There’s a “trick shot” in baseball photography called a Frozen Ball. The photo is shot from behind home plate as the pitcher throws the ball. The shot captures the baseball in perfect focus while blurring out all other composition.

Here’s how to do it

• You can use any telephoto lens, although the deeper the focal length, the more pronounced it’ll be
• Focus on a spot between the catcher and the pitcher, but closer to the catcher (i.e., look for a tuft of grass that stands out)
• Adjust the aperture to keep the pitcher more/less blurred (f2.8 – 4 range)
• Set your lens to manual focus to avoid AF changing this focus spot
• Watch for the pitch and then shutter burst away!
• It could take a few tries, but a successful capture will grab the baseball in focus as it passes through the focal plane you set earlier

Post-processing (optional)

To really make the baseball have separation, you can use a program like Adobe Lightroom to increase the clarity and/or sharpness to draw your eyes to the ball.