getting ready for hockey......

hawksfan30

.......i will be shooting my friends sons team for most of their home games this year-the lighting in the rink was very good-i resized these pics,but they look like they lost some punch-the originals seem to look better-aperture mode-iso 1600 to 2000-shutters anywhere from 1250 to 3200

hawksfan30

2)-

hawksfan30

3)-

hawksfan30

4)-

hawksfan30

5)-

donek

3 is overexposed. It's rare to be successful with aperture priority inside. You're usually better off shooting manual as light is normally fairly consistent. I'd be keeping that shutter speed lower than 1/3000 as well. I've never shot hockey. I'd imagine speeds would be similar to baseball though, so 1/1250 to 1/1600 is probably adequate to stop most action.

hawksfan30

donek wrote: »

3 is overexposed. It's rare to be successful with aperture priority inside. You're usually better off shooting manual as light is normally fairly consistent. I'd be keeping that shutter speed lower than 1/3000 as well. I've never shot hockey. I'd imagine speeds would be similar to baseball though, so 1/1250 to 1/1600 is probably adequate to stop most action.

thanks for the advice- number 3 was shot thru the glass- i usually dont like to shoot thru glass but i thought i would try a different angle- ill shoot full manual next time out

donek

hawksfan30 wrote: »

thanks for the advice- number 3 was shot thru the glass- i usually dont like to shoot thru glass but i thought i would try a different angle- ill shoot full manual next time out

Shooting through the glass shouldn't be a problem as long as you do a little post processing. The glass will reduce the contrast in your image which can be easily corrected. I like Nikon capture for processing, but every other software out there has similar capabilities. Simply selecting a black point did most of this work. I used control points in capture to darken and add contrast to the ice near the skates. Took about 30 seconds. Let me know if you want me to pull it down.


There are some great tutorials on this site. The "making your image pop" tutorial covers most of what I did here. Just look along the top of the screen and find tutorials.

hawksfan30

donek wrote: »

Shooting through the glass shouldn't be a problem as long as you do a little post processing. The glass will reduce the contrast in your image which can be easily corrected. I like Nikon capture for processing, but every other software out there has similar capabilities. Simply selecting a black point did most of this work. I used control points in capture to darken and add contrast to the ice near the skates. Took about 30 seconds. Let me know if you want me to pull it down.


There are some great tutorials on this site. The "making your image pop" tutorial covers most of what I did here. Just look along the top of the screen and find tutorials.

wow that looks much better-i have cs5 photoshop and lightroom 3-my friend actually gave me the software for both-could i basically do what you did with those programs or would i need nikon capture also? i really need to learn post processing better, as you showed you can fix an image with a little time invested-again thank you-john- oh one more question- shooting thru glass i know its best to put the lens right on the glass-i dont like putting filters on the lens, so is there a type of rubber ring i could put on the end of the lens so when i put it flush against the glass it will be protected-i have the 70 200 vrII- thnaks

aktse

hawksfan30 wrote: »

shooting thru glass i know its best to put the lens right on the glass-i dont like putting filters on the lens, so is there a type of rubber ring i could put on the end of the lens so when i put it flush against the glass it will be protected-i have the 70 200 vrII- thnaks

Welcome to dgrin. In general, you're doing a lot of things well for sports frames -- action, face, puck. I agree with Donek; you shots need pop and can be easily done with setting the black point. Dgrin has a good tutorial here. Your photos would benefit from a tighter crop unless you're going after a specific wide framing. Also, you're about a half stop to a stop underexposed. The ice tends to throw off the metering since you're in Av mode.

I shoot hockey and I'm just amazed that you can achieve those shutter speeds at a regular rink. Your rink must have amazing lighting! Shutter speeds of 1/1250-1/3200! just wow. You're so lucky! At some rinks, i'm lucky to get 1/320.

As for the glass, you can just shoot with the hood on, but i find I have enough room that the glass of the lens isn't touching the plexi glass when I'm flushed.

My hockey photography tips can be found here

donek

hawksfan30 wrote: »

wow that looks much better-i have cs5 photoshop and lightroom 3-my friend actually gave me the software for both-could i basically do what you did with those programs or would i need nikon capture also? i really need to learn post processing better, as you showed you can fix an image with a little time invested-again thank you-john- oh one more question- shooting thru glass i know its best to put the lens right on the glass-i dont like putting filters on the lens, so is there a type of rubber ring i could put on the end of the lens so when i put it flush against the glass it will be protected-i have the 70 200 vrII- thnaks

I haven't tried lightroom, but it should give you the ability to adjust curves, levels and select white, black, and gray points. just google that and you'll find a tutorial for the software you want. You can probably even find a video tutorial on yourtube. Photoshop will definitely perform all these tasks. I just find Capture to be the easiest for my style of editing.

The only real problem with shooting through glass is glare from surrounding lights or your flash. Watch the glare and using a flash is very ineffective through glass. If you're going to rest the lens against the glass, use your lens shade (you should have it on all the time anyway). You can find rubber lens shades at some camera suppliers as well.

hawksfan30

aktse wrote: »

Welcome to dgrin. In general, you're doing a lot of things well for sports frames -- action, face, puck. I agree with Donek; you shots need pop and can be easily done with setting the black point. Dgrin has a good tutorial here. Your photos would benefit from a tighter crop unless you're going after a specific wide framing. Also, you're about a half stop to a stop underexposed. The ice tends to throw off the metering since you're in Av mode.

I shoot hockey and I'm just amazed that you can achieve those shutter speeds at a regular rink. Your rink must have amazing lighting! Shutter speeds of 1/1250-1/3200! just wow. You're so lucky! At some rinks, i'm lucky to get 1/320.

As for the glass, you can just shoot with the hood on, but i find I have enough room that the glass of the lens isn't touching the plexi glass when I'm flushed.

My hockey photography tips can be found here

thanks for the welcome-let me tell you this is the first rink ive been in getting those shutter speeds- i know rinks are different-the rink 2 games ago i only got around 320 of sec, i know your pain lol-thanks for the tips and ill be sure to check out your link and take a look at your pics-john

hawksfan30

donek wrote: »

I haven't tried lightroom, but it should give you the ability to adjust curves, levels and select white, black, and gray points. just google that and you'll find a tutorial for the software you want. You can probably even find a video tutorial on yourtube. Photoshop will definitely perform all these tasks. I just find Capture to be the easiest for my style of editing.

The only real problem with shooting through glass is glare from surrounding lights or your flash. Watch the glare and using a flash is very ineffective through glass. If you're going to rest the lens against the glass, use your lens shade (you should have it on all the time anyway). You can find rubber lens shades at some camera suppliers as well.

thanks again donek- i forgot my lens hood when i shot the other night-ill def bring it for thrusday's game-john