Settings for indoor ice rinks

[playinhockey]

I just purchased the 300D and love it! My Son plays ice hockey and I tried to get some good action shots using the automatic setting. The flash was distracting and ineffective. Any suggestions on what manual settings I should try? I am using the packaged lens that Cannon sells with the camera 28-55 I think. As you can tell I am very new to this.

[Vegas Poboy]

If you cannot use a flash it may be time to purchase a f/2.8 lens. To catch action depends on how fast the abject is I would start @ least 1/125 or better t and set the the ISO between 400 & 800 or better depending on the lights. A good F stop would be anywhere from F/4 to f/8. But before purchasing a lens go to one of your sons practices and play with the settings and see what results you get. Thats one of the good things of going digital is the on the spot corrections.
Good Luck

[yenoram]

As you've already discovered, the lighting in most hockey arenas is pretty dim. Here's what I've learned along the way (I use shoot with a D60 and I'm not familiar with the 300D so some of this may not be possible with your camera):
1. use a fast lens (2.8 or better)
2. ISO 800
3. minimum shutter speed of 1/250 - higher if possible.
4. work in Tv mode fixing your shutter speed and letting the f-stop fall where it may.
5. white balance is always a challenge - shoot a grey card, use an ExpoDisc, or shoot the ref's jersey (out of focus) and set a custom white balance. Any other white balance setting, such as AWB, will produce poor colours at best.
6. shoot in RAW mode - this will allow you to adjust white balance, exposure etc. at home in front of your computer. You can convert using Canon's software but I prefer Capture One.
7. set your focus point to the centre one only
8. use continuous focus mode
9. set the centre focus point on the player you want to catch, hold the shutter button down and follow the action.
10. consider moving the focus to the * button if your camera has custom functions.
11. use a monopod
12. consider shooting in portrait mode (personally, I find this provides more visual appeal in most cases)
13. if possible, see if you can get access to the players' bench or penalty box area where there is no glass.
14. if not, don't hesitate to shoot through the glass but search for a relatively clear spot and keep your lens as close to the glass as possible.
15. forget flash - this produces unnatural looking pictures in my opinion plus, if you're shooting up against the glass, the flash can actually reflect inside the glass ruining your picture.
16. you'll find your pictures are quite grainy - use NeatImage (free demo version can be downloaded from the net) to clean them up and you'll be amazed.

I was naive when I bought my DSLR not realizing how much post-processing was involved to produce great pictures. Don't treat your new camera like a P&S - get out there and experiment and expect to spend some time in front of your computer. Hope this helps and happy shooting.

[DaveG]

playinhockey wrote:
I just purchased the 300D and love it! My Son plays ice hockey and I tried to get some good action shots using the automatic setting. The flash was distracting and ineffective. Any suggestions on what manual settings I should try? I am using the packaged lens that Cannon sells with the camera 28-55 I think. As you can tell I am very new to this.

A very resonably priced lens is the Canon 100 mm f2. This would give you the equivilent of a 160 mm lens with really good speed. I made my living shooting hockey for a daily newspaper with a Nikkor 180 f2.8 so this should easily do the job.

You want at least 1/500 of a second shutterspeed and you'll want to use f2. With this as the base exposure use the lowest ISO that will let you get there.

Shoot horizontally at first. Hockey is so fast that you kind of need to see the player "enter" the frame, at least at first. Remember this: The referee is skating backwards FASTER than the fastest football player is running forwards - something I always like to point out to footbal players! So this "working you way in" is a good idea. Once you get used to the speed you can try some verticals as you tighten up your composition.

Try to avoid moving. Pick a place and let the action come to you. You can always get into "the other man's grass is greener" situation if you don't realize that, short of a blowout, the action WILL come to you. So don't move from end to end during the period.

Here's a very safe shot: Wait for a face off. Now don't shoot them waiting, that's silly. Nor should you shoot the dropping of the puck. What you are waiting for is that the defensive centre should try to take out the offensive forward after the puck is dropped. They should tie them up so they can't move to the net. This is conflict and conflict is what you photograph in sports photography.

[playinhockey]

Thanks for your help! I will give these suggestions a try. Sounds a little complicated, but I think I can figure it out.

