High School Hockey

[Lacks_focus]

Haven't posted in sports for a while. Hockey season has started; we are only 3 games in to it so far. Thought I'd post a few. CC is most welcome as I'm trying to improve as the season progresses.

All are with my 1D2 and 70-200. I did get to shoot in a college rink for one game. The light was good enough to use my 300 f/4! ISO is 1600 and all are shot wide open. Shutter speeds vary per rink, but typicaly are 1/320. PP is resize, levels, and USM only.

1. A little dark in this rink. Pre season game. I was shaking the cobwebs out, hadn't shot hockey for several months before this.


2.


3. with the 300 f/4


4.


5.

[Tigron]

Nice !

[dawiyo]

Shots look great. Only advice would maybe be a tighter crop on #1.

[tomd]

Looks like these kids don't use the mouth guard much. It's hanging from the side of their mouth. (shots #2, #4)

Nice shots.

[Lacks_focus]

Originally Posted by tomd

Looks like these kids don't use the mouth guard much. It's hanging from the side of their mouth. (shots #2, #4).

Yeah, I think they are basically decorations. I haven't noticed the Refs or Coaches saying anything. League rules. I guess they can enforce having them, but actually using them...

Thanks for the comments. I agree on a tighter crop for #1. My work flow is pick the 100 to 150 shots I want to keep out of the 700-900 shots per game. Then have a quick second look (using large thumbnails) for any that NEED to be cropped. After that, batch process!!! I'm lazy! I do try to get it framed while shooting, but some slip through. Also, I promised I'd have the pics up that night or next day by lunch at the latest, so I can't afford to spend too much time per pic and I am not quitting the day job any time soon...

[SquareOne]

I love #4. Great WB, like the DOF/Blur of the puck coming at the viewer, and a great facial capture (which can be hard with kids w/cages). Can't wait to see more from this season.

-Robbo

[dlpasco]

Nice shots. I haven't tried using my 300 f/4 indoors yet. After seeing how nice it works for you I may give it a go this weekend.

For USA Hockey youth divisions, the referee issues a warning for the first "mouthguard not in place" infraction for the team. After that, it is a ten minute misconduct penalty.

[namasste]

1 and 4 are quite good. 2 and 3 just aren't keepers imo. 2 has no puck and both sticks cutoff and 3 cuts off the top player and the angle is a bit awkward. The last is good but I'd straighten the horizon and crop to eliminate most of the net as it adds little but makes the composition odd. I did a really quick edit of 1 just to show you a tiny bit of time (less than 1 minute in this case) can really improve an image. Straighten, crop, a little shadow lift in the face, small exposure bump, and a little added saturation and that's that.

[Lacks_focus]

Thanks for the suggestions. I agree, and like your edit. I used to spend a lot more time per pic, but that was when I was just shooting my own kid and processing at my own pace. This is a little different for me. Now I'm shooting for a team and try to have the pics up right away. After a few games, the pictures are starting to look the same to me! The opposing team jerseys and the rinks are the starting to be the only difference I can see between the games. A few kids really break out and wind up in my view finder most of the time. I don’t want to miss any action, so I'll still shoot everything; I think I'll just be more selective on what gets worked.

[CanadianKitKat]

Nice shots. I really like 4.

[kwkodiak]

Good action. Have you tried to take some shots vertically?

[namasste]

Originally Posted by Lacks_focus

Thanks for the suggestions. I agree, and like your edit. I used to spend a lot more time per pic, but that was when I was just shooting my own kid and processing at my own pace. This is a little different for me. Now I'm shooting for a team and try to have the pics up right away. After a few games, the pictures are starting to look the same to me! The opposing team jerseys and the rinks are the starting to be the only difference I can see between the games. A few kids really break out and wind up in my view finder most of the time. I don’t want to miss any action, so I'll still shoot everything; I think I'll just be more selective on what gets worked.

I find that once I find a "zone" in my post work I can roll through images really quickly.

[Shadiow]

Originally Posted by dlpasco

Nice shots. I haven't tried using my 300 f/4 indoors yet. After seeing how nice it works for you I may give it a go this weekend.

For USA Hockey youth divisions, the referee issues a warning for the first "mouthguard not in place" infraction for the team. After that, it is a ten minute misconduct penalty.

I have officiated Ice Hockey (USA/NFHS/NCAA) for 14 years. I have penalized someone for a mouthgaurd violation... maybe once. The only time I can recall was when I asked a kid to get it in and he pulled it out of a glove during summer hockey. I told he made us both look like an ass and stuck him in the box. Officials RARELY penalize anyone for mouthguard violations.

[Lacks_focus]

Originally Posted by kwkodiak

Good action. Have you tried to take some shots vertically?

I have shot in the vertical / portrait mode to see what I end up with. It does work, but when I try it, I end up with sportrait style shots. To me hockey is a "horizontal" sport, and to capture the action you should use that orientation.

Have you had luck capturing action in portrait mode?

I have a game tonight; maybe I’ll give it another try.

[Hotsauce]

Originally Posted by Shadiow

I have officiated Ice Hockey (USA/NFHS/NCAA) for 14 years. I have penalized someone for a mouthgaurd violation... maybe once. The only time I can recall was when I asked a kid to get it in and he pulled it out of a glove during summer hockey. I told he made us both look like an ass and stuck him in the box. Officials RARELY penalize anyone for mouthguard violations.

Not where I play. If it was dangling like that the ref would come to the bench and give the whole team a warning and next person to get caught gets 10 minutes to think.

Nice shots