Professional Baseball Park Photography at Albuquerque Regional Sports Complex

May 11, 2022 in Sports

Baseball action at Albuquerque Regional Sports Complex

I have featured the Albuquerque Regional Sports Complex before in a drone video and aerial drone photos. This time I returned to the park when baseball action was happening on all fields at once, as a continuation of my work for the City of Albuquerque. I was given some permission to be on the fields themselves while the games were going on live. My longest lens is the Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 G Master, which is enough to get decently close up action shots. If I photographed sports full time, I would invest in longer lenses, like the 200-400mm zoom. Early in my professional photography career when I lived in Florida, I used to shoot sports much more, including baseball and triathlons, so it was fun to get back into photographing live sports, even if just for one afternoon.

Hollywood Stunt Show at Old Tucson

January 30, 2020 in Photo Story

Home to movie stunts past and present

Kind of on a whim we decided to visit a small theme park outside of Tucson, Arizona called Old Tucson, mostly because it allowed dogs inside! This park was a functioning movie and TV show set for decades. You start in the park by seeing many movie posters of stars who walked on the same dust you get to walk on. It’s not just all old buildings though. This park is very much still alive as exhibited by this amazing Hollywood stunt show! The stuntmen demonstrated how to take a punch, how to shoot a gun loaded with blanks, and how to fall off a ladder pushed off of a ledge! This place is definitely worth checking out, and no need to leave your dog at home!

Albuquerque Roller Derby Last Bout of 2018

September 27, 2018 in Sports, Event

Toughest action on 8 wheels!

I had the opportunity to photograph the last ABQ Roller Derby bout of the 2018 season due to my connection with Sonja Dewing who hosts 1 Million Cups and is also the owner of Plot Duckies. She invited me to photograph an upcoming bout which I gladly agreed to as I had never photographed a roller derby before! I did not, and still do not, know a single rule or strategy about roller derby, but by the second half I was starting to figure out when the best action takes place and where on the skating rink. I could not believe the collisions and how many times people get knocked right on their butts! You can see the action up close in the gallery below.

Photography Tip - use a single focus point for moving subjects not filling the frame

February 26, 2014 in Photography Tips

There are a number of reasons why a moving subject may appear out of focus in a photograph. One reason could simply be because the focus point(s) were not on the subject. For still subjects, I always use a single focus point. For moving subjects where the subject is not largely filling the frame, even in the examples above of runners, I use a single focus point as well. By using a single focus point (in the center) when photographing the runners I could track them as they ran past me and I knew for sure that I was getting them in focus because the only focus point available was right on them. There was no risk of back-focusing on the background which can happen when using multiple focus points (11, 21, 51, etc). In this case, I did not want the camera trying to pick out the subject from the background which is what happens when using multiple focus points. I selected a single focus point, kept it center, and kept that locked onto each runner. Of course I was using AF-C (One Shot) focus mode and a minimum shutter speed of 1/500th--the other two things needed to have any chance at freezing of moving subject in a photograph.

So if you find you are having trouble getting a moving subject in focus (or even a still subject), use a single focus point (often in the center) and put it right on the subject you want to be in focus in the frame.