—this is what I'd call 'zoom out'. For the background, you might just as well pan to the left and zoom from short to long focal length (= 'zoom in') but that would not match the pitcher's direction of movement.

 

 

I still have my doubts how the hat and uniform can look so clean.

No-one said it was easy ;) Most likely you'll need dozens, maybe hundreds of attempts, or an obscene amount of luck, before you get one result as clean and perfect as Jonathan Newton's.

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Sigh. :(

 

When you zoom during exposure then the zooming center will be at the frame's center. When you zoom and pan during exposure then the zooming center will be elsewhere in the frame. If you pan fast enough then the zooming center can even end up outside the frame. Just why is this so hard to understand?

 

Ah, you are right, I had forgot that, I stopped doing the zoom garbage a number of years ago.

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with all respect I did loads of this years ago on my (yes it's embarassing) 'betterphoto'.com initial courses..

IMO not a great picture at all..but if it gets to the WP then there's hope for me still:D

 

slight pan...zoom out with slow shutter...

 

andy

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