Photographing softball is similar to photographing baseball in many ways. The few differences are the speed, pitching, and the ball itself. The players and ball are moving slower but you will still want to maintain a high shutter speed as the ball is moving quickly. The pitching is obviously one the biggest differences in softball and I found it actually to be a very difficult motion to get a “good” picture of. For example, in baseball one of the most visually pleasing photos of the pitcher was just after the moment that he released the ball from his hand. However, in softball this doesn’t look nearly as good, as the final motion in pitching a softball looks very unnatural when frozen in a picture.
As you can see in the pictures above the release of the pitch looks much more satisfying and logical in a frozen picture than the softball one. Just do to the strange motion of the softball pitch and where the pitchers hand an arm finish the motion does not look like they just pitched a ball when it is frozen. However, I think that both wind ups to the pitch look good in both sports and I think definitely make for a better pitching picture in softball. Another thing that can be seen in the above photos is how any field you can shoot at can look very different from what you were expecting. Ideally baseball and softball are meant to be played on grass and dirt however in many unprofessional leagues like college you may find yourself shooting a game on a turf field like at Seton Hall. The softball field at Seton Hall is a particularly strange one as the entire infield is a dark brown turf, which can be seen above, and the outfield green turf.
Something I noticed while shooting a softball game recently is how on top of the game you need to be. It is near impossible to catch a good shot of an infielder catching a line drive hit right at them unless you are prepared. It also help to have a general knowledge of the game as a whole and of the specific game you are watching as to predicting plays.
Unlike baseball which is quite a quite game, the softball teams are much more vocal when their teammates are up to bat. They sing, cheer, and yell. Keeping an eye on the bench is also a good idea to make sure you capture some of the emotions of the game.
