wow...underrated, to say the least. not 'way' underrated, but, all the same, underrated. i know exactly what you feel--don't you wish everyone who scored you below a 5 would go out and try to nail this shot, just so they could appreciate it? oh well.
I knew it wouldn't get above a 4, but I accomplished what I wanted with the shot. Try shooting a football, getting it in the frame, in a gym, at 30ft using a 300mm with 2x converter and get something with it. That's what this shot shows, high motion blur and speed stopping most of the strings. Thanks for the comments. Van
because the background is almost white the sense of speed is lost in the photo therefore there isn't a distinction between fore and background. The knot lines make photo more interesting though.
One of the most important parts of motion panning is to show movement of the subject against the background. With a perfectly solid / white background, we have no way of seeing that the camera is following the ball.