AHL Ice Hockey - Grand Rapids at Rockford

I'm one of the photographers for the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, the Rockford IceHogs. Our first home game of the season was Saturday with Rockford coming from behind to win in a shootout against the reigning Calder Cup champion Grand Rapids Griffins. It was also our first game with our brand new upgraded lighting, and I'm beyond thrilled with the results. With our previous fluorescent lighting, I was shooting at 1/640, 3.2 and 3200 ISO and still having to adjust a bit in post. Our new LED lighting was only turned on to 70% and I was getting 1/1000, 3.2 at 2000 ISO, with little in post, so a big improvement. Anyway, on with the shots:

1.

6 is the bomb!!!

Many thanks!

Fantastic photos. Were you in the stands? Did you move around?

They appear to be shot from half way between the blue line and the goal line with the subjects being across the rink facing you. Would you say that is the best spot for photos of shots on goal?

Nice job ! Good quality stuff.

Ice looks a bit hot in some of them....blown out a tad. ie., #3 no differentiation between the ice and the bottom of the stick.

You shoot from pretty high up. By choice? Usually low perspective is one of the features that makes a sport shot look 'pro" . But then again shots from higher up usually look like snapshots, and these are miles from that. Just curious.

Cheers !

I was at the same game too - Here is what I shot from my seat...

1. final save by Raanta in the shoot out

Thanks for the replies/C&C. I typically shoot from the concourse between the lower and upper bowls because I can shoot over the glass. As far as best spot for shots on goal, it's really up to your shooting style and how you want to frame the potential shot(s) on goal. For me, it depends on what type of reaction I am looking for, a skater or goalie. Shooting higher and towards the goal you have a better chance of getting the goalies eyes and focused attention, which I feel adds to a photo. Shooting low and on the ice you get the players reaction if they score, so it depends on what you want.

@Darsk, thanks for the C&C, and now that I look at it, I see the stick and ice blown out. Thanks for picking that up. Since we have new lights I am still getting my settings down, which I feel I'm close after that one game. I'll most likely drop the ISO a stop or two, or even bump to 1/1250.

And yes, I decided to shoot this game up higher by choice. Since it was opening night we had about 6 shooters (not including TV crew) in the house, and we only have three corners to shoot from, so I decided to stay high for the game. I did shoot for the first 5 minutes from ice level because I was on the ice for the starting lineups and couldn't make it back up before the puck dropped. Also, I really like using the 300 for hockey, and I can't use it very well while on the ice. Typically, however, I will shoot half the game from above and half on the ice. The one drawback of shooting on the ice is we do not have port holes to shoot through, so we have to find a clean spot on the glass to get through.

Thanks again, all.

I agree that the new lights are great - almost need more sensor dynamic range!

fantastic shots! i agree with the slightly elevated position in getting just a little bit of separation of the players so they dont look so crowded to each other or 'stacked up'...

probably 1 and 5 are the stand outs to me...

the lighting in my barn (1960) gave me about the same settings 1/640 f3.2 (sometimes 3.5) and ISO 3200 or 4000. its Mercury Vapor (or is it High Pressure Sodium? never can remember)...

i too cant shoot through the glass very well and since its a pre-68 rink i save 7-1/2' on each end so i usually shoot OVER the glass at the redline. the rink has been modded to have both teams on one side but the time keeper and penalty boxes are still 'off-center'. it gets me right in the middle which works well...

i try to get behind the goalies for parts of a game and once and a while will shoot from the seats. id LOVE to have a 300 f2.8 for that! running a 1.4x on the 70-200 f2.8 for seat shots...

i would be you have some good spots in the glass to shoot through. ive seen some NICE glass in NAHL (junior tier II) rinks so im sure youve got as good or better!

I shot a WWE show in Rockford over the summer, & one of the PR women was telling me about the new lighting that would be there this season, so I'm glad it's working out for you. I'm making it a point to get out there again for an IceHogs game this year. I'm really big on Raanta this year, & can't wait until he gets called up.

I really like your set, & don't mind them being up higher. It's a nice change of pace. I would imagine it would be tough to shoot with a 300 on the glass, have you had much success with it?

Darsk47 wrote in post #16388749
Ice looks a bit hot in some of them....blown out a tad. ie., #3 no differentiation between the ice and the bottom of the stick.

deveraux wrote in post #16388804
@Darsk, thanks for the C&C, and now that I look at it, I see the stick and ice blown out. Thanks for picking that up. Since we have new lights I am still getting my settings down, which I feel I'm close after that one game. I'll most likely drop the ISO a stop or two, or even bump to 1/1250.

Exposure looks great on the players to me, but the highlights do look hot - any chance you can tame just the highlights? Of course easier said than done if these were shot in JPEG.

Great stuff btw!

Thanks all for the C&C.

@tmfs - Nice shooting, especially from the seats. The good thing about shooting from a seated area on the sides is you don't have to deal with any scuffs on that glass. That's the major problem with the corners, so I try to shoot elsewhere. They haven't put the steps in from the corner up the stands, so it's a pain going back and forth right now. Hopefully it will be ready by Saturday.

@Dave - We just had the glass replaced two season ago, but they don't take too much care of it as far as scuffs and such on the corner glass. I had thought about getting there really early one day and hopping on the ice with a razor blade and scratching some of the rubber/composite off, but I never seem to make it there early enough.

@Ricky - The lighting is def worth attending another event. I'm sure that WWE doesn't bring all of their own lights and have to use some arena lighting, but when I shot them a few years ago I can't remember if they used any house lighting or not. They may decide to on their next go-around. Also, I haven't had much luck with the 300, but then again I haven't used it with the new lighting. We have two games this weekend, including the Stanley Cup coming to town on Sunday, so I am sure I'll get the chance to use it then.

@joeblack - Thanks for the C&C. I do shoot RAW, so on the images that look hotter than others (3 for example) I will go through and pull them back a bit. I really like to get that ice nice and white and I tend to overlook the other white areas, so I'll have to remind myself to keep on it.

Thanks again everyone for all of your comments. I'll have two more games to post after this weekend, and hope to get some awesome shots of the Stanley Cup as well as the other hardware they'll be bringing.

Thanks for your compliment. For what it's worth, I am on the end, so it is scratched up posix as well. Just have find a clearer spot in the plexi. Limited to a 3" lens, so my 85mm prime was the best I could do.

Excellent shots! Thanks for mentioning that you were using the 300 for these.

Very nice set of images. I'll have to admit that I'm super jealous of the lighting.