Hockey: a flying shot at the goal ;)

Alex: for sure...that's why I've since upgraded all my gear thanks for the link...very nice gallery!

Mark, thanks for the links, I'll download them when I get home have a reliable connection (this one crashes on me every few minutes lol...but it's free )

Now that you've said it's ok to edit your images, here's the one I had a go with. I'm no PS wiz, but this just took a couple of minutes. All I did was crop, fix the horizon and then set the white & black points in Curves.

Looks good.

Thanks that looks worlds better you guys have convinced me to part with my old and perhaps ignorant ways lol i'll download some pp programs as soon as i'm back home

Not ignorant. Actually rather Noble. Its just not a real world reality. We all strive to do it. But there always seems to be something we need to fix.

I'd say you did the best you could with the gear you had to workwith. You should get much better results with the new gear, but I'd be willing to bet that you'll still suffer a bit with the 70-200 f4. I think you'll end up wishing you had the extra stop of a 2.8. With my XT and the 70-200 f2.8 I still ended up with a shutter speed lower than what I wanted.

yeah, I know...I don't shoot indoor sports all that much and I just couldn't justify the extra $$$ right now for the 2.8. As it is, I could pay for my gear out of money I saved...had I gone with the 2.8, I would have had to go into debt...and that's not somewhere I wanna go right now haha

I hear you. I debated getting the Cannon 70-200 f4 vs the Sigma 70-200 f2.8. I went with the Sigma and I have no regrets. I figured if I ever get to the point that I'm making any money doing this, I'd end up trading in the Canon f4 for the 2.8 anyway, just as I would with the Sigma.

Mark: just saw your comment...thanks

tadrscin: yeah...I wanted to move within my means...and that didn't include a 2.8 haha...sadly One day, though...I got a good enough deal on it that I won't lose much (if any) money on it when I sell it. And the Sigma...it looks like a gorgeous lens...I'm just kinda scared of Sigma after my experiences lol

ahah,shooting hockey with a kit lens, i did that once and well you just basically have to place yourself behind the net or in the corners,not on the side...then do what these guys said to do

yeah, the kit lens is gone, and I tried being behind the net/in the corner, but the glass was so scratched up, it was distracting