British Ice Hockey (Edinburgh Caps)

Hi there

Soon after I bought my new body and lense (30D and 70-200f2.8LIS) I decided to give Ice Hockey a try again (my 300D and 70-300f4/5.6 were just not up to it).

Using ISO1600 and running an average of 1/400s in Tv mode here are the results.

All photos shot in RAW and I custom converted them. The rink is very dark and I took all the shots from up in the seats.

I know they are noisy and my efforts to remove the noise (using only basic PS controls) loses some clarity. Any help on how to remove the noise without compromising the photos would be a great help.

Thanks in advance

Good attempt by the goallie to get back but it was a goal.

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I am new to sports shooting but i know how hard hockey is . As far as compistion goes i really like the first and second shots ( i wish the puck was seen in the first one but thats not as easy as it sounds ) .

Good shots from a tough angle - hard to catch faces under the helmets when you're shooting down, and you did it.

#1 -- I'd think the white team would pay you to bury this photo. The D's must have both played the puck carrier, and let the shooter go free, and they're facing the wrong way. The goalie shouldn't have come out of the net against that kind of offence.

#2 for me is a great shot. maybe use levels and up the black point a little, or apply a curves correction like this (attached), to bump the contrast in the darker parts.

nice work.

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crawford wrote in post #2293378
Any help on how to remove the noise without compromising the photos would be a great help.

I've been playing with Noiseware. I think the results are pretty good. Here's a before and after of the same shot with the same PP settings. Only diff is the default setting in Noiseware was applied.

I’ve even tried it on some film scans I have. Works well (OK well enough) even with Fuji Press 1600!

The result is more dramatic in larger size. This pic was shot @ ISO 1600. I've played with a few ISO 3200 shots, and the results are just as good.

Before.

Thanks David,

Will look at using curves to improve the contrast. By the way the team in white are my team, is it any wonder they are bottom of the league

Thanks Lacks Focus

I'll give it a try as most of the shots I took were at the extremes of the capabilities of my kit and possibly still underexposed (it really is a dark ice rink despite all the lights). Hopefully it will resurect a few up to printable standard. I may even open up the 30D to ISO3200 next time as I've read on the forum correct exposure at any ISO provides a better image to noise ratio than an under/over exposed image at a lower ISO setting.

looks a little blown out I agree