With summer here, now is the time to brush up on your baseball photography skills. As you prepare to capture baseball images, keep these five bullets in mind:

• Get close to the action.
• If you consistently see action happening in one spot, focus on that spot and wait for the action to happen again and then capture it.
• Shoot action sequences as it increases your chances of getting good pictures and tells a story.
• Shoot faces as they will make your sports photos.
• Shoot at a high ISO such as 400, 800 or even ISO 1000.
• Concentrate on Little League, high school or sandlot games as it is easier to get close to the action.

Position yourself close to either first or third base. Focus on the batter and anticipate the action. While photographing the batter, zoom in on some head shots and focus on the eyes. Some of your best facial expression shots will be just as the batter hits the ball.

Another great shot is the runner sliding into home plate. Since we know what is happening during this action, it is not necessary to show the ball.

For this assignment, find a local baseball game. Position yourself behind and close to either first or third base, depending on from which side the batters hit. With your DSLR set at the settings above, capture images of batters hitting the ball. Try to capture a batter just as the bat connects with the ball. This is not as easy as it sounds.

By Ron Kness