AHL Preseason Ice Hockey - Milwaukee Admirals at Rockford IceHogs

Our first, and only, home preseason hockey game, featuring the Milwaukee Admirals at the Rockford IceHogs. Our first home regular season game is October 20.

Images were shot with either the 1DX + Canon 300mm 2.8L IS MK2 (over the glass) or the 1DX + 70-200 2.8L IS MK2 (through glass). C&C always welcome.

1.

i love 4 if only for the fact you can see people on the OTHER SIDE of the glass, after shooting through one layer already...

the glass in my barn is so bad (actually ive seen WORSE) that you can hardly make out who is who...

on the over the glass shots, it looks like youre pretty deep in the zone correct? theres only ONE PLACE they let me shoot over the glass and thats right at center ice next to the penalty boxes. our rink is the old (pre-1968 expansion) 185x85 size so theres no space between the two benches (which of course is still center ice), but we have seating from the goal lines to the blue lines and its bad enough i stick my head up in peoples way (we have the majority of our seating above ice level...

is the 1DX really that much better (your lighting is superb) than the 7d? i seem to get muddy, icky shots. maybe im way too critical of my work but seems everyone has better hockey pics than i do...

and ANOTHER thing, where is everyone? a lot of my shots seem to be TEEMING with players. a lot of the hockey pics posted at potn is as if there are only 3 players per team on the ice...


nice pics!

Ltdave wrote in post #15084312
i love 4 if only for the fact you can see people on the OTHER SIDE of the glass, after shooting through one layer already...

the glass in my barn is so bad (actually ive seen WORSE) that you can hardly make out who is who...

on the over the glass shots, it looks like youre pretty deep in the zone correct? theres only ONE PLACE they let me shoot over the glass and thats right at center ice next to the penalty boxes. our rink is the old (pre-1968 expansion) 185x85 size so theres no space between the two benches (which of course is still center ice), but we have seating from the goal lines to the blue lines and its bad enough i stick my head up in peoples way (we have the majority of our seating above ice level...

is the 1DX really that much better (your lighting is superb) than the 7d? i seem to get muddy, icky shots. maybe im way too critical of my work but seems everyone has better hockey pics than i do...

and ANOTHER thing, where is everyone? a lot of my shots seem to be TEEMING with players. a lot of the hockey pics posted at potn is as if there are only 3 players per team on the ice...


nice pics!

First off, thank you for the compliments. I'll try to answer your questions best I can as relates to our arena here. Long winded answers here!

Our glass here was brand new last season, so it's still in really good shape. Since this was a preseason game, many of the "team B" players were standing at the corner watching, which you don't normally get. If I am shooting on the ice level, I will shoot where those guys are standing, or where I shot that image from. But having the people there gives you a sense of depth, as normally there would be just a black area there.

On the over the glass shots, I tend to move around the arena. These were shot from a few different places. #1 was shot from center ice to behind the net, from the main level between the lower and upper section. #2 was shot from about the offensive FO circle and the player was just crossing mid ice, between lower and upper levels. #3 was shot from a few steps up on the upper level, at the same zone, roughly FO circle. Those three were shot with the 300mm. The last one, #4 was ice level, 70-200. #5 and 6 were from the same zone. I actually tracked #5 all the way from the defensive zone to the offensive zone as he had the puck up to the net.

I'm very lucky in the fact that I have free roam to shoot from almost anywhere in the arena as long as I am not blocking any spectators view. As far as ice level is concerned, there are only 3 areas I can shoot from, and they are all corners. At one end of the ice is a 'lounge' area, where people can pay more for club style seating. If there aren't many people there, I can shoot from that area, but that's very rare.

I find the 1DX is much better in terms of allowing me to shoot at higher ISO than the 7D. With the 7D, I was capped at around 2500 ISO, as if I started shooting with darker backgrounds, I would get more banding. With the 1DX, I can shoot 4000 ISO and not have to worry about any grain. Obviously, having great glass helps, too, and the 300 2.8 mk2 is an amazing piece of glass. Before this season, I shot with the 7D, and it was a great camera, but I felt limited by the grain and ISO.

For getting muddy or darker shots, there could be a few reason that come to mind: 1. Are you shooting jpg or raw? I shoot raw and use AWB and I adjust in post if necessary. One thing that has happened with both the 7D and 1DX is that in a sequence of shots, occasionally I'll get a shot or two in a sequence where the lighting turns yellow or blue. I just do my best to adjust in post if the shot is worth keeping. 2. Are you using exposure compensation at all? I'll try to shoot at +2/3 or +1 if I am in AV mode, but I noticed with the 1DX I can just shoot in manual and bump up the exposure in post to compensate for the EC. 3. I guess this goes with 1, but if you are shooting jpg, are you setting your white bal off the ice before starting to shoot? I'll dig around in the threads to see some of your shots.

