Defensive Baseball
When your feature team is getting no-hit, there’s far more time to focus on the defensive game and work additional angles in the field and for the pitcher.
Buford’s Heddinger Throws No-Hitter
Buford Junior Josh Heddinger through a no-hitter against AA rival Greater Atlanta Christian School Friday. Heddinger was perfect until giving up a fifth-inning walk.
The game was called after five according to GHSA rules for margin of victory. Buford prevailed 12-0.
The Luxury of Daylight
Thursday night 9th Grade and Junior Varsity Football have long been two of my favorite sports to shoot. It’s been a combination of the abundance of light coupled with an increasing level of talent (versus Youth or 7th and 8th grade games). It gives me the opportunity to extend the 300/2.8 with the Canon 1.4x Teleconverter to 420mm and still be able to make the grade when it comes to shutter speeds.
This year Greater Atlanta Christian School is only fielding a 9th Grade team, and no Junior Varsity team so my Thursday football opportunities have been reduced.
Rivals in Any Sport
Greater Atlanta Christian School has had a strong Women’s Basketball program for the full three seasons I’ve been photographing the team’s games. The first year they won the AA State Championship game. Last year, they went to the state tournament. Both years, The Wesleyan School has been a tough opponent.
This year, Wesleyan moved down to A while GAC stayed in AA. That marked the end of the rivalry, at least for the games that count. Buford’s women’s squad, however, brought the same performance that Wesleyan has shown for the past several years.
This was the second Buford-GAC game I had photographed in the past month, although this time it was for the region 6-AA Championship. However, the outcome was the same – Buford defeated GAC. GAC took the second place trophy, and proceeds to the State Tournament as a #2 seed tomorrow.
A Big Win and an Equally Big Loss
Greater Atlanta Christian School took a big win in the Boys match up and a big loss in the girls matchup last Friday.
The Student Section
GAC’s student body has taken well to the new Long Forum’s student seating at the end of the floor. They have brought a new enthusiasm to the basketball games that was missing at the old gym.
The umbrellas disappeared this week against Westminster, but was replaced by a lot of banter traded with the visiting team.
GAC versus Buford in a Downpour
Since I’ve been covering Greater Atlanta Christian football for Martin Photography, the Buford Wolves have proved to be the toughest opponent, every year. Buford has built a winning tradition in football that is unmatched statewide in AA.
Buford entered the final game of the regular season undefeated since their playoff loss in 2006. GAC entered the game needing either a win against Buford or a win by Westminster over Blessed Trinity.
Did I mention the forecast called for rain?
With the time change, I knew I would miss all of the natural light during pre-game that I’ve enjoyed up until this week. The sun sets around 5:30 now, and with the rain there would be no great sunset to photograph. I made it a point to visit the GAC locker room to view the pre-game ritual. Quarterback Colton Chapple receives a few words from a coach before heading out for the Captains’ meeting at midfield.
And rain it did. The rain slicked ball caused several fumbles. Fullback Blake Southerland gives chase (and eventually recovers) a first quarter fumble.
Rivalry Week: GAC vs. Buford and Flash Football Photography
Greater Atlanta Christian and Buford have been cultivating a rivalry since GAC started playing football in the 90′s. Buford has proven to be a perennial football power in Georgia’s AA division.
This year’s game proved to be anything but a close game. Buford pulled ahead in the first half and didn’t slow down until the game ended.
The run on happens every week, so after week 2 you start looking for other views. I tried for some framing with the cheerleaders pom poms here.
Buford’s lights were average or slightly better than average for a high school stadium. However, it still leaves the need to use a flash to help stop the action.
How does a flash cause the action to freeze? If the flash does not fire, the camera is set to greatly under-expose the scene or have a frame that is largely black. However, the firing of the flash is an event with a very short duration – less than 1/1000 of a second at full power.
However – the effective range for a flash to be able to fully light a scene is fairly short. When combined with the range you usually use a 300mm lens – it is difficult to adequately light the action. Thus even under the best scenario, you can have some minor blurring of fast moving parts (like feet or hands).
Another compromise to consider is using the higher power of the flash (greater range) versus the trade off being able to fire more than one photograph at a time. A full power pop on a Canon 550EX will cause the flash to recycle for about one second (manual mode). I’ve usually used 1/4 power in manual mode on the 550EX paired with the 300mm/f2.8 lens.
A common question asked is “Why not use the High Speed Sync feature of my flash?” High Speed Sync allows the flash to fire with the camera at shutter speeds faster than the sync speed of the camera (on most Canon bodies it is 1/250 second). High speed sync fires the flash multiple times at short durations for each shutter burst. It is really intended for daytime fill-flash usage and not as a primary light source at night.
Finally, why use manual flash when the Canon 550EX includes a through-the-lens (TTL) mode that meters the scene and sets a “correct” exposure level? Just like using the camera in Aperture priority or shutter priority at night in a stadium with dark backgrounds, the camera is fooled easily and will usually use too much power on the flash. TTL mode also uses a pre-flash to help determine correct flash level, and will usually require a longer recycle time.
