Shooting Hockey

TheCheesehead

Hey there, I'm shooting a summer hockey tourney today, practicing with my new 2.8L 70-200 (with a Canon Rebel Xsi). For those of you experienced, what is the best mode to shoot in? I started in AV mode, +1 EV, RAW, Auto white Balence, @2.8 1600 and I'm getting about 1/250th SS. I switched over to Shutter Priority at 1/400, 2.8, 1600, JPEG, and the ice still looks nice and white. I want the ice nice and white, as well as maintain a high enough shutter speed. I thought about maybe correcting the ice whiteness with a levels layer adjustment in PS...

Any thoughts? Thanks!

PS, I'll post my shots later tonight.

TheCheesehead

Shooting Hockey
1/400 1600 iso 2.8 jpg

TheCheesehead

Shooting Hockey
Uploaded from IPod, so maybe not the best. Same settings

TheCheesehead

Shooting Hockey
same

TheCheesehead

Shooting Hockey
ISO 1600 RAW file sharpened in ACR, as well as NR. 2.8@1/500 this time, shutter priority. Bumped up exposure in ACR to whiten the ice, and did a levels adjustment layer (with the eye dropper thing on what should be white, I used the boards).
Thanks

(uploaded from iPhone via the tapatalk app; the app crops the photo, which blows, otherwise the skates really are in the shot)

TheCheesehead

Shooting Hockey
same exif

BradfordBenn

Aktse has written some great posts about shooting Hockey. The one that is probably a good primer is http://www.dgrin.com/showpost.php?p=675987&postcount=3 The shots look pretty good

deveraux

It really depends on the lighting in the arena. I shoot for an AHL team (one step below NHL) The Rockford IceHogs (Chicago Blackhawks affiliate), and we have the worst lighting of all AHL arenas (or so I have been told by the visiting team photogs). With my 7D/70-200 2.8IS combo I'm shooting at roughly 2000-2500 ISO, 1/500 2.8.



What you're doing as far as post processing is on the right track. I usually shoot with a +1 exposure compensation to help whiten the ice, then bump up the exposure/levels/fill light in Camera Raw as necessary. I do very little editing in Photoshop since I can do most of it in Camera Raw. Also, the noise processing in the 6.1 version of Camera Raw is a great upgrade from version 5.xx.