Tips on shooting hockey?

[Roo]

Thanks for the advice and compliments Northstar! Nicely pointed out about the extra crop - removing the extra bit of stick that added nothing to the photo certainly refocused it.

I did my second shoot last weekend and the game was a bit more willing - I lost count of the penalty minutes lol. I decided to try some slow shutter panning during the warm up. I got a couple of just ok shots but definitely wouldn't try it in game until I improved a lot more.

 

[FTb-n]

Roo, I like the controlled motion blur of your slow shutter speed shot and would rank it much better than "ok".
Panning with slow shutter speeds was a necessity before high ISO digital cameras, but it's easy to forget about this technique when you don't need it for proper exposure. Definitely keep working it. You've reminded me to do the same when I shoot figure skating.

 

[jdramirez]

Roo, I like the controlled motion blur of your slow shutter speed shot and would rank it much better than "ok".
Panning with slow shutter speeds was a necessity before high ISO digital cameras, but it's easy to forget about this technique when you don't need it for proper exposure. Definitely keep working it. You've reminded me to do the same when I shoot figure skating.

I was at a minor league baseball game yesterday and they had photos of stars from today and yesterday blown up to around 24x30... and I could hardly believe what passed for action shots back in the 70's and 80's. They were grainy and looked out of focus... not to mention the slow shutter speeds really didn't help.

I know it isn't a fair comparison, but I'm still blown away.

 

[jdramirez]

And slow exposures can be timeless. Who doesn't think of the one national geographic shot any time you hear about a whirling dirbish...

 

[jdramirez]

I'm going to take a stab at shooting hockey tonight... I'll let y'all know how bad of a job I do.

 

[Roo]

Good luck jd Looking forward to seeing the results.

 

[jdramirez]

Good luck jd Looking forward to seeing the results.

Are there cheerleaders @ hockey games... I would not guess, because their HIGH BEAMS would be on all night long...

 

[jdramirez]

I haven't watched hockey for the joy of it since 1996... whenever the Carolina Panthers fans were throwing rats onto the ice. So I have no instincts for the sport... not the way I do for basketball and football.

And can I say... the game is a lot faster than I was expecting... sure I'd like the puck in the frame, but I was thinking I would be able to take some long (.5 second) shots and pan across the ice... and that really didn't happen... and the plastic glass they use... wow... that is so scuffed... and I was shooting close to the glass to blur the scuffs into the foreground, but when the light reflects off of it... geesh. I don't envy the task of doing this often.

I shot at f/2.8 on my 70-200 and I was happy enough with the shots... I could have zoomed in more... but I understand I didn't want to cut off heads.. and then f/1.2 with my 85L mkii... and the AF was faster than I was expecting... but even with the distance to the subject, the DOF wasn't that great... and everyone was wearing a mask... so EVEN if I focused on their face... it wouldn't have helped that much because I would have still be 3 inches away from their face/eyes... so I like the f/1.2 shots... enough that I don't mind the faces being blah...

Then I shot some long exposures using a monopod and they were ok... I was trying to get the speed of the game, but @ a 1/4 of a second, I still wasn't getting the look of exactly what I wanted... so I'm thinking of trying again at an faster speeds, but until I get it just right... just enough blur... that it looks like what I envision.

I saved the shots @ 58% of .jpg via lightroom... so they aren't the best in image quality, but I didn't feel like uploading overnight. And excuse the GIANT copyright... I'm sending them to a team manager for the team in white...

https://www.flickr.com/photos/55197309@N02/sets/72157648769889669/

OH... and for some reason, stupid windows photo viewer is showing the images a good 1 or 2 stops darker than what they are... so that is annoying... and I had to fight with LR5 to get the copyright even on the images... so it was a rough night...

and as a quick side note before I go to bed... I didn't notice the CA until I was halfway through... so the purple glow should be gone after all is said and done. and I think the WB is off... so... yeah... it is a very rough draft... but it is something to get better @

 

[Roo]

I understand what you are saying. It's fast, the screens are dirty and scuffed, most times the rink lighting sucks but after all that your shots still came out good and will look better with some work in lightroom The shot with the goalie in focus but the players blurred is something I was thinking of trying. It gives a surreal sense to the goalie's position - calm and focused while everything around is chaos.

