Hockey

Photographiend · May 26, 2013

These are brutal. I already know. Working in very poor light conditions with one lens. Nonetheless my first attempt so... wanted to share.

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Radical · May 27, 2013

Shooting through the glass is almost impossible, I used to get high in the stands and use my 70-300mm with ISO.

Photographiend · May 27, 2013

Mu hubs is talking about getting me one of those 200 or 300mm lenses. The lighting kills me though I was already shooting at 1600 ISO.

Radical · May 28, 2013

Ya I know, you may have to go higher in some buildings and going high in the stands limits you on the action but I spent 14 years hauling my son around country and the last two taking pictures of his teams and it does get very frustrating at times, but hang in ther.

imagemaker46 · May 28, 2013

Radical said:
Shooting through the glass is almost impossible, I used to get high in the stands and use my 70-300mm with ISO.

Shooting through the glass or shooting through the netting that goes above the glass in most arenas shouldn't create many problems, the biggest issue is the gear that is being used, especially the lens and iso capabilities of the camera. There is nothing wrong with shooting hockey at 1600iso, and in most cases going higher is better, keeping the shutter speed around 500th sec and f stop as wide open as you can. This is where the right camera and lens comes into play.

pixmedic · May 28, 2013

What lens and camera were used for these? ISO 1600 would probably be fine with a long fast lens.

Imagemaker46 is a phenomenal resource for sports photography, and his work shows it. If you plan to do more of this type of shooting, hes a good person to talk to.

Photographiend · May 28, 2013

Thanks guys. My cams max ISO is 1600. My lens is 18-55mm f3 -5.6 just the one it came with still new to me.

In regards to having a fast lens, I did read about these but I am struggling to find lenses that are actually regarded as "fast" is that just specific to the max aperture? The larger the faster? I am also concerned this will make it more difficult to nail my focus. We found a long lens that is in our price range but the aperture doesn't get any larger than what I was already shooting.

Really appreciate the feedback. Thanks again.

imagemaker46 · May 28, 2013

Fast lens 2.8 Price jumps a lot when you get into this area, best lens for the average photographer that can afford a new lens, would be the 70-200mm f 2.8, it is the professional photographers workhorse lens and can open up a whole new world of what you can shoot. It will also allow you to shoot at 800iso-1600iso in most conditions. But you've already mentioned price range, so I'm assuming that spending $2000+ on just a lens is out of the question. Shooting hockey with a wide can get you great stuff, in close where body checking is involved along the glass, not so good for rec hockey though.

ktan7 · May 30, 2013

Good effort on these photographs

But the scratches in the glass doesn't really help.

imagemaker46 · May 31, 2013

ktan7 said:
Good effort on these photographs But the scratches in the glass doesn't really help.

Most of the scratches can be eliminated by shooting with longer glass. When I shoot hockey I walk around both ends of the rink looking for the clean spots, if the ice or building crew allow you on to the ice before the warm-ups, you can use a safety edge razor to scrap some of the puck and tape marks off the glass you want to shoot through, use some window cleaner as well. You'd be amazed at how clean you can get the glass.

vintagesnaps · Jun 1, 2013

I do the same thing as Scott, roam around and find wherever the glass looks - less bad. I'm familar with local rinks enough to know which are the good corners, where the light's the best (as it's not exactly even lighting throughout some rinks), which pane of glass pops out all the time so I don't stand there...

If you get a longer lens you'll probably see when you start focusing that as you focus on players on the ice you won't see the puck and stick marks, the camera is focusing beyond the glass (in this shot I was focusing on the glass/post). Particularly with your last photo if you'd been close to the glass the marks may not have shown up. You really just need an area about the size of the lens to be able to shoot through/around/in between the puck and stick marks.

If used is an option I've done well buying from KEH. I've usually used an f2.8 short telephoto shooting from ice level. I've been able to get some nice portrait style shots during warm ups; some places will only let fans stand along the glass pregame - local rinks in my area could care less if people stand there the whole game.

Photographiend · Jun 3, 2013

Thanks. Yeah, it was a learning experience for sure. Without a battered sheet of glass between you and the subject you really only have the usual concerns: lighting, angle composition... then when I would be wandering searching for the angle for a shot I would find myself running out of clear glass to shoot though. Esp behind the goalie. In hind sight I probably could have predicted that.

Photographiend · Jun 3, 2013

What kind of filter do I need to get rid of the reflection in the glass?

imagemaker46 · Jun 3, 2013

Shouldn't need a filter to get rid of the reflection. Make sure the lens is right against the glass, wear a dark jacket as well. Shooting with a longer lens will take care of most reflections.