HS Hockey

[danielcfi]

I would appreciate some critique of the pic's of my son's High School hockey team,I am somewhat new to Digital SLR Photagraphy and am reading everything I can about the subject.I have a Canon Rebal XTI with 18-200 OS lens and a Canon 50mm f1/8 , Canon 28-135 OS and 18-55 OS.Any help would be appreciated.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22969221@N04/?saved=1

[dmwierz]

Daniel,

45 photos are a lot to look through. I suggest you pick your favorite 5 or 6 and link to them so that they show here.

My overall comments are they are really too loose. Also, to shoot hockey indoors usually requires fast lenses, as in f/2.8 or faster, and nothing you list is this fast.

When you link, be sure to tell us what your exposure settings were, and what focal length your were shooting with.

BTW, I'm not familiar with the 18-55 OS (I presume you mean IS by OS). The 18-200 is the Sigma or the Tamron?

Take a look at some of the hockey posted here just today:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=435269

and here:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=433734

and here:

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=439549

Can you see the difference? Not only are the shots a LOT tighter, but they almost all have the faces of the players, the pucks, peak action, clean backgrounds, etc., all things that make up a good sports photograph.

The problem you are going to have is if you shoot your 18-200 at 200 you will be at f/6.3 which is WAY too slow for indoor sports. Probably more than 2 stops too slow.

[danielcfi]

Thanks for your comments,the link is what i use for the parents to go to look at pics,the 18-200 is a Sigma with Optical Stabilizer all other len's are Canon with IS except for the 50mm which is a f1/8 non zoom
Dan

[dmwierz]

Dan,

I didn't realize Canon had added IS to the 18-55. When did this happen? Is this the new kit lens?

While I understand your link is what parents use, if you truly want comments on your shots, you need to do some of the work yourself here, and make it easy for those on this board to review your images. Expecting members to click on and wait to download 45 thumbnails, then for them to make comments on the shots is asking an awful lot, and I doubt many will do so.

[danielcfi]

Yes the Canon lens is somewhat new,it is a upgrade to the kit lens and has IS added,cheap price under $200.00
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Reviews/Canon-EF-S-18-55mm-f-3.5-5.6-IS-Lens-Review.aspx

again thank you for your comments,when I have time I will try to pick some pictures to post onsite.
Dan

[TTurrill]

Dan,

X-2 on what Dennis said. We will definitely be happy to help you out, as we always help each other. Tom

[mister miles]

I also have been shooting indoor hockey pictures, high school and I am using a Sigma 70-200 f 2.8, with a xti canon camera. I have had very good luck on manual with ISO of 1600 or 800, setting custom WB and 2.8 and 1/250, hope that helps, find ut where all
your manual settings are and work from there. Someone told me a coffee filter taken for custom WB works well for hockey, so I am going to give that a try, I have been using the middle of the ice
before the game. It's a challenge for us amateurs!

[cstewart]

I've been shooting hockey since November and I am getting decent results, especially never having shot it before then. Here is what my process and set up usually is:

Gear: Canon 40D, 70-200 f2.8L IS lens, monopod, no flash.

Set Up: Manual Mode, ISO 1600-3200 depending on brigthness of arena. f2.8 or f3.5 again depending on light. Use a custom white balance! Take reading off ice and use it. It makes a big difference in terms of final product. Try and overexpose images slightly (ie check histogram and "shoot to the right". All the white ice and boards will make your sensor want to underexpose the image (perhaps why many of your images are a bit dark...this can also be fixed in PP)...shoot in RAW format (makes any light adjustments later easier).

Location: On my home rinks I can get in penalty box as there is no glass on them. Most away rinks have glass on them. In that case I can shoot from stands or walkway behind stands (small rinks). I try to avoid shooting thru glass as it is not usually very clean or clear in most rinks I am in.

Post Processing (PP): Generally most of what I shoot will need to be bumped up a bit on the exposure side to get rid of any slight underexposure. This could benefit your images too. If you can get exposure as close as possible in camera, then you can minimize any noise or artifacts that may get introduced when doing this. I have used Canon DPP for RAW conversion, but most recently Adobe Lightroom and like the results that Lightroom and Camera Raw converter give me. I also do some other tweaks on lighting, contrast etc., noise reduction where needed and then a touch of sharpening.

Results: Here are some examples:

http://www.cjscons.com/pwabraves/jan9/index.html
http://www.cjscons.com/pwabraves/jan12/index.html
http://www.cjscons.com/pwabraves/jan13/index.html

BTW Lightroom also provides the web page templates used in the above examples which is another reason I like it!

One other tip...learn to anticipate where the puck is going to be and "get there first". I also coach and play the game so I think I have an advantage of knowing how a play will develop, or to anticipate where a player will be on the ice. This helps me a great deal when shooting a game.

Keep at it and good luck!