Beginner's attempt at hockey

[newphotog]

Hey there!

I'm new to the forums but have been a lurker long before I owned a camera. I've been shooting since January and am slowly taking on new "assignments." Just wondering if anyone had any suggestions for two shots I took last night. The assignment required that I take a primary that could be run on the front page of the paper and a secondary that could accompany it (perhaps within the paper) without the subject. Any comments are welcome.

Primary:


Nathan MacKinnon #22 - Halifax Mooseheads by ChristophParent, on Flickr


Secondary:


Harbour Station (Halifax vs. SJ) by ChristophParent, on Flickr



Cheers!
Chris

 

[robolepa]

I'm not quite sure what your assignment was, and what the difference is between the primary and secondary photos. Is the primary shot supposed to be an action shot? The secondary is supposed to accompany the first, but without the subject. But what is the subject in the first shot? Is it that particular player, or is it of the game? If it's of that player, you got a nice shot of his face, but there is no way to identify which team he's on, because his team logo is almost entirely hidden. What's the player doing, anyway? No opposing team members are visible, and he's standing there without a hockey stick. What I assume was your assignment for the first photo was a game shot. Good sports photos capture peak action, taken from a vantage point where emotion and intensity are evident. If you're not capturing full shots of the players, keep an eye on the benches for emotions following a goal.

Shot number 2 is a great shot of the rink - composition is nice, it's nicely lit, but what kind of story does it tell? Is it a new stadium? If that's not the case, I'm kind of confused what story it tells.

 

[Bossy]

#1 would've been better as a vertical, or pulled back. His hand between his leg isn't working. Or possibly crop in closer.

 

[Big Mike]

Welcome to the forum.

They are underexposed....the first one especially. The ice & boards are grey (not white) and the player is much too dark. That is exactly what the camera's meter is trying to do, so when you have a lot of bright (white) in your scene, you'll need to compensate the exposure to the positive.

 

[newphotog]

Hey there,

Thanks to all for the comments. I'll try to explain the composition and reasoning for each shot.

My story was about Nathan MacKinnon (in the picture). He returned after a broken thumb and this was his first game back. I tried to capture a nice action shot, but he didn't play much because of his injury. The best I could do was at the face-off. I left the shot as is in terms of cropping because I wanted to give the impression that he was lining up as a left wing and not playing centre, like he usually does.

The rink shot was too show a rather full arena. It was 2$ Tuesday so they had a rather large crowd.

In terms of the exposure, my exposure was initially dead on. I agree that they are both underexposed, but I tweaked it in LR to go for the look I wanted.

Thanks again,
Chris

 

[newphotog]

Would anyone else crop the first shot tighter on the right?

Also, here is a description of the assignment:

Assignment #5: Take your camera to an event: news, sports,entertainment or political and:
1) Do not shoot for the first 10 minutes of the event. Just observe - note thevisual elements: the light, composition. Observation is the key to coveringan event visually. Do a walk about...move. Use the 360 rule. Listen towhat is happening.
2) Shoot the event, as if you were working for a daily newspaper and theyhad space for only ONE picture. Get proper information to be used withthe image: ie: subjects' name, place, event.
3) Interpret the event visually without shooting the main subject. Use the'behind the scenes' details to tell the story. Use symbolism.
Submit TWO images - 1) 'main photo' that a newspaper would considerfor publication and 2) a secondary 'supporting' shot that tells the samestory, only from a different perspective.

 

[Railphotog]

Hey! Photos from here! Did you have any problems shooting with a longer lens at Harbour Station? Asking because I've only been to one hockey game there about ten years ago, took our son who was home visiting from BC. At the time I had my first digital camera, an HP point and shoot with all of 1.3MP, and wanted to see if I could get some photos of the game with it. Several times the ushers told me I wasn't allowed to take photos. I did get some, but wondered why they were so perturbed. I've never been back for a game and wondered if you might have had problems using a bigger camera,

 

[newphotog]

Howdy Railphotog!

I didn't have any issues down below as I had a media pass and stayed close to the staff photographers. Funny you mention it though. When I took the shot from the upper bowl there was a guy sporting a 300mm. I couldn't believe it - no idea how he snuck that in.