Mah first hockey game! CC welcome

[bigtwinky]

I went to see my 9 year old nephew play hockey yesterday. They may be young, they may be small, but man, do they have heart.

I had never shot a hockey game before, so I thought it would be fun to bring my camera along and see what I could get.

The crappy lights were a challenge. My white balance shifted from time to time. I did get a few nice ones (so I think), would love some CC

1

2

3

4

5

 

[quackal]

These are really sharp!....
Most rinks have bad light, and if the fixtures have different bulbs, the light will be different, however this rink looks like the lighting was better than most. Most impressed with the sharpness

Most are great!; just from my experiences shooting sports and from what I've learned,...

1. try to get faces
2. try to get the puck in the picture (like #2, 3 &4, although that doesn't always have to be the case)
3. try to get as tight as you can (...if I've gotten it sharp but haven't gotten tight enough, I'll crop).

What was you ISO?
what was your shutter speed?

 

[TerribleWone]

In terms of white balance and saturation your shots are perfect! (on my calibrated screen)

 

[bigtwinky]

Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated.

The puck is in every shot. The only one you can't see it in is the first, but considering that they are on the boards fighting for it, I didnt think you needed to see it there. Its a bit harder to see in #4, but it is in the net

I learned from shooting soccer that the best shots involve action AND the ball/puck, so I tried to get it in on as many pictures as I can. I like #1 as #14 is my nephew, so you see his name hehe, although getting front shots with faces is great.

I look back and I should try for tighter crops of just faces and upper bodies.

What about shooting landscape vs portrait? I tried some portrait shots but found it hard to get a good composition.

Most of these were at ISO 800, shutter around 1/250 and an aperture of f/2.8 - f/4. The shutter did dip a few times at 1/125 (I was testing the differences of AV and TV) which caused some blur. The kids aren't super fast skaters yet, but they do get bursts of speed.

Its a small local arena, so the lights aren't all that great, hence the higher ISO.

I had to correct some white balance as I was shooting in auto WB. Bad idea as the colour shifted around sometimes.

 

[Kenny32]

Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated.

The puck is in every shot. The only one you can't see it in is the first, but considering that they are on the boards fighting for it, I didnt think you needed to see it there. Its a bit harder to see in #4, but it is in the net

I learned from shooting soccer that the best shots involve action AND the ball/puck, so I tried to get it in on as many pictures as I can. I like #1 as #14 is my nephew, so you see his name hehe, although getting front shots with faces is great.

I look back and I should try for tighter crops of just faces and upper bodies.

What about shooting landscape vs portrait? I tried some portrait shots but found it hard to get a good composition.

Most of these were at ISO 800, shutter around 1/250 and an aperture of f/2.8 - f/4. The shutter did dip a few times at 1/125 (I was testing the differences of AV and TV) which caused some blur. The kids aren't super fast skaters yet, but they do get bursts of speed.

Its a small local arena, so the lights aren't all that great, hence the higher ISO.

I had to correct some white balance as I was shooting in auto WB. Bad idea as the colour shifted around sometimes.

I wouldn't be afraid to venture up to ISO 1250 or even 1600...Depending on your camera body, that is. I don't see even a little bit of noise in these photos, so you definitely have some room to experiment a little more to see if you can stop the action completely in shots like 3 & 4.

 

[Robin Usagani]

I would definitely crop #2 tighter.

 

[rtracyphoto]

Exposure and white balance is good. I would work on your composition. There is a lot of dead space around the action. I would try cropping tighter into the action.

 

[quackal]

I would agree with cropping #2....crop as tight as you can to fill the frame.

I've only shot hockey a few times but I almost always shoot hockey, lacrosse, baseball....landscape. If there's a good shot you can always crop in portrait.
Shoot most basketball portrait though, unless they're coming up the court.

Took a workshop with a well-known photographer who shoots hockey for Islanders, Olympics, etc.; his recommendation was to start shooting ISO at 1600 (in most rinks; he of course uses strobes when he shoots so he can shoot lower), but the 800 worked....no grain, good exposure.

I'm finding that with shooting sports, freezing the action and sharpness are paramount.

 

[bigtwinky]

I 100% agree. I shoot shows at ISO 1600 and 3200, I'm just a keener and like low ISO, even though my 7D can shoot pretty clean

Will definately look into tighter crops.

 

[rtracyphoto]

I 100% agree. I shoot shows at ISO 1600 and 3200, I'm just a keener and like low ISO, even though my 7D can shoot pretty clean

Will definately look into tighter crops.

I will agree with you about being partial to low ISO. I always try to shoot as low as ISO as possible but with that being said you're using a 7D they are great at high ISO and clean up very well using noise ninja or any other noise reduction program.

 

[bigtwinky]

Im not a fan of post processing, so i avoid noise reduction unless i really need it.

Expose, crop in camera as much as possible

 

[MSnowy]

nice set

 

[kalliela]

Awesome, now you just need to shoot the Canadiens?. Nice shots!

 

[mike3767]

I like 3 the best. Way to catch the celebration of the scorer and the body english of the goalie and finally the puck in mid air going in the goal. The only downfall is the scorer is a little out of focus too me.

 

[CNCO]

Very nice color. Did you use a grey card? I shoot my games at hi .3 iso(2000). I have a d80 so I need all the help I can get. I shoot f 2.8/ 1/500 / +1 exp / custom wb / hi .3 iso. They come out pretty good. If I can get a paying gig I'd like to buy the d800 ord7000.