Shooting an NHL game from the stands

[Kinger]

Ok I am going to be near the front on an upper level of an NHL game tomarrow night, and I wanna try to get some decent shots. The lens I plan on using is my 75-300 4-5.6 USM III. I know that it isn't the fastest lens and it is a bit soft after 200mm, but that is what I have for my DRebel right now. Any suggestions for getting a good shot besides my plan to underexpose and try to save with Photoshop.

And before anybody asks, I already spoke to the front office and described the size of the lens, and they said it will not be a problem. They just don't want fans to have the wonderful Big White Lens or what they call "Huge Zoom Lenses"

[robertwgross]

You might want to consider some type of support. They probably won't allow a tripod. A monopod might help. If you had an empty seat in front of you, then a bean bag would help.

---Bob Gross---

[dtrayers]

I shot a number of images at a Minnesota Wild game last November.

Here's an example:

http://home.comcast.net/~dtrayers/wild/crw_1845_std.jpg

You can see more here: http://home.comcast.net/~dtrayers/wild/index.htm

All these were shot with the 70-200 f/4 L at ISO 400 and were hand held. I did some white balance and exposure adjustments with C1Rebel first. I had to adjust exposure in C1Rebel about 1-1.5 stops. Most of the shots were in P mode and the shutter speed was around 1/250 - 1/400. I suppose I could have used a +1 Exposure Comp but I didn't want to blow out the highlights.

My seat was on the main level about 20 rows up. There's wide angle picture on the web page that has a pretty good perspective from my seat.

[drisley]

Kewl Pic Dtrayers.

Kinger, please post your pictures after the game.
I am interested to see how they turn out!

I am considering either that lens, the IS version, or the 70-200 f/4 L.

[ssim]

I've only taken my 10D to one NHL game and was not unpleased with the results given that it was my first time. I used the assistance of a monopod and I underexposed slightly to keep the shutter speed up. This was taken with the 100-400 L IS. Shot at 1/250th at f5.6 using ISO at 800. Everything was shot in RAW.

http://www.pbase.com/image/22440677.jpg

I did shoot some at ISO 1600 but they were just too noisy for my liking but it certainly did stop the action.

Good luck and hope to see some here soon.

[drisley]

Nice shot!
Go Leafs Go!

:lol:

[ssim]

Well the Leafs got lucky that night and won.

[Jack_C]

Sheldon- I'm surprised you were allowed to use a monopod and a long lens like the 100-400 IS, how did you manage that?

[ssim]

Truth be known I was in my company's corporate box. :oops:

[theoldmoose]

Yeah, I noticed the Joe Louis arena (Detroit Red Wings) has signs posted that disallow long zoom lenses. I think they put an 'inches' limit on them. Maybe a good excuse for that new, short DO lens?

[Kinger]

Well here is my first shot that I processed from last night. Unfortunately due to the slow lens I have the shot is not as sharp as I would like. But I will let everyone else be the judge of it. When I am done with the rest of the shots that I like (I took over 70) I will post a link to a gallery.

http://www.fototime.com/AA0FEF5256C7410/standard.jpg

Ok, here is the gallery link: http://home.comcast.net/~king247/

[Jack_C]

Kinger, what lens did you use, the exposure is OK...

[drisley]

Hey, those are very good!

I would bump up the saturation a little, but that's just me.

What ISO did you end up having to use?

Boy, that new endzone netting they added to the rinks really sux!
If I were paying big $$ for NHL tickets, I sure wouldnt be happy.

My fave is picture 0069
:)

[Kinger]

Everything was shot with ISO 800 +1 1/3 Exposure compensation, and a shutter speed of 1/320. The shots still came out a bit dark, but I was afraid of using a slower shutter speed because I didn't want to blur the shots. and I didn't want to increase the ISO even more due to noise. The more I look at them, the happier I am with the shots, especially considering the lens I used (EF 75-300 4-5.6 USM III)

[Johnnynf]

Kinger,

Just a few questions. Great picture by the way. I am going to shoot some HS Bball tomorrow, and like you, am a "beginner with a DRebel". Did you shoot RAW or JPEG? You said you used exposure compensation...what did the pictures look like without the compensation? I think I am going to have to underexpose my pictures in order to get the shutter speed I need. Those are really good considering you shot in ISO 800. I think I am definately going to have to use 1600...don't want to, but out of necessity.

[cgratti]

Well here is my first shot that I processed from last night. Unfortunately due to the slow lens I have the shot is not as sharp as I would like. But I will let everyone else be the judge of it. When I am done with the rest of the shots that I like (I took over 70) I will post a link to a gallery.

http://www.fototime.com/AA0FEF5256C7410/standard.jpg

Ok, here is the gallery link: http://home.comcast.net/~king247/


Awesome, especially that your at a FLYERS game......

GO FLYERS!!!!!

[Kinger]

Johnny

I shot all of my pics in RAW this way I can have the most data available to correct what I needed to. Without the exposure compensation the pictures were very dark, and the historgram was way too far to the left, and I decided to use the EC in order to bring it to the right. The pictures were still intially quite dark, but there was enough information there to work with.

I have learned so much by reading this board, I suggest to use the search function, I remember there being multiple threads about shooting HS-BBall.

One last suggestion, I went into that arena the other night planning on taking pictures with the purpose of just learning, and not really expecting to get any good shots. And a bunch of them weren't, but that is all part of the learning experience. So next time, I plan on doing some things a little different, like maybe decreasing the ISO slightly and or decreasing the shutter speed slightly. I don't want to go out and just get a faster lens, I want to learn to use this lens to it capabilities. Like I heard many times on here, it's the user not the equipment.