 

[jdramirez]

I understand what you are saying. It's fast, the screens are dirty and scuffed, most times the rink lighting sucks but after all that your shots still came out good and will look better with some work in lightroom The shot with the goalie in focus but the players blurred is something I was thinking of trying. It gives a surreal sense to the goalie's position - calm and focused while everything around is chaos.

I'm fighting with Lightroom, my screen, and my photo viewer... I can't get the shot to look like it should... and I used xrite... So it is a work in progress.

 

[Roo]

Currently shooting a junior ice hockey international series. These were from the first game ever to be played here with a pink puck.

 

[jdramirez]

Good angle on the goalie shot. At my arena, it is curved and it just is blurry and bends the light in an awful way... Out at least that's my perception of what is going on.

 

[Raptors]

Great pictures everyone!!

I shoot a lot of hockey, mainly tournaments. We shoot with a 300mm 2.8 II and we have the advance of shooting from the bench, so we don't have to shoot through the glass.

 

[jdramirez]

Great pictures everyone!!

I shoot a lot of hockey, mainly tournaments. We shoot with a 300mm 2.8 II and we have the advance of shooting from the bench, so we don't have to shoot through the glass.

The guy in the 2nd shot looks like Mitt Romney.

 

[Yoyomalu8]

Thanks for the advice and compliments Northstar! Nicely pointed out about the extra crop - removing the extra bit of stick that added nothing to the photo certainly refocused it.

I did my second shoot last weekend and the game was a bit more willing - I lost count of the penalty minutes lol. I decided to try some slow shutter panning during the warm up. I got a couple of just ok shots but definitely wouldn't try it in game until I improved a lot more.

Good tips,nice photos!






---------------------------------------------
étui galaxy alpha
housse samsung galaxy alpha

 

[cellomaster27]

I was asked to shoot a hockey game just last weekend at the SAP center, home for SJ Sharks! I read plenty before going especially since I've never been to a hockey game. I only hear that its challenging and yes, I can attest to that! But it was so much fun, though my gear was lacking in ways. Also didn't get access to the "holes" so I had to shoot through the plexiglass. meh. Shot with SL1 and 85mm 1.8. Advice/tips are greatly appreciated!

 

[cellomaster27]

one more.

 

[Northstar]

one more.

Nice shots cello...sounds like fun!

Editing can help hockey photos quite a bit...it seems like i almost always have to bump the exposure and shadows in PP when shooting hockey because there usually isn't enough light to begin with. Also, with shots through the glass, the image sometimes is a little cloudy, but adding some contrast will usually diminish the cloudiness.

I edited your second photo by raising the exposure and shadows, and cropping a bit more. What do you think?

 

[Yeayea]

Looks good Northstar. I'll be shooting my first hockey game next weekend and read through your posts, which have some really great tips. Thanks

 

[cellomaster27]

one more.

Nice shots cello...sounds like fun!

Editing can help hockey photos quite a bit...it seems like i almost always have to bump the exposure and shadows in PP when shooting hockey because there usually isn't enough light to begin with. Also, with shots through the glass, the image sometimes is a little cloudy, but adding some contrast will usually diminish the cloudiness.

I edited your second photo by raising the exposure and shadows, and cropping a bit more. What do you think?

Ah yes! That looks so much better!! Thank you!

I'm always looking for better glass.. not that the 85mm isn't great but I realized how useful a zoom could be. Maybe I need to plan for a sigma 120-300 2.8? or even tamron 70-200 2.8. f4 is not going to work! Ideally, I'm thinking the 7D II with a fast zoom lens.