Behind the Shot: Creating My 2025 World Champions Dodgers Fine Art Print

Sometimes the image you end up printing isn’t the one you thought you were chasing.

For this 2025 World Champions – Los Angeles Dodgers fine art print, I spent an entire World Series day around Dodger Stadium in 2024—early, all the way through the night. I watched the light change, stayed for the stadium lights and the skyline glow… and in the end, the frame I chose was a daytime shot.

It’s clean, bright, and honest. Blue California sky, the whole stadium in full detail, and Los Angeles laid out in the distance. It felt like the most timeless way to celebrate a back-to-back championship: not just a single inning under the lights, but the idea of Dodger baseball in LA on a perfect game day.

The Day I Took the Photo

This photograph was captured during the 2024 World Series, with the stadium already buzzing hours before first pitch. I wanted a vantage point that showed:

• The entire bowl of Dodger Stadium

• A clear view of the outfield and infield geometry

• The hills and trees wrapping around Chavez Ravine

• The downtown LA skyline sitting under that classic bright, slightly hazy sky

I stayed for the full arc of the day—early light, afternoon, golden hour, and night. But when I pulled the files into my computer, one image kept pulling me back: a crisp daytime frame where the light was clean, the shadows were defined but not harsh, and the stadium just felt alive.

That’s the image that became the base for this print.

Gear & Camera Settings (Approximate)

For those who like the technical side, here’s how I approached it:

• Camera: Full-frame Nikon D850

• Lens: 24–70mm f/2.8 (shot around the mid-range to balance stadium + skyline)

• Approximate settings:

  • Shutter speed: around 1/320–1/500 sec – fast enough for a tack-sharp scene

  • Aperture: f/8–f/9 – for deep sharpness across the entire frame

  • ISO: in the 64 - 100 range – plenty of light in the middle of the day

• Support: Tripod, braced carefully, with multiple frames taken to ensure the sharpest possible version

I exposed to protect the highlights—especially the bright concrete, and the lighter areas of the stands—knowing I could open up shadows later in editing.

Editing in Lightroom: Making Daylight Feel Like Fine Art

When I brought the RAW file into Lightroom, my goal wasn’t to “fix” the day—just to shape it into something that felt like a fine art print, not a snapshot.

A few of the key moves:

Basic Adjustments

• Exposure: Slight global bump to brighten the overall scene without blowing out the highlights.

• Highlights: Pulled down to keep details in the light seats, concrete, and distant buildings.

• Shadows: Lifted gently to open up darker areas under the overhangs and around the outfield.

• Whites/Blacks: Fine-tuned for a clean histogram with good contrast but no clipped detail.

Color & HSL

The daytime color is what makes this image feel so “LA”, so I leaned into that:

• Blues:

  • Slightly deepened and enriched the blue in the sky to give it a more graphic, print-worthy feel.

• Yellows/Oranges:

  • Subtle warmth in the stadium elements to make the scene feel inviting and sunlit without going cartoony.

Presence

• A touch of Clarity and Texture in the stadium structure 

• Very subtle Dehaze to cut through any atmospheric haze over the skyline and bring LA forward a bit more.

Finishing in Photoshop: Cleanup & Polish

After the global look was locked in, I moved the image into Photoshop for final polish.

Cleanup

• Removed a few tiny distractions—random bright spots, small signage elements that pulled the eye away from the main composition.

• Smoothed any overly busy areas where the detail felt noisy rather than helpful.

Dodging & Burning

• Dodging:

  • Gentle lightening on key parts of the field and certain sections of the stadium bowl to guide the eye.

• Burning:

  • Slight darkening around the outer edges of the image to create a natural vignette and subtly pull attention inward.

Final Sharpening

• Targeted sharpening on the stadium architecture, field lines, and skyline so the image holds up beautifully as a large print.

• Kept the sky smooth and clean so texture doesn’t get crunchy in print.

The result is a bright, detailed, daytime portrait of Dodger Stadium and Los Angeles that still feels soft enough to live on a wall for years without feeling harsh.

From 2024 Photograph to 2025 World Champions Print

Even though the photograph was taken during the 2024 World Series, I designed this piece to celebrate the 2025 World Champions and the back-to-back run.

On the final print, I added:

• A clean border with “2025 WORLD CHAMPIONS – LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA”

• A series stats panel and details from the 2025 World Series matchup vs Toronto

• A written blurb at the bottom right telling the story of the seven-game classic, the 18-inning marathon, and the 5–4 Game 7 comeback that sealed the Dodgers’ ninth title

I’m always clear about that:

• Photographed: During the 2024 World Series (daytime)

• Designed & released: To honor the Dodgers’ 2025 World Championship

To me, that duality is what makes the piece special—it’s a calm, detailed look at the place where so much chaos and joy happened, used to commemorate the moment the team cemented back-to-back titles.

Signed, Numbered, and Made for Collectors

Every print in this edition is:

• Hand-signed in gold pen by me

• Individually numbered (01/99–99/99) in the border

• Paired with a Certificate of Authenticity and a serialized hologram

Once all 99 are collected, this edition is closed in this size and format.

If you’re a Dodgers fan, a baseball fan, or someone who just loves the way LA looks wrapped around a ballpark, this print is my way of putting that feeling on your wall.

To purchase this signed, numbered limited edition print, visit my shop here: https://chrisfabregasfineartprints.com