Photo by: Mike Christy / Arizona Athletics
Behind the Photo
05/06/2020 | Inside Athletics
Dejah Mulipola's return to Hillenbrand
Behind the Photo: Dejah's Return to Hillenbrand
When it comes to sports photography, the old axiom “it’s better to be lucky than good” always seems to hold true. With our photography coverage, we spend so much time anticipating and preparing to capture those moments of split-second peak action that occur between the lines at Arizona Athletics, but oftentimes (well, most times) it is the power of the spontaneous moments no one saw coming that speak the loudest.
Great anticipation surrounded senior catcher Dejah Mulipola’s return to Hillenbrand Stadium as this time around saw her sporting the red, white and blue for Team USA. To ensure we cover all the special moments from this big matchup, we talk ahead of time with our marketing and communications departments to get a rundown of events – for example, the hug with Coach Mike Candrea at home plate came as a direct result of that planning which helps us make intentional choices with camera equipment and angles.
At the game’s conclusion, I was photographing from the first base photo well with a telephoto lens looking for post-game high-fives and hoping for candid moments to develop. Dejah had walked away from the infield toward the visitor bullpen for a TV interview, so I took the opportunity to shoot a few shots of her with a 70-200mm lens at f/2.8 to have on file, then turned my lens back to the scene near the circle.
Just as I was getting ready to pack up and move toward home plate for posed team photos is when I noticed a few Wildcats, led by outfielders Peanut Martinez and Alyssa Palomino-Cardoza, starting to run toward right field. I wondered what was happening for a second, and then I began to realize what was taking place.
The entire team then spontaneously swarmed their Olympian teammate mid-interview in a moment no one could plan for – especially Dejah! I fired my shutter for several seconds capturing each wave of Arizona players to jump into the fracas – a scene alight with so much raw joy and “jube” (short for jubilation, a sports photo term for a celebration photo). It felt like I couldn't shoot enough photos of what was happening. I knew right away we had some memorable moments on our hands!
I cannot wait for more of these 'jube' moments, to cover Dejah and the Arizona Softball senior class’ return in the 2021 season at Hillenbrand Stadium!
We’re not crying, you are. Always a Wildcat. ??@ArizonaSoftball | @dejahmulipola | #OlympiansMadeHere pic.twitter.com/CgiI0ZJFjt
— Pac-12 Network (@Pac12Network) February 19, 2020
TECH TALK:
Canon 1DX Mark II DSLR camera
Canon 70-200mm f/2.8 IS USM III lens
ISO 4000
f/2.8
1/1250th of a second
The main priority in sports photography is frozen action with no motion blur. We achieve this by using a fast shutter speed, ideally 1/1000th of a second or faster. Selecting that fast of a shutter speed at night will not allow in enough light to the sensor, so we make some changes to our ISO and aperture to maintain proper light exposure. Most of our images shot indoors or under the lights are at ISO 3200 or higher. Newer cameras and advanced editing software allow us to fix the digital noise higher ISOs bring with them, so I don’t even flinch about living in the high ISO range.
The final exposure element -- aperture -- not only allows us more light, but ensures the focus is only on our subject and provides for a shallow depth of field. This is where you get that “fall off” in focus which blurs the background. f/2.8 is considered wide-open in terms of light allowance, but also keeps the focus tack sharp on our subject and isolates away from the background to keep the viewer’s eye where the photographer wants it.
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