Read this....

http://www.sportsshooter.com/news/2194

Don't Shoot Back lit ............

or side lit unless you know how. You can't just point and shoot in aperture or shutter priority and expect to get a good exposure. Those auto modes are not set up to meter well in anything but front lit situations. If you shoot in an auto mode then you need to use exposure compensation, (usually you need to add ev or ec, not subtract), or go old school and shoot in manual mode so you have total control over the light and what you're shooting. There are plenty of websites with a ton of information about metering and how to shoot in challenging lighting conditions, if you have trouble with shooting back lit, do some homework. I will be deleting dark and flat, badly exposed back lit images.
Here's a great example of a nicely exposed side lit image from photographer Jann Hendry.

Jann was shooting in manual mode and metering off her subject.

and here's a great back lit batter shot from Jann.

Boring boring baseball galleries rant

Seriously folks there's more to baseball than batting and pitching. There's those little white things out there in the infield, (you know bases), and players run around those bases, other players try and stop them. Real interesting stuff happening out there. Sliding into bases, throwing stuff, catching stuff, running. How about taking some photos of that and not just the blankety blank batters!!!! Seriously, if I see one more gallery of 90% batter and the other 10% pitcher I'm gonna scream. How about coaches, there's at least two of those, one for each team, they might like a photo or two. And don't forget the officials, those guys love to see themselves and will buy photos, they really will.
I'm not saying don't shoot batters, just try and get more of the game than the batters.
You don't need a huge lens, you can shoot the infield with a 70-200mm, just ignore the outfield. Don't fall into the teleconverter trap, a TC on a zoom is seldom a good idea.
It's a slow game, you've got lots of time, let's get creative people!!
Rant over! Thank you.

Cheerleaders

When photographing the cheerleaders please be aware of what position you catch these girls in when you shoot. Especially if you're sitting on the floor and shooting up at them.
Thanks

Lighting volleyball

I was asked about lighting volleyball and drew up some crude diagrams. I tried to add them to the original article I had posted earlier but it was too hard. :) So I'm just going to stick them here.

This is how I was setting my lights

This is the way David Stuetel sets up his lights, I like this way better.

click on the diagrams to see a larger image.

The business of photography

I could write a long article about getting paid what you and your work is worth. The difference between licensing and selling an image. Editorial vs commercial and the harm that giving away your images does to the photography industry in general. (the recent disturbing trend of newspapers wanting free photos for credit shows how free has hurt our business) But this topic has been discussed ad nausean and by folks with more business knowledge than me. So check out these websites: http://www.editorialphoto.com/ great resource on the business of photography, if you're the least bit serious about making a living as a photographer, just join.
http://www.d-65.com/ Seth Resnick has an incredible pricing service that will not only give you a price for an image or even help you bid a job, he will also write out the contract. Best $25 I've ever spent, that measly little $25 actually made me an additional 1/3rd more from a recent client who claimed to have a budget of well, a third less than they actually ended up paying me. I use Seth whenever I bid a job.
Then there are the blogs: http://photobusinessforum.blogspot.com and articles http://www.loundy.org/commoncents/ and forums http://prophotoforums.com/ and I'm sure if you do some googling you'll find even more great resources.
So do yourself a favor and read up on this stuff, get some information, be prepared when the phone rings and someone wants to license one of your images or hire you for a gig. In this economy none of us can afford to give our work away.

Congratulations to MP photographer Ralph Thompson!

Ralph entered an image into the Sports Photographers Association of America annual contest and won a Nikon D700. Here's Ralph's winning image: