Ice Hockey Over the Hols

these are great. I want to try hocky shots ...we are going to a game sat.

Oooo I'll have to remember the goalie angle.

Well I just look for a bit of action to that side of the net as I'm shooting from the lefthand side of the rink. If Trevor comes to that post for a stop or a block then I usually focus on him, then let rip with a burst of shots, I've found that's the best way to actually have a chance of having the puck nicely in the shot. If I see the puck I've usually missed the shot.

From the top of the blue line I've usually zoomed nearly all the way in on my 70-200.

Great pics Scott. Those blew me away with the way they popped at me. Absolutely awesome work.

I shoot a lot of youth hockey in dimly lit arenas. I'm shooting at 1600 ISO, 2.8. I'm lucky if I can get 250 shutter speed because of the bad lighting. Any suggestions?

Well the 20D is pretty good at 1600 ISO for noise but consider using Noiseware or the like afterwards to clean it up a bit. I was using a Sigma until last week and it is a fairly capable lens. You didn't say what mode you were using but try using manual or aperture. TV will probably give you darker pics. You can recover a darker picture in Photoshop (Duplicate the layer, change to SCREEN mode, adjust using the opacity) in a variety of ways so shooting a third of a stop darker may give you 320 if you are lucky, setting that in manual is the easiest way as you can tweak your shutter speed as you move around.

Try and find the brightest spots in the rink you can, shoot without the glass if possible, either over the top of the plexi or from the bench. Glass will cost you light. Clean the glass if you can.

I'd opt for shooting face off's or focus on the net minder and shoot bursts there. Alternatively try shooting with a panning technique, that may help as you haven't got IS. You're going to struggle to freeze the action at that shutter speed so go for what seems the slowest action you can capture. I started my hockey photography with a Sigma on a 350D and began with the slower things.

Don't forget to get portrait type shots as the action stops, everyone slows down, turns round to have a quick natter with their mate etc. If the netminder turns around regularly for a drink then consider going behind the goal area and getting a helmet shot.

Hope this helps.

Scott

scott wiggins wrote in post #2456686
Well the 20D is pretty good at 1600 ISO for noise but consider using Noiseware or the like afterwards to clean it up a bit. I was using a Sigma until last week and it is a fairly capable lens. You didn't say what mode you were using but try using manual or aperture. TV will probably give you darker pics. You can recover a darker picture in Photoshop (Duplicate the layer, change to SCREEN mode, adjust using the opacity) in a variety of ways so shooting a third of a stop darker may give you 320 if you are lucky, setting that in manual is the easiest way as you can tweak your shutter speed as you move around.

Try and find the brightest spots in the rink you can, shoot without the glass if possible, either over the top of the plexi or from the bench. Glass will cost you light. Clean the glass if you can.

I'd opt for shooting face off's or focus on the net minder and shoot bursts there. Alternatively try shooting with a panning technique, that may help as you haven't got IS. You're going to struggle to freeze the action at that shutter speed so go for what seems the slowest action you can capture. I started my hockey photography with a Sigma on a 350D and began with the slower things.

Don't forget to get portrait type shots as the action stops, everyone slows down, turns round to have a quick natter with their mate etc. If the netminder turns around regularly for a drink then consider going behind the goal area and getting a helmet shot.

Hope this helps.

Scott

Thanks for the tips Scott. I always shoot in Manual at the rink.

Nice shots!

Great Shots! Nothing beats a good hockey shot imho.

What program are you using to put that nice black frame/border on these shots?

Great shots! I tried to access the EXIF, but it wouldn't work. Were these shot in RAW? Were there post-prosessing color adjustments? Did you shoot in manual? What shutter speed and ISO did you use? Also, did you use AWB or custom white balance? The pictures are incredibly sharp with excellent color. I have the same camera and take hockey shots, but am not getting these type of results. Thanks!! dsquared

Wow! Those are great! I wish I had the lens's to shoot hockey.. there is all kinds a major tournaments going on here right now.

dsquared wrote in post #2457423
Great shots! I tried to access the EXIF, but it wouldn't work. Were these shot in RAW? Were there post-prosessing color adjustments? Did you shoot in manual? What shutter speed and ISO did you use? Also, did you use AWB or custom white balance? The pictures are incredibly sharp with excellent color. I have the same camera and take hockey shots, but am not getting these type of results. Thanks!! dsquared

To answer your questions:

1) I always shoot JPEG fine at games. I only shoot RAW+jpeg for presentations etc. You lose the burst rate with the RAW on with all the extra data going to the card.

2) I shoot Manual, ISO 800, f2.8, shutter speed between 400 and 500 per my post above re the lights. Check your histogram and also what the exposure guide in the viewfinder tells you. I prefer to shoot slightly dark rather than slightly bright. I also use Auto White Balance as our lights are pretty white and not the older yellow sodium ones some rinks have.

3) PP is done in photoshop. Usually along the lines of Straighten (If needed), Crop, Levels (Bring the outer arrows in, manually adjust mid point if needed), Curves (Auto for speed usually but setup per Scott Kelby's recommendations in his CS2 photographers book), Noise, Sharpen (A light sharpen, over sharpened looks bad). Occasionally I might use Shadow/Highlight if I have a picture that needs it. Some teams here wear black as their away strip and it helps pull a bit more detail out.


Regards the black borders, this is setup as an action now for speed but it essentially goes as follows:

1) Duplicate layer
2) On background layer add canvas size of 1 inch of black all around
3) Select the duplicate layer and add a layer style. 10 pixel white stroke on the inside so the corners are square.

I prefer to flatten manually afterwards so I have more flexibility.

Regards,

Scott