San Jose Sharks Hockey Practice

aktse

Instead of lunch (and a few meetings at work -- don't tell my boss!), I went to the Sharks practice. Actually, I went to the Duck's practice and then the Shark's practice. I heard that the Ducks were in town and having a practice in San Jose around lunch time. While the Ducks were on one rink (north ink) in the building, I discovered that the Sharks were on another sheet of ice (south rink)! Too funny! They will play each other on Saturday night.

For some reason, the lights seemed worse than normal and this rink has lots and lots puck mark on the glass. C&C welcomed.

1. L-R: Joe Pavelski, Rob Davidson, Patty Marleau, Curtis Brown, Cheech, Joe and JR.


2. The outspoken Jeremy Roenick (and coach Rob looking over his shoulder).


3. I would have fallen even before getting to this position on his edges. Look at his skates! How does he stay upright? Not only that, he got off a pretty decent shot!


4. The Sharks' new wonder-kid: Devon Setoguchi: age 20 (I feel old).


5. Sandis Ozolinsh -- back for round #2 with the Sharks.


6. A tall drink of water all scrunched up after a wrist shot: Alexei Semenov. He's 6'6"


7. Miss a pass -- Drop and give me 10! Douglas Murray was making sure that Semenov does it right. The other guys felt he wasn't getting low enough in the pushup position.


Pro hockey players are dedicated athletes in peak condition. Most of the Sharks stayed on the ice even after their hard practice was over! If you ever get a chance to shoot professionals, do it. It truly gives you a new appreciation for professional sport shooters. These athletes move at lightning speed with grace and power.

Skippy

aktse wrote:

Instead of lunch (and a few meetings at work -- don't tell my boss!), I went to the Sharks practice. Actually, I went to the Duck's practice and then the Shark's practice. I heard that the Ducks were in town and having a practice in San Jose around lunch time. While the Ducks were on one rink (north ink) in the building, I discovered that the Sharks were on another sheet of ice (south rink)! Too funny! They will play each other on Saturday night.

For some reason, the lights seemed worse than normal and this rink has lots and lots puck mark on the glass. C&C welcomed.

1. L-R: Joe Pavelski, Rob Davidson, Patty Marleau, Curtis Brown, Cheech, Joe and JR.

2. The outspoken Jeremy Roenick (and coach Rob looking over his shoulder).

3. I would have fallen even before getting to this position on his edges. Look at his skates! How does he stay upright? Not only that, he got off a pretty decent shot!

4. The Sharks' new wonder-kid: Devon Setoguchi: age 20 (I feel old).

5. Sandis Ozolinsh -- back for round #2 with the Sharks.

6. A tall drink of water all scrunched up after a wrist shot: Alexei Semenov. He's 6'6"

7. Miss a pass -- Drop and give me 10! Douglas Murray was making sure that Semenov does it right. The other guys felt he wasn't getting low enough in the pushup position.

Pro hockey players are dedicated athletes in peak condition. Most of the Sharks stayed on the ice even after their hard practice was over! If you ever get a chance to shoot professionals, do it. It truly gives you a new appreciation for professional sport shooters. These athletes move at lightning speed with grace and power.

Nice work April I know how hard it is to shoot in those Hockey Rinks,
would be much better if they put all the lights on though

Those guys love to play hard and fast, even with all that padding on,
they still seem to go down hard.

... Hey I'm loving that Scott Kelby Book, finished lesson one.

Love that last shot ........ Skippy
.

aktse

Thanks Skippy! They would have been better if I didn't break one of my rules. I didn't re-white balance when I got to this rink and things are a tad on the yellow/orange for me. I just didn't know how much longer the Sharks were going to be on the ice and it turns out, practice was over about ten mintues after I got there. Oh well. I'm just happy that I got a chance shoot a pro team! So cool!

I still need to post the shots that I got of the Ducks when I get the chance.

And the Ducks beat the Sharks in the shootout during the actual game.

ian408

Sweet!

SitterS

Aktse...enjoy seeing your hockey shots. Going to give this a try this winter and appreciate your tips you have given. Would like to know what you are using to custom WB. Have a grey card but thinking that an Expodisc may be an easier and quicker method.

Shane

aktse

SitterS wrote:

Aktse...enjoy seeing your hockey shots. Going to give this a try this winter and appreciate your tips you have given. Would like to know what you are using to custom WB. Have a grey card but thinking that an Expodisc may be an easier and quicker method.

Shane

I'm glad to hear that you enjoy my work. I spent numerous hours experimenting at the rink and reading various sports tutorials on the web. I believe that I learned how to shoot indoor ice hockey decently well and I hope that my experiences can help others. I always thought that grey cards were used more to set exposure...

I thought I replied to your question in the other thread via this post. For white balance, I use either an expodisc, a smart balancer or the ice if I have nothing else.

For this shoot, I used the expodisc. I white balanced at the rink with the Ducks and didn't re-white balance when I got the rink with the Sharks. In general, the Sharks photos (posted in this thread) don't look too bad individually, but when compared to other frames from the Ducks shoot and my normal hockey photos, they're too yellow/orange.

Notice the difference? Foucs on the shades of whtie on the ice and the wall.


Please post some frames from you hockey shoot! I would love to see them!

Glenn NK

Nice shots of my (obviously) favourite sport.

