Best hockey shots

Hugo

Hey there! It's my first post in the Sports section on DGrin.

This is probably my favorite type of photography.

Here's the best of my work from the last 6 months or about.

All shot handheld with Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT + Canon EF 70-200 f/4L USM (except #5, #6, #7 shot with Sigma 70-300 APO DG Macro)

Thanks for the feedback.

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aktse

Hugo wrote:

This is probably my favorite type of photography.

Mine too!

Hockey, in general, is very difficult to capture well and I think you have done better than most. Are you shooting throught the glass? Or do you have a special hole in the glass? Or, from great seats duing the game?

I think my personal favorite in terms of exposure and subject matter capture are #2 and #3. And you got some great moments like the stick breaking in #7. Awesome! I love the DOF in #2 and the sharpness of his helmet. #3 has it all – focus, subject matter, face in focus, action, etc! Well done.

As a general over all comment, it seems that you’re pushing the post-processing on some of these.

Good job! And I hope to see more! I love hockey photos!

Hugo

aktse wrote:

Mine too!

Hockey, in general, is very difficult to capture well and I think you have done better than most. Are you shooting throught the glass? Or do you have a special hole in the glass? Or, from great seats duing the game?

I think my personal favorite in terms of exposure and subject matter capture are #2 and #3. And you got some great moments like the stick breaking in #7. Awesome! I love the DOF in #2 and the sharpness of his helmet. #3 has it all – focus, subject matter, face in focus, action, etc! Well done.

As a general over all comment, it seems that you’re pushing the post-processing on some of these.

Good job! And I hope to see more! I love hockey photos!

I do shoot through the glass. I got my press card so I can go anywhere around the ice, which is great.

For the post-processing, is it a good or bad thing?
I just enhance the contrast a bit to get the white of the ice.

Thanks for the feedback, and you'll sure see more of my hockey pics soon.

aktse

Hugo wrote:

I do shoot through the glass. I got my press card so I can go anywhere around the ice, which is great.

For the post-processing, is it a good or bad thing?
I just enhance the contrast a bit to get the white of the ice.

Press Card. Lucky! I wished that I had that.

And for the post-processing, I think it's taken too far to compensate for the SOOC photo. Look at your first photo… His socks basically disappears into the ice. It seems that you’re doing more than just contrast. To my eye, some of them are over-sharpen. I don’t see halos, but some of the photos don’t look real either and are pixelated. Take a closer look at #6, espeically at the color borders like the reds on the edge of the boards. However, this is just one person’s opinion and taste and other people might see things differently. You did a very good job of capturing some amazing moments.

Hugo wrote:

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What are you using to set the white balance?

And I have always heard that the rinks in Canada have very good lighting. I have enough issues shooting f/2.8 and can't image shooting f/4.

Hugo

aktse wrote:

What are you using to set the white balance?

And I have always heard that the rinks in Canada have very good lighting. I have enough issues shooting f/2.8 and can't image shooting f/4.

I use the auto white balance. Mercury spots lighting is awful because it switches between blue and pink really fast (you can't see it with your eyes). If it's too blue or too pink, I use the auto levels in Photoshop.

I have never been to rinks outside Canada, but the biggest arenas have some good lighting indeed. And f/4 is surprising. I usually use these settings: 1/400-1/500, ISO 1600 (then Noise Ninja to eliminate noise), f/4, no flash (obviously), AWB, Center-weighted exposure. Sometimes it's a tad bit dark (in 1/3 of the pictures, depending on the arena) but Photoshop does a good job enhancing them.

Thanks for the comments!