Who am I and What is This?

My name is Mike Muegel and I developed this site to share some of the Major League Baseball photos I've taken over the last few years while attending the occasional ballgame with my wife, Bernadette. We live in Dallas, TX but are both Chicago Cubs fans. So there is definitely a bias in the photos, although there are some decent Rangers photos as well.

Photos are broken down into various categories using nested folders. Because of this, a single photo can appear in multiple folders. When I catalog my photos, I rate each one using a 5 star system. These ratings drive which photos are shown in the various categories. 5 star are pretty good, 4 star are decent, and 3 star just so so. I wavered on whether to include the 3 star photos. I decided to publish these should a fan of a lesser known player – and thus one with fewer photos and opportunities for "keepers" – find them useful.

One gotcha to be mindful of: if you are viewing player photos by team, only those photos of the player when they were on that team will be listed. For example, Players > By Team > Cubs > Derrek Lee does not have photos from the 2006 World Baseball Classic, because this was a different "team". But Players > By Name > Derrek Lee does.

I am very open to print/digital negative trades for very close in seating tickets to take better/more photos :-). If you are friends with my wife or myself, I am more than happy to send full sized versions of some favorites photos. Just me the URL to the photo page(s).

Equipment & Limitations

This is just a hobby, and I'm very limited by the fact that I'm in the stands and the pros are at field level in great locations. Depending on the game, ballpark, ushers, open seat availability, my mood, and desire to actually watch the game, I'll often move around to get better/different shots and angles. High angle and distant shots do get old and lack the "punch" you get as you get down to field level and close in. Also, the best action shots are often blocked due to the sudden standing of the crowd when a big play occurs: such is life taking sports photos from the stands.

I have built a nice Canon DSLR kit, and that helps, although the pros have lust-worthy lenses that enable shooting in darker conditions, at faster shutter speeds, and with a wider aperture. Those huge white lenses you see at sporting events? They start at $4,000 for the shorter focal length lenses and go up from there. Because of this you'll notice a lack of good nighttime shots. At some point after sunset I usually pack up and watch the game more closely.

I started out with a Canon 10D in 2004 and added a Canon 20D in 2005. In June 2006 I added a Canon 30D and have sold my 10D, so I hope to see improved quality and variety on my next outings. My current lens lineup is a Sigma 70-200 f/2.8, Canon EF 400mm f/5.6L, Canon EF 28-70 f/2.8L (rarely used in-stadium), and a Canon EF-S 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5.

Image Errata

Photos have been resized to fit on a page and the JPEG quality reduced to improve download times. Photos have been edited and color corrected on calibrated monitors, so if they look funny on your screen chances are you need to adjust your monitor. Take a close look at the chart below:

Courtesy of dpreview.com