Anyone that's tried to shoot hockey knows how difficult it is (I've tried and failed). There is no other sport in which the athlete moves so fast under their own power, and changes direction so fast. Only in the sport of Jai-alai does the missile travel faster (Sheldon Souray's shot - now of the Oilers - was clocked at just over 102 mph).

Also very interesting is the leg position of these players just after they have shot - the rear leg is often almost straight back. You've captured some very interesting poses in this which really shows the flexibility and conditioning of them.

On the white balance - if you shoot in raw, you can always use the white of the sweaters or the ice itself. I did this last summer with some BMX shots - most sweaters have white. And there is also the boards - at an NHL arena, the boards are kept very clean - I've seen the plastic up close - it's very white - at least likely good enough for WB with RAW.

Again, congrats on some very good work.

SitterS

Aktse...thanks for the reply. I apologize that I did not see the response to the CWB on another thread.

Shane

J.T.

aktse wrote:

I'm glad to hear that you enjoy my work. I spent numerous hours experimenting at the rink and reading various sports tutorials on the web. I believe that I learned how to shoot indoor ice hockey decently well and I hope that my experiences can help others. I always thought that grey cards were used more to set exposure...

I thought I replied to your question in the other thread via this post. For white balance, I use either an expodisc, a smart balancer or the ice if I have nothing else.

For this shoot, I used the expodisc. I white balanced at the rink with the Ducks and didn't re-white balance when I got the rink with the Sharks. In general, the Sharks photos (posted in this thread) don't look too bad individually, but when compared to other frames from the Ducks shoot and my normal hockey photos, they're too yellow/orange.

Notice the difference? Foucs on the shades of whtie on the ice and the wall.


Please post some frames from you hockey shoot! I would love to see them!

Nice shots! I live in the Bay Area and my family are big fans of the Sharks. Are the practice skates open for the public to watch? I thought they were always closed? If they are open, when did you show up? Thanks.

ian408

J.T. wrote:

Are the practice skates open for the public to watch? I thought they were always closed? If they are open, when did you show up? Thanks.

It depends. Some are open to the public. There's usually a morning skate.
Again, playing schedule dictates when practice is.

There used to be a schedule posted. In fact, there's one for the pre-season.
But I don't see an ongoing one.

You could try calling Logitec for more info.

aktse

Glenn NK wrote:

Nice shots of my (obviously) favourite sport.
...
On the white balance - if you shoot in raw, you can always use the white of the sweaters or the ice itself
....
Again, congrats on some very good work.

Thank you so very much for your nice comments.

I bet that with practice, you’ll be able to shoot ice hockey just as well and you have an advantage over most people since you already know the game. My first few hockey shots were just horrible… seriously just horrible. These sharks practice photos are the result of the time spent freezing in numerous games while shooting over 20,000 frames.

Good observation on the position of the body! I wished that I looked like that after a wrist shot! I believe that still photos can be a great tool for game improvement.

And you’re correct about the white balance -- RAW, ice, boards, sweaters, etc. work very well. However, when I get lazy, I tend to shoot in just jpg. In this case, they were all shot in jpg.

I would love to shoot Sheldon Souray's shot someday, but I think I would need a faster lens for that! Who knows? Maybe some day…

aktse

SitterS wrote:

I apologize that I did not see the response to the CWB on another thread.

Shane,
There is no need apologize… I know how posts can be easily missed! I just wanted to make certain that I answered your question. Good luck for the upcoming hockey season!

aktse

J.T. wrote:

Are the practice skates open for the public to watch? I thought they were always closed? If they are open, when did you show up? Thanks.

Ian had it correct... call Logitech since the schedule changes. Most practices are open to the public, but most playoff practices are closed ones. I once made plans to shoot a Shark’s practice with a friend on an early Sunday morning (he lived 1 ½ hour away). Even thought the Sharks had the ice reserved, they didn’t show up because they had the morning off. Basically, you never know until you get there.... It's a gamble.

However, there is a schedule on-line.

Want to go shooting with me someday?

ian408

aktse wrote:

However, there is a schedule on-line.

Want to go shooting with me someday?

Practice is usually held on the South rink (which has a huge roll up door
near the doors to the facility--closed==closed practice). You'll need to select
the South rink for the correct schedule.

Thanks for that April!

J.T.

ian408 wrote:

Practice is usually held on the South rink (which has a huge roll up door
near the doors to the facility--closed==closed practice). You'll need to select
the South rink for the correct schedule.

Thanks for that April!

Thanks for the great info! Nice to know.

J.T.

aktse wrote:

Ian had it correct... call Logitech since the schedule changes. Most practices are open to the public, but most playoff practices are closed ones. I once made plans to shoot a Shark’s practice with a friend on an early Sunday morning (he lived 1 ½ hour away). Even thought the Sharks had the ice reserved, they didn’t show up because they had the morning off. Basically, you never know until you get there.... It's a gamble.

However, there is a schedule on-line.

Want to go shooting with me someday?

Thanks aktse! Yeah, let's go shooting someday. I live near Sac so a trip to SJ is usually for a game or meeting friends from SJSU. PM me or call my cell from my homepage and maybe we can pick a game/practice after the 1st of the year before the end of the season. Hopefully we'll make it all the way to the Cup this year!!!!