The Art of the Game

Every once in a while I like to take an ordinary picture and turn it into something extraordinary. That's the case with this shot of the Yankees' Derek Jeter diving into second base as the ball is headed toward Sean Rodriguez's glove. I played with the contrast and did a few other things to it using the basic image editing software from Windows 7. I don't have Adobe Photoshop, however there are any number of similar products that do the same things (and some things better) than Photoshop. Even before I tweaked the image the colors were already great thanks to the blue of the Tampa Bay Rays' road uniform tops and the amber color of the sunglasses Rodriguez is wearing. And of course, the plain, clean background that the infield dirt provides helps the viewer concentrate (the word 'focus' is overused and often used incorrectly as a substitute for 'concentration') on the main elements of the picture; the ball, Sean and Derek.