My Annual Hockey Adventure... UNC vs Duke

I only do this once a year - probably a good thing. I spent most of the game shooting through the glass, and had set a custom white balance for it. Unfortunately when I decided to move above the glass, I forgot to compensate back again and a few shots got really messed up because of it. Anyway, for your comment and critique, I would love to learn from you all how to do this right. We can get the fact that they look muddy right out of the way...shooting through green tinted glass tends to do that. I just need to perfect dealling with it.

The cool thing is I finally got to meet POTN member DavidEB - hockey photographer extraordinaire.. he shows up in a couple of shots.

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Great shots...I like them all!!!

Awesome shots...Now I have to figure out why I can't get mine so crisp!

Ross

your usual excellent work. when I shoot thru glass they don't come out anywhere near this nice.

I'm still post-processing mine, but I can tell you already they're not up to your standard.

I was hoping for basketball subconsciously. But hockey will do. I have yet to attempt it. Almost got the chance last week, but didn't.

Definitely seems like it would be one of the most challenging things i'd ever shoot. Heck, i don't even feel skilled enough to comment. Looks good though.

Well one thing I am seeing right now is that I had been shooting in sRGB just to make workflow shorter. I recently went back to AdobeRGB, and forgot to convert these back to sRGB before posting. When looking at these on the web, they are absolutely duller then then they look is Photoshop. You would think I would learn to quit tinkering with things. Note to me, set camera back to sRGB.

Greg... you need to do it. It's one of those fun little things that remind us what we don't know. Tracking a puck with a 300mm... it adds a little excitement back. Did I mention that the equipment conducts the cold really quick too, my hands were freezing. And yes, the real game is only a couple of weeks away, but this was fun none-the-less.

David, truely a pleasure to meet up with you finally. Hope to see ya around some more. I am sure your shots will be great.

Ross.... I post process the crap out of them. Plain and simple. I am not one of those people that claim to get perfect shots out of the camera everytime. The shots have to be in focus to start with, but upping color saturation, correcting colors, balancing the contrast also do loads for making them look right. I shot half JPEG and half RAW, and honestly the JPEGs were alot easier to deal with.

Jim - many thanks for the kind comments.

Very nice shots Croasdail, #1, #2, #3, and #5 are great, the facial expressions really tell more about the photo. The ice spray in #6 is cool, its fun to get the photos home and find stuff like this isn't it. And #7 shows alot of disappointment on UNC's part. But again nice stuff,

Do you guys ever use monopods while shooting hockey...or is it mostly hand-held? I can see there would be benefits doing it either way. Just curious.

I have recently began using a monopod, it was a little weird to get use to at first but I can see a difference in my photos as my shutter speeds with a max aper. of f4 are pretty low. They all are a little sharper now.

Well, Mark, you are the master. I went to another game today, and shot one period thru the glass. Picked out the cleanest glass I could find (actually used the same spot you were in) and all my shots from there looked hazy. Not one came out any good. I went back to my usual position from the box.

How did you get crisp shots thru the glass?

And we meet David too -- good to meet you! Thanks for the pic, Mark! Nice hockey pics too and I'm reminded once again that it's a sport I doubt I could ever shoot with anything even approaching success.

Jim7226 - I use a monopod all the time. I have found it has really helped my keeper rate by providing a steady platform to shoot from. Not the coolest looking thing, but has really helped. I have also started using a trigger grip instead of a ball head which helped with changing setups really quick. I recommend using one, but it's not for everyone, and there are those that will tell you using a monopod isn't very manly. Oh well.

David, don't know what to say, other then I don't know. I just looked for the cleanest areas I could and kept the lens right up on the glass. Go figure.

Jerry - your being way to modest. I am sure you would do just great at it.