Recently I got an email from a reader who wondered how she could go about getting inside the fence on the field to photograph her nephew as he plays Little League baseball. I told her that as professional photographers we know the dangers of the game and are willing to risk them its a part [...]
For more than 30 years I’ve been covering all kinds of baseball from Little Leagues to the Major Leagues, and I have never been hit by an errant ball. Even back in the old days, when I had to stand on the field because of using a relatively shorter lens. I’ve had a few close [...]
Sometimes we’re called to shoot just a head and shoulders portrait of a person (often referred to as a mugshot). In a studio a photographer can control the light, but out in the field the lighting conditions usually aren’t ideal. You can often ameliorate bad light by using a fill-flash technique or simply moving your [...]
The sports of baseball and softball share many similarities. They both involve someone throwing a ball while an opponent tries to hit said ball with a bat. They’re both played on a diamond-shaped infield surrounded by a large outfield. There are 3 bases and 1 home plate, which the players run around counterclock-wise. If you [...]
I know a lot of people love baseball, but I’m not a big fan of the game. It may sound funny coming from someone who’s photographed hundreds of games over the course of a 30-year career, but I don’t. Years ago I photographed a cropduster pilot who once described his job as “hours and hours [...]
Also during the Pacific/UC Santa Barbara baseball game a high pop foul ball was hit to the first-base bleachers. It reached the apex of its tall arc and came down onto the vinyl shade covering of one of the VIP “suites.” The coverings are slanted similarly to a roof on a house, so everyone assumed [...]
Dr. Frederick Frankenstein: “You know, I’m a rather brilliant surgeon. Perhaps I can help you with that hump.” Igor: “What hump?” A fast shutter speed can stop miniscule slices of time. It can capture moments that are just unnoticed fleeting blinks of an eye. I shot Kimball High varsity baseball pitcher Cody Wagner during a [...]
An aptronym is an apt name that is especially descriptive of or suited to a person. Like someone with the last name of Docter who’s a physician or firefighter named Blaze. My name, in its shortened form, is an aptronym. If you say it quickly, Cliff Oto, it sounds like “Cliff Photo.” I don’t think [...]
In 2007, Delta College christened a newly refurbished Cecchetti baseball field, which sported a natural feeling artificial turf. Fake grass covered everything except the pitcher’s mound and the batter’s circle, which remained honest-to-goodness dirt. The simulated grass is easier to maintain, it never having to be mowed or watered and the lines being permanently painted [...]
When I played the trumpet in grade school and high school, I was taught to keep cheeks from puffing out when I played. It was supposed to help keep the lip’s embouchure in the correct position. Famed Jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie was known for having his cheeks balloon out when he played. He was a [...]