To answer where is everyone, I think it comes down to a few things. Since the AHL is a step below the NHL, I think the players tend to spread out more and respect the speed of other players. The only real time players come together are at the boards or in front of the net. Also, by shooting with the 300, you get really tight images so there's not much room for other people.

Hope I answered some of your questions, and feel free to PM or reply here if you have any others. I'll more than likely post pictures from most if not all of our home games this season.

Thanks!

lots of great information...

i can direct you to some of my pics but real quick i can shoot from pretty much anywhere as well. i get the best images (IQ) from over the glass and while over the rail on the upper level is okay, its got to be quick and move before security gets too zealous...

im running a 70-200 f2.8L so the glass isnt really holding me back too much except i dont think its the sharpest copy. i do take a wb from the ice, and last year i was shooting a 550d and could get to 3200 ISO, 1/640 and f3.2. again some of my issues i think were from the MY copy of the lens...

behind the glass i usually stick to the end (zone lol) and use the 17-55 f2.8. were NAHL junior tier II so i guess i get a bit of the guys 'bunching up'. the short zoom is pretty helpful behind the net...

ive got a 1.4x that gives me an effective 448mm f4 that i might try from the corner of the upper levels so that will help with the compression, fill the frame and avoid the 'anti-litigation, puck leave the ice no hit spectator, safety net'. otherwise im shooting through it and of course that interferes to a degree too...

ill keep plugging away at my skills until i find i HAVE to go 1DX and NEW L glass lol...

thanks

Go Hawks! I mean Ice hogs...

fweasel wrote in post #15085083
Go Hawks! I mean Ice hogs...

Right on!
If you ever come in for a game, let me know and I can get you on the ice to shoot.

deveraux wrote in post #15085145
Right on!
If you ever come in for a game, let me know and I can get you on the ice to shoot.

Nice, thanks for that offer. The way things are looking in the NHL, I'll probably be making the trip out to Rockford more than once this season. At least we can see the rookies and prospects play.

fweasel wrote in post #15085083
Go Hawks! I mean Ice hogs...

Haha, exactly. I'm going to the Wolves/Hogs game on the 13th at the Allstate. I'm hoping it won't be the closest I get to a Blackhawks game this year

Great looking photos.

I know it's a bit of a random question, but you mentioned your team got new glass last year. I know it's going to be different everywhere, but how many "good years" can you typically get out of glass before it starts becoming a little more difficult to shoot in front of? I guess it depends on how much of a beating it takes, but is there any type of general answer?

Nice series of hockey images. I really like 2 and the action in 3 is very good. The timing on the final image is fantastic and the best of the bunch! Great shots!

Great, now I can't wait to get back to NY in a few weeks and shoot some Amerks...been a few season but plan on going there again, who you shoot for (this and concert stuff?)

RickyH wrote in post #15087842
Haha, exactly. I'm going to the Wolves/Hogs game on the 13th at the Allstate. I'm hoping it won't be the closest I get to a Blackhawks game this year

Great looking photos.

I know it's a bit of a random question, but you mentioned your team got new glass last year. I know it's going to be different everywhere, but how many "good years" can you typically get out of glass before it starts becoming a little more difficult to shoot in front of? I guess it depends on how much of a beating it takes, but is there any type of general answer?

Awesome, have a good time at the Wolves/'Hogs game! Such a great rivalry between those two clubs.

I think the amount of years you get on some glass really depends on how well the arena maintains the glass, and like you said, the beating it takes. I've got good rapport with the ice crew and staff, so what I usually do is have them open the door to the ice (which is right next to all three corners we shoot from) and I clean the glass myself. Also, if there are any scuff marks on the glass from sticks, pucks or misc, I usually bring one of those Mr Clean soft scrub pads and clean up both sides of the glass in the area where I am shooting.

Hopefully you can make a 'Hogs game this year!

900spg wrote in post #15089188
Nice series of hockey images. I really like 2 and the action in 3 is very good. The timing on the final image is fantastic and the best of the bunch! Great shots!

Thank you for the compliments!

MJPhotos24 wrote in post #15089663
Great, now I can't wait to get back to NY in a few weeks and shoot some Amerks...been a few season but plan on going there again, who you shoot for (this and concert stuff?)

Amerks should field a pretty good team this season. Although with the lockout, it's really hard to say who is going to have the upper-hand since some teams are going to be stacked with NHL-level talent (Like Oklahoma City and Charlotte for example).

For the IceHogs, I shoot for a local newspaper, the Rock River Times. I also write up a game review and recap for each game, and usually interview a few players here and there.

With concerts, I have a few friends that run music-related websites (legendaryrockintervie​ws.com is one) and I shoot bands on occasion for them. If there are any shows in Rockford (same stadium the IceHogs play in) I'll shoot those events for the newspaper. For example, Cirque du Soleil had a 10 day run here early this year and I shot that for the paper.