AHL Hockey - Grand Rapids at Rockford 01-04-14

Finally beat the reigning Calder Cup champs at home this season. Good action, physical play, and a fight. We also got Jason LaBarbara in net now that Antti Raanta is backing up in Chicago.

1.

Love 'em all, but 1, 5 and 7 are standouts!

Very nice. Such good shots.

Many thanks!

I love the fight photo!

RickyH wrote in post #16600792
I love the fight photo!

Thanks! Don't get as many fights as we used to, so when they pop up I have to take advantage of 'em.

Great set!

Nice to see LaBarbera getting some ice time after being traded but he was absolutely brutal for us in the bigs...

Your shots are always amazing. Can you share your settings when usinng your 70-200 and comment on how you set up your white balance and overall exposure prior to processing? I am veteran hockey guy but new to photograhy. Thanks

joeblack2022 wrote in post #16605414
Great set!

Nice to see LaBarbera getting some ice time after being traded but he was absolutely brutal for us in the bigs...

He's been up and down for us so far, but our D-core was dismantled at the season start. We lost Ryan Stanton to waivers to the Nucks, and he was going to be our top D-man. Dylan Olsen was traded to Florida, so that's two of our top 4 that are gone. We've also got a young team, so there's still quite a few communication problems and learning, so the net gets hung out to dry more than it should. He's a nice guy, so hopefully he sticks somewhere. I'm sure he'll be here for the rest of the season.

Big Jake wrote in post #16610228
Your shots are always amazing. Can you share your settings when usinng your 70-200 and comment on how you set up your white balance and overall exposure prior to processing? I am veteran hockey guy but new to photograhy. Thanks

Many thanks for the compliments, and glad you enjoy my images! I'll try to answer your questions the best I can.

Either lens I always use AWB, but adjust it in post processing. Since we have LED lights, they are always the same temperature, so I never have to change the WB. I could, however, in camera set it to 4500K and I wouldn't have to adjust in post. But since I shoot RAW, I have a profile set up in Adobe Camera Raw that stores all my settings for wherever I am shooting. For example, when I am on the ice, I have my Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Shadows, etc., all preset for that specific location. In the 1Dx, I create a new folder for the location I am shooting, so when I transfer my images over, I know exactly where I shot from, and I apply the presets accordingly. Makes the workflow much smoother.

For my other settings, I use a shutter speed of 1/1000, f 3.2 and 2000 ISO. Depending on where I am shooting from, that is either 1/3 or 1/2 stop underexposed, which I bump in Camera Raw. The only time that will change is if I am shooting the 70-200 on the ice, and for that I will bump up the ISO to 2500 so I can deal with losing a few stops of light due to shooting through the glass.

Personally, I feel anything under 1/1000 is not fast enough to capture the action, and at times I find that even too slow. I used to shoot at 1/640, but that was because of our old lighting. That was also at 3200 ISO. Ideally, I would like to shoot around 1/1600, which I may try one game to see if I can pull it off. Sometimes you just do not have a choice as you are limited by the lighting your rink has in place.

If you have any other questions, please feel free to post them on any of my threads, or you can PM me as well.

#3 is my Fav and thank you for sharing your insight. I know I've learnt a few things from your post.

your best work all season in my opinion!

Many thanks you guys! Still got a few games to post, so hopefully everyone will enjoy them as well.

Fantastic set as usual. 4 and 5 are my favorites. Always impressed with your goalkeeper shots.

i think i found something ELSE about your photos that is missing in mine. (besides the lighting and the FABULOUS post lol)...

your players REALLY FILL the frame! how do you do it when you shoot the zoom through the glass? i shoot over the glass, RIGHT at the glass and if i frame the goalie im at 130mm-ish on the same lens but theres then usually no one else around. if i get any other players theres no goalie to be seen (lost in the melee)...

i might have missed this in the past but youre saying you DONT shoot Expose to the Right but 1/3-1/2 stop UNDER exposed? ive noticed i can bump the exposure up a little bit myself in post so maybe ill start shooting a bit under too. i usually get decent results over the glass with 1/640, f3.2 ant 2500 ISO. ive shot at 3200 but i think theres too much noise even with my 5d3...

i also think im going to move up rink a bit from where im at. half way between net and face off dot (circle). i thought you had some from that angle and im trying to follow your lead. not too many clean break-aways at my level so theres usually a lot of traffic or none at all in front of the net...

family is Amtraking to Chi-town over mid-winter break but i dont get to come up to learn from the master this time...

LOVE #3 and the last one with the "close my eyes and hope for the best" goalie pic...