Army vs Sacred Heart Hockey 3/1/08

amadeus

Good evening.

Just returned from the game. The good news, Army won, which gave them the Patriot League regular season for the first time ever.

:clap

I used the Nikon D40, got some decent shots. Probably had the wrong lens with me. Seats ended up being row A so they were as close as you vould get. I had the 55-200 lens, maybe would have been better with the 18-55?

Who knows...Used mostly the sports setting. Tried Shutter priority.

Isn't the camera supposed to know what aperture to use in S mode? It did in sports mode? :scratch

Oh well, one day I'll figure it all out...:dunno


pics uploading now.

amadeus

for the reocrd the win gave them the league title.

best "action" shot I could muster.

amadeus

best human interest shot.

this did not end well for the guy in red.

amadeus

my personal favorite of the bunch.

amadeus

a few from the top of the section we were in. the distance worked better but the light wasn't as good. of course knowing how to use the camera might help.

amadeus

this was the end of a very sweet move #21 just pulled off but its kind of hard to tell. He faked the goalie out pretty good. didn't score but it was a really nice piece of skating and stick work.

amadeus

go Army.

DoctorIt

hockey is hard, the ice makes it really hard for the camera to get the right exposure - just like snow, your camera wants to make it "neutral gray", so you have to manually push it a bit to get it right. but ice is even harder because the indoor lighting wants to cast (usually) yellow tones.

there's a few good ones in there, the last one is probably the best.

go army

amadeus

I just went to Sacred Hearts website as I was curious about the team and where they were from etc., and the pics they have are really not much better than mine so I guess all things considered I did OK. I think I really shot myself in the foot by not bringing the 18-55 lens as I probably would have switched early on. Being right behind the glass a lot of shots just weren't possible when the action happened to be right in front of us. I still wonder why when I went to Shutter priority the camera couldn't adjust the aperture like it could in sports setting but I know its not that simple. I should really devote 30 minutes a day to learning the damn instrucions I got from a frined on CD for the camera. I think bumping the ISO up would have helped. If I knew how to do it.


Sacred Heart Hockey.http://sacredheartpioneers.cstv.com/sports/m-hockey/saht-m-hockey-body.html

DoctorIt

amadeus wrote:

I still wonder why when I went to Shutter priority the camera couldn't adjust the aperture like it could in sports setting

probably because for the shutter speed you wanted, it had to be maxed out. since your lens isn't all that bright, that's not much of a surprise, and also explains why your shots from the corner of the rink (darker) are underexposed. I was wondering why your camera was metering so unevenly, this explains it, it was doing the best it could on the relatively fast shutter speed you were asking it for.

HarveyMushman

And now you know why people spend silly amounts of money for "fast" lenses.

I like the last one best too, although what's that pale spot about two-thirds of the way across the line-up. Flare? Water on the lens? Bud spray?

aktse

In general, I find that ice hockey is one of the hardest sports to shoot due to the low lighting, fast action, white ice (which throws off the meters) and the scratched up glass.

I think this is the best of the bunch...

amadeus wrote:

...
Who knows...Used mostly the sports setting. Tried Shutter priority.

I think you should use aperture priority and in general, us the fastest lens that you can buy.

The histogram is your friend.

I would suggest the following:
-- Custom White Balance, every time you move
-- Find a clean spot in the glass, and if it’s not clean, get your lens as close as to the glass as possible
-- AI servo AF
-- ISO 1600
-- AV mode, at least f/2.8 exposure compensate a stop or so just to start with
-- Burst mode
-- Center point focus

You caught some good moments, but you should watch the horizon lines...

BradfordBenn

I think I know understand how in an arena full of lights, there are typically still photo strobes installed in most pro arenas.

winger

amadeus wrote:

Good evening.

Just returned from the game. The good news, Army won, which gave them the Patriot League regular season for the first time ever.

Actually its Atlantic Hockey League, hockey is a little different than the other NCAA sports in that there are alot of Hockey Only Conferences.

amadeus wrote:

I just went to Sacred Hearts website as I was curious about the team and where they were from etc., and the pics they have are really not much better than mine so I guess all things considered I did OK. I think I really shot myself in the foot by not bringing the 18-55 lens as I probably would have switched early on. Being right behind the glass a lot of shots just weren't possible when the action happened to be right in front of us.

Hockey is hard to shoot for many reasons, low light ,fast moving action, you are shooting thru crappy glass (if you are lucky, dirty plexi if you are not). Some hockey rinks are absolute caves. I am just lucky that my teams home rink is a natural light photographers mecca. .

sportsshooter06

Stone bridge HS, Champions NVSHL , Feb. 29 2008, KettlerCapitals Iceplex