Little League Baseball by Tim Mantoani
Few industries are recession-proof, but photographing children competing in sports probably comes close. Unlike adults, kids wear their emotions on their young faces and capturing their joy and love for the game is unique and often heartwarming. Photographer Tim Mantoani has captured many of the legends in sports from Peyton Manning to Jeff Gordon and nearly every super-star in between. His series of little league baseball photos may not have the same celebrity glam that multi-million dollar player shots might exude, but the photos are wholesome and depict young boys’ rite of passage, showing the grit and determination of what it takes to love and participate in America’s favorite pastime. In the shot of the boy embracing the baseball, Mantoani creatively shoots with the sun behind the subject and yet the resulting image is bright without shading. He accomplished this using the Tamron 17-35mm lens using a speedlight aimed at a silver fill disc (camera left) to bounce some light into the boy’s face, thereby diminishing any shadow. The focal length was 35mm with an aperture of f/5.6 @ 1/125 sec and ISO 100.
In baseball, the coach typically appears in the diamond a few times during the game to provide encouragement to the pitcher and perhaps slow down the momentum of the other team. Mantoani’s photo of the pitcher on the mound taking direction from his coach as the third baseman looks on is a great example of compression using a long telephoto lens. The focal length was 165mm using Tamron’s 70-300mm lens. He used ISO 320 with an aperture of f/5.0 @ 1/640 sec.
“Long glass is great for shooting sports. I try to shoot wide open so I can blow the background out of focus. The image was backlit and I needed to open up a bit from my in-camera meter reading to get a good exposure on the face. When you can use backlight and have a dark background, your subject will pop.” Is he safe or out? Mantoani successfully captures the moment just prior to the umpire’s call when both boys are hoping to be the victor. Freezing the moment takes strategy and a creative eye on the end result. With his Tamron 70-300mm lens following the runner, he employed the aperture priority mode which allowed him to use the fastest shutter speed available for that exposure to stop the action.
Aperture priority can be your best friend. I shot wide open to get the background out of focus as much as possible from where I could stand to shoot. I tried to keep in mind the background so that the fence posts were at the edges of the frame and not in the center.” A shadow draped over the face of a young, determined athlete can speak volumes. "The late afternoon light created the shadow on his face as he waited to go to bat. I try to shoot the fun of the game and the disappointment of the game. That is what sports is about, like taking photos, you win some and you lose some. You just want to enjoy the experience, both the highs and the lows. If I am not taking bad photos while I am out shooting, I am playing it too safe.”
Again using Tamron’s 70-300mm, Mantoani used a wide open aperture of f/4.0 to “let the background go as soft as possible.” The focal length was 70mm with ISO 200 and a shutter speed of 1/640 sec. Capturing children’s sports as they happen can be difficult, but using the right tools can make things easier. “This was the first time I had shot with the 70-300mm Tamron lens. What a perfect lens for shooting your kids’ sports. It allows you to track the action and keep yourself in the game,” said Mantoani. “The 17-35mm offers you a great wide lens for overviews and a tighter crop for portraits.” When you don’t get a second chance to capture the winning run, count on the lenses that professionals use - Tamron’s high quality lenses. Make every shot count. |