[Motorsports Photo]

1/250-1/500 second shutter speeds?? What kind of pics do you get in the dark with that??

The flash captures the action indoors, not the shutter! You can get pics with any lens, but using more than 100mm focal length is useless, since the light of the flash will have petered out by the time it gets that far. Shutter speeds of 60-125 are fine. As the shutter speed reaches "ambient" exposure, you will get a blur from what the camera sees that isnt "highlighted" by the flash. If you take a pic with no flash, using manual, and its mostly black when you review it, your flash pic should turn out well. Because of the white nature of the ice, I suggest using only manual to keep those burned out highlights out of your pics. ISO 400-800, Shutter 60-125, Fstop 5.6-8 should be a good starting point. Bump up the shutter speed of go to a higher number F-stop until your histogram has the "point" in the right place.

Hockey rinks are brighter than the indoor races I photograph, so you should be able to get some real good ones.

-Pete

[DaveG]

Motorsports Photo wrote:
1/250-1/500 second shutter speeds?? What kind of pics do you get in the dark with that??

The flash captures the action indoors, not the shutter! You can get pics with any lens, but using more than 100mm focal length is useless, since the light of the flash will have petered out by the time it gets that far. Shutter speeds of 60-125 are fine. As the shutter speed reaches "ambient" exposure, you will get a blur from what the camera sees that isnt "highlighted" by the flash. If you take a pic with no flash, using manual, and its mostly black when you review it, your flash pic should turn out well. Because of the white nature of the ice, I suggest using only manual to keep those burned out highlights out of your pics. ISO 400-800, Shutter 60-125, Fstop 5.6-8 should be a good starting point. Bump up the shutter speed of go to a higher number F-stop until your histogram has the "point" in the right place.

Hockey rinks are brighter than the indoor races I photograph, so you should be able to get some real good ones.

-Pete



The first problem with using "on camera" flash is that it may well illuminate the subject properly but anything closer is over exposed and anything farther away will be dark. This is the sports photography from the 50's and it sucks. You also run into the problem that if the subject is 10 meter's away from you then it may take f2.8 for your flash to create a proper exposure. If you use a shutterspeed like 1/60 of a second @ f2.8 then you almost certainly will get a ghost image from the ambient light.

Modern sports flash photography (think Sports Illustrated) uses monolights placed up in the rafters which are triggered with radio slaves. Multiple flashes are used, not just one. The shooters use a moderate aperture and the fastest synch speed (1/200 -1/250) their camera's allow. This gives them some depth of field and kills off the ghosting effect of the ambient light.

The flashes are set up to light specific areas of the ice surface. When the players go to these areas the photographer will shoot. Basketball photography is also done this way.

Now since most of us DON'T have the ability to shoot sports this way we rely on the available light in the rink. Now of course there has to BE some light or nothing can be done. But an average rink around here will offer about 1/500 @ f2.8 with an ISO of 1600.

I used a 180 Nikkor f2.8 for years and it's a good moderate focal length for shooting hockey. It's a "one end" of the rink lens and I would most often use it from a position roughly even with the inside the blue line face off circle. I also used a 300 f2.8 from the penalty box. That lens is a "two ends of the rink" lens since you just turn to shoot each net.

The only sport that actually looks good when photographed with on camera flash is competitive swimming. I think it must be the way that the water picks up the flash in tiny reflections. You still have to be careful about flash fall-off though. Other than that, or in the rafter flashes, I wouldn't use on-camera flash for sports - ever.

[Motorsports Photo]

DaveG wrote:
I wouldn't use on-camera flash for sports - ever.


But sometimes we have to. Sure they arent the best they COULD be, but if I could set those lights in the ceiling of the indoor motocross, like in the basketball arena, the fans might think God was descending! (-:

-Pete

[DaveG]

Motorsports Photo wrote:
DaveG wrote:
I wouldn't use on-camera flash for sports - ever.


But sometimes we have to. Sure they arent the best they COULD be, but if I could set those lights in the ceiling of the indoor motocross, like in the basketball arena, the fans might think God was descending! (-:

-Pete


And sometimes we have to walk away.