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Arizona Wildcats outfielder Ryan Holgate (42)
Rebecca Sasnett / for Arizona Athletics

Inside Athletics Rebecca Sasnett

Behind the Photo

Sunset at Hi Corbett Field

Behind the Photo: Sunset at Hi Corbett

When I look at this Ryan Holgate photo from the 2019-2020 baseball season, there are two words that come to mind: planning and patience. 

 

Shooting sports requires knowledge, experience and a little bit of luck. Have you ever heard a sports photographer say, “I was in the right spot at the right time?" That’s luck. However, one can increase their luck with some planning. 

It’s a well-known fact Tucson sunsets during baseball season at Hi Corbett are one-of-a-kind. But taking the ordinary wide-angle photos of the field with the sunset in the background has been done before. I wanted to find a new way to tell the Arizona Baseball sunset story. So, I changed my perspective and made a plan.

 

As much as shooting peak action is fun and exciting, I particularly like shooting the moments before and after. While a hitter is up to bat, the on-deck batter is standing near the net. I positioned myself in the front seats behind home plate and took pictures of the hitters waiting to bat. My plan was to take the ordinary sunset photo and combine it with a moment away from all the action. 

Sunset over Hi Corbett Field.

Here’s where the second word comes into play: patience. I found the right seat with the right angle and waited. I spent an entire inning waiting for the right moment. The inning was particularly long because Arizona was on an offensive roll -- several hitters got an at-bat. I remember thinking while my eye was glued to my camera, “will someone just look over their shoulder?” Sure enough, the plan and patience paid off.


That’s when Ryan Holgate glanced over his shoulder to look at the crowd and, poof, a new Arizona Baseball sunset photo was born.

Arizona Wildcats outfielder Ryan Holgate (42)

Tech Talk:

 

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Canon 70-200 f/2.8 IS USM 

 

ISO 1600

F/2.8

1/3200th of a second

 

When it comes to light, our eye does a much better job balancing light with dark than a camera sensor. You might notice there’s never a good balanced exposure when shooting a sunset on your phone. 

 

If I photographed this sunset at the same exposure we typically shoot game action (closer to 1/1250th of a second shutter speed), the colors and light would be blown out. Since the sunset and colors are the dominant aspect of this photo, I used a faster shutter speed to get the appropriate detail from the background, and used editing software to lighten Ryan’s face to bring the exposure balance back to what my eye originally saw.

Rebecca's photo won the NCAA Baseball Photo of the Week contest earlier this spring.

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