Need some help with hockey settings

Krista

I am fairly new to the didgital camera thing - so be gentle with me!

I have been taking pictures at hockey games, and have encountered some issues with the pictures.

- noticeable blur in the pictures

- the pictures are quite dark - I generally have to edit them to lighten them up

I'm sure there are a few more issues but these are the most pressing ones.

I have a Nikon D60 along with 2 lenses -- Nikkor 18-105, and a Tamron 70-300, as well as a monopod that I have just begun using.

I know very little about the actual settings on the camera and for the most part have been using the sports setting, along with the auto-focus.

Can anyone tell me what might be a good setting to try out?

john l

Hi Krista. Take a look at the sports threads and you will find all kinds of info re hockey pictures. There are some very good sport shooters on this site. You will note that most are shooting with an iso of 1600 or greater and are using lens that have an f2.8 capability. Lots of luck with your shooting. Most rinks are very dark and it is a challenge. John

cmkultradome

Krista-
Welcome to DGrin. You will learn a ton here. As John mentioned, there are a lot of threads with helpful hints for shooting hockey. Click here for one I found particularly helpful. Hockey is tough to shoot in the dimly lit rinks that youth and high school hockey play in. You usually need a fast lens (f2.8 - these are usually on the more expensive side) and a high ISO (I use 1600 or 3200, the max my camera can go). This is the only way you will be able to stop the action with less motion blur. Read your manual and start shooting in Manual mode, setting both your aperature and speed. The sports setting usually doesn't work too well because all of the bright white ice fools the camera when setting exposure. Setting custom white balance also helps, which is discussed in the thread I referenced above. Best advice - keep practicing. I go out every Friday night during hockey season and shoot local college hockey or youth hockey just to try and improve my shots (it helps if you know the game and really enjoy it!!) Best of luck!!

Stephanie

Mr. Quiet

Try shooting in shutter priority, the "S" mode. If you bump the ISO to 1600, with your camera there will be way to much grain. Try to control you shutter speed so that you can get motion blur. just play around with it, you will get a feel for it....like I did

thezoomer

Hello!!

Definitely use Manual mode and no other. This is what most experts use for hockey. And get a F/2.8 lens like a 70-200 and this should get you close enough in most situations. Shutter speed of 1/500 plus or minus depending on level of play, but this is a good start point. Custom white balance is also a must with ISO 1600 or 3200, even hgher with the most current pro cameras. I have D2H and shoot at 1600 or 3200 but use noise reduction software.

It's challenging to say the least, but the more you experiment, the more and quicker you learn.

Louis

tjk60

Krista, I shoot a lot of hockey, with Nikon. I doubt you'll be able to get a lot of usable actions shots with the lenses you have.

Hockey rinks are brutal for light, but with some work you can get some nice 'sportraits'

It takes 2.8 or better and normally in lower level rinks ISO 1600+ to get shots at 1/400+ that you'll need to stop any action, and 1/800+ to stop the bigger guys.

I bring my speedlights to the rink, and there are some creative ways to use them...

Dano

Try shooting in shutter priority, the "S" mode. If you bump the ISO to 1600, with your camera there will be way to much grain. Try to control you shutter speed so that you can get motion blur. just play around with it, you will get a feel for it....like I did

Shutter priority is the worst mode to shoot in in low light. If you only have enough light to shoot at 200s with the a given aperture then forcing your camera in TV mode to shoot at 400s will only produce very under exposed images. Also you need to shoot at the highest ISO you have in these conditions. Yes ISO will increase the grain but it is better then motion blurred under exposed images.

john l

Krista. You have received some good advice and must now be aware that you have chosen a difficult type of photography. Light is everything and hockey rinks generally have terrible light. One thing that has not been mentioned is to shoot in RAW. This will give you more leeway in post. You also did not mention how close you can get to the ice surface. Are you shooting through the glass or from the stands? Tim (tjk60) uses his speedlights and if you review his threads you will learn how he sets them up. Another thread you shouldl review are April's (aktse). If you look at the costs of F2.8 lens you will learn this type of photography is not cheap and can become addictive. If you have access to a speedlight you could bounce it off the ceiling and perhaps get some acceptable pics. john

Crossbarphoto

Krista...lots of good advice offered above. Here is a step by step, rubber meets the road bit of advice.

1. Shoot in Manual mode.
2. Set your camera to the largest aperature (lowest number) you have. 2.8 if ya got it! Looks like f/4.5 might be the best you have?
3. Set your shutter speed to 1/400 or faster as this is about as slow as you can go to capture hockey action. Faster than 1/500 would be preferred.
4. Now find an average piece of ice and fill your frame with that. Squeeze the shutter 1/2 way down to activate the light meter.
5. Adjust your ISO to where you are over exposing the ice by 1 1/3 to 1 1/2 stops. The bar should be above the center mark or to the right of the center mark depending on how the D60 is setup.
6. Now you have your three variables locked down. Be sure your camera is setup in AI Servo, Autofocus, and High Speed Burst mode.
7. Most rinks will be 'fairly' uniformly lit with some dark spots here and there, but you gotta work with what you are given. If there is a huge lighting difference from one end of the rink to the other, pick the best lit end.
8. You can shoot in RAW as was suggested and this will give you more post-processing lee-way, but I am guessing you will want to shoot in JPG as the file sizes will be smaller and won't slow the camera down as much if you do any bursts.

