Shooting Ice Hockey first time with 5D II

Hello,

Today I shot my very first game with 5d MKII with 70-200 f2.8 MKII. Rink was very dark and where I was sitting, lighting was not great at all but I decided to make the most of it. I know these are not amazing shots or anything but, I would love to hear what everyone thinks and how I can improve for future games.

1)

Noise reduction is a bit heavy.. looks like a video game to me.. and since EXIF isn't intact what were you shooting at?

These were mainly shot at around 1250&600 shutter speed, f2.8 for all and iso between 3200-6400.

Your white balance is off in a few (the lights cycling, no doubt) and it looks like you may have missed focus on #2 for sure, maybe 4 and 5 as well.

I like 1, keep 3. 2, 4, 5 should not be kept. Avoid that lighted board in2 ... I think that threw off your meter big time.

VinnyC01 wrote in post #13326385
Avoid that lighted board in2 ... I think that threw off your meter big time.

I always shoot hockey in full manual mode, though that isn't perfect either since the lighting isn't always even across the ice.

Karim1980 wrote in post #13325004
These were mainly shot at around 1250&600 shutter speed, f2.8 for all and iso between 3200-6400.

I would increase the exposure, even if I had to push it in post-processing. The first two are really too dark.

In your case, you could lower the shutter speed. I generally shoot at 1/500 s shutter speed unless I am in an exceptionally bright rink, partly because my ISO only goes to 1600. You will get a bit of motion blur in the puck and in hockey-stick blades, but you won't introduce as much noise when you don't have to bump the exposure as much.

Number one is well-exposed and sharp, but missing the puck.

Number two you focused on the boards, not the players.

Number three is OK.

Numbers four and five you also focused on the boards behind the players.