Don't be surprised if your settings are ISO3200, f/4.5, 1/400. In fact, you may struggle to get 1/400, but that is the joy of shooting hockey in dark dungeon rinks!

Let us know how it goes.

Krista

Thanks everyone for your advice!

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to link my flckr account to here - but I have posted alot of my hockey photos from this year on there - mostly of the Ottawa Senators womens team in the CWHL.

tjk60

you can link here, or give us a link...

Krista

link to flickr account

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34944590@N03/collections/

Crossbarphoto

I think perhaps you are 'sharking' us! Pretty nice stuff here Krista!

Maybe we should be asking you for advice! Good shots, especially considering the equipment you have!

If you can get down to ice level you can capture more emotion.


Now I should really clean this up before posting, but don't have time at the moment, but here is an example of ice-level action.

aktse

The good news – the lighting is very good in the rinks that you are shooting in. You are very, very lucky and should be very thankful… You are shooting in a pro-level or semi-pro level rink with the lights turned on. The photos are not bad; they’re decent. Actually, they’re really good snapshots (congrats and good job! ), but most are not top notched sports photos in terms of exposure and composition. There is a color shift in some of the images due to the cycling lights, motion blur (due to the shutter speed), the crop is not tight enough, and you're underexposed at times because your glass is not fast enough, etc.

But -- you got some really good snapshots and are better than most people. Hockey isn't easy!

I guess the question is – what quality of images are you looking for? What is acceptable to you? What are the results are you trying to achieve? How much are you willing to spend to improve your images? How much time are you willing to spare to improve your images? Basically, what are you trying to achieve?

In general, there is only so much that you can do with your current body and lens. My tips for available light hockey is linked in one of the previous posts in the thread; I suggest that you read it. The older Nikon bodies are notorious for noise at higher ISO and you really need faster glass. The good news is that you should be able to get away with ISO 800 at that rink. The catch is that these woman seem like decent players which require faster shutter speeds in order to stop motion.

To shoot hockey properly (or to a level acceptable by most sports shooter)
1) available light route– a f/2.8 or faster lens, preferable a 70-200; body that can handle ISO 1600 without too much noise (read my posts)
2) lighted route – a few strobes or speedlights, + PWs or RPs + mounting brackets (study tjk60)
3) software to process (e.g. LR or PS) and not just the picnik or the windows default photo editing program
4) I recommend a custom white balance tool (but that's me)

I’m not trying to be harsh – not everyone is willing (or able) to put in the time/money into shooting great sports photos and I do not expect everyone to do so. It really depends on you and what you're looking for ...

For your current gear, I suggest you study up on general photography, learn how to use manual modes, learn about composition in sports photos (puck/face/action). After that, you start honing your skills by learning the best moments to shoot and where you won’t get a usable frame.

If I was shooting with your gear and in your rink (note: i'm mostly an available light shooter) I would use the my fastest glass for the action shots, and shoot wide because the glass is fastest when it's not zoomed out. I wouldn't dare shoot across the rink, and would position myself for specific shots (e.g. face offs in the corner) and wouldn't try to capture anyone in full stride unless i want to show motion blur (speed), wouldn't try to capture slap shots (i may attempt the set up for wrist shots), and then think out of the box for some wide shots, etc. I will adjust my setting for specific shots (drop the SS for some, raise it for others, change the aperture or some, etc) depending on the composition that I'm going after. I attend each game or practice with a shot list. I would try and capture skater's when they're "slow" like after scoring, or right before a face off. Also, I wouldn't do the spray/pray thing, and heavily edit because my hit rate would be low, but experience (50,000+ hockey frames) tells me that I will get a handful of really good frames while I'm there.

I know you can get there too... It takes time/practice and the ability to take a critique.

Good luck and keep shooting.

P.S. The CWHL looks really cool! I wish we had something like that out here.

john l

Well Krista I looked at your site and you have some good stuff there. There's little need for me to add more other than to say take April's advice. She's the master. In my opinion you have received advice from two of the best hockey shooters out there. aktse and tjk60

Krista

Thanks again for the great input!

I do realize there is along road ahead of me. I know I don't have the best equipment, but it was what could be afforded.

I'm a volunteer with the CWHL team and enjoy watching the games and meeting the women. It has allowed me the oppourtunity to meet many past / present Olympians. I have had quite a few of the players ask for copies of the photos after viewing the flickr account.

I'm definately gonna try and take the time to do a bit more research into my camera / modes and perhaps Santa will be nice to me and bring me a new toy!

tjbach

john l wrote:

Tim (tjk60) uses his speedlights and if you review his threads you will learn how he sets them up. Another thread you shouldl review are April's (aktse). If you look at the costs of F2.8 lens you will learn this type of photography is not cheap and can become addictive. If you have access to a speedlight you could bounce it off the ceiling and perhaps get some acceptable pics. john

Does anybody have a link to Tim's threads? I searched for them and didn't come up with anything

Thanks.