Hockey

Montec

Nikon D300, ISO 1250

dadwtwins

What lens are you shooting with?? what shuter speeds??? Just curious

Montec

dadwtwins wrote:

What lens are you shooting with?? what shuter speeds??? Just curious

I am using the 70-200 AF-S VR 2.8. Always wide open and 1/250 shutter speed.
I checked out your hockey pics...very good action shots.
Are you shooting through the glass from behind the net? I was going to give that a try but the glass is very marked up at the rink I shoot in.

dadwtwins

Montec wrote:

I am using the 70-200 AF-S VR 2.8. Always wide open and 1/250 shutter speed.
I checked out your hockey pics...very good action shots.
Are you shooting through the glass from behind the net? I was going to give that a try but the glass is very marked up at the rink I shoot in.

How do you have the aperture @ 2.8 with constant shutter speed of 1/250?? Do you use a flash and or manual mode??

The pictures are nice and sharp with great exposure. I love the first shot with the scuffle action in back of the goalie as the puck is flying towards the net

Montec

dadwtwins wrote:

How do you have the aperture @ 2.8 with constant shutter speed of 1/250?? Do you use a flash and or manual mode??

Here is my set-up. I shoot in full manual mode with the settings above. They never change. I have SB800's clamped to posts near centre ice angled towards the corner of the rink, I have one pointing in each direction. I have these set to 1/10th power to give just a kiss of flash to help freeze the action. I am positioned at the red line in between the two flash units. I have the SB800's in remote mode set to 'Manual' controlled by the D300.

Play with the settings for your rink and you will be able to find what works for you. One thing you can do to really save you PP time is do a custom WB off the ice.

I was given this set-up information on another forum by one of the hockey shooters there...so I cannot take credit.

dadwtwins

Montec wrote:

Here is my set-up. I shoot in full manual mode with the settings above. They never change. I have SB800's clamped to posts near centre ice angled towards the corner of the rink, I have one pointing in each direction. I have these set to 1/10th power to give just a kiss of flash to help freeze the action. I am positioned at the red line in between the two flash units. I have the SB800's in remote mode set to 'Manual' controlled by the D300.

Play with the settings for your rink and you will be able to find what works for you. One thing you can do to really save you PP time is do a custom WB off the ice.

I was given this set-up information on another forum by one of the hockey shooters there...so I cannot take credit.

Now that sounds like a sweat set up.

Thank you for the full explanation. I never thought of using a flash since I did not want to distract or annoy the players but I would love to try this set up since you and i have the same equipment.

Montec

dadwtwins wrote:

Now that sounds like a sweat set up.

Thank you for the full explanation. I never thought of using a flash since I did not want to distract or annoy the players but I would love to try this set up since you and i have the same equipment.

I hope you meant 'sweet'... I went and asked the players if the flash bothered them and their answer was "What flash?" I also asked spectators from directly across from the flashes and they did not even notice it.

At low power the SB800's hardly are noticeable, but give just the right amount of light to freeze the action.

I set my D300 flash sync to 1/250 to match my shutter speed as well...you can set it to 1/320 sync too...this is a sweet camera to work with.

Montec

A few more
A few more

dadwtwins

Montec wrote:

I hope you meant 'sweet'... I went and asked the players if the flash bothered them and their answer was "What flash?" I also asked spectators from directly across from the flashes and they did not even notice it.

At low power the SB800's hardly are noticeable, but give just the right amount of light to freeze the action.

I set my D300 flash sync to 1/250 to match my shutter speed as well...you can set it to 1/320 sync too...this is a sweet camera to work with.

The D300 was a big jump from my D200 as far as noise reduction. I a very happy with it

I am going to try your setup next weekend, thanks for the post of great picks to get me motivated to try something new

thejohnremus

I personally shoot hockey at 1/800th or more at f/2.8... anything slower than 500 and I get too much motion blur IMO...

I can start a new thread later and share some images from last night's Sharks game if anyone is interested.

Montec

thejohnremus wrote:

I personally shoot hockey at 1/800th or more at f/2.8... anything slower than 500 and I get too much motion blur IMO...

I can start a new thread later and share some images from last night's Sharks game if anyone is interested.

I am interested in how you get 1/800...NHL rink lighting?

Would love to see some photos too

thejohnremus

Montec wrote:

I am interested in how you get 1/800...NHL rink lighting?

Would love to see some photos too

Yeah, I can get faster shutter speeds at San Jose Arena because they have really good lighting. A lot of my shots were 1/1000 at ISO1000... ironically worked out to be a happy median for shots like this:



I'll go through some other ones and upload to share later

winger

thejohnremus wrote:

I personally shoot hockey at 1/800th or more at f/2.8... anything slower than 500 and I get too much motion blur IMO...

I can start a new thread later and share some images from last night's Sharks game if anyone is interested.

Just to keep the convo going....
Yeah with NHL type lighting you can totally shoot that fast, that is about what I shoot when I shoot the TD banknorth garden. The pros and the college game moves so fast you really cant go much slower than that ( I do go down to 500 at the college level, but my home rink has great light!)

But with youth hockey and womens ice hockey, the game is slower so you can get away with slower speeds, especially when the light kind of forces you so.

As for shooting thru the glass, that is my least favorite but sometimes you have no choice. If you get to the rink early enough and chat up some of the workers they may clear it off for you ( I will admit sometimes these things are eaiser as a girl ), or try to find a piece that is cleared off. If the boxes are not glassed in those are good places too. But it can get hairy in there and I try to steer people away from them unless they know the game well (so they can anticpate when to duck) and are ready for colorful language.

Nice shots though, I have a pair of alien bees, that I have never used for hockey. This weekend I am shooting at two arenas I have never shot at before so that could be an adventure! They are both AHL arenas, but the last AHL arena I shot at was in rochester, it was a cave, and not only that the light was uneven. At least if it is a cave you know it is going to be dark everywhere....

Welcome aboard, it is nice to have someone who shots the pros aboard!

Gary Peterson Photography

1/800th

thejohnremus wrote:

I personally shoot hockey at 1/800th or more at f/2.8... anything slower than 500 and I get too much motion blur IMO...

I can start a new thread later and share some images from last night's Sharks game if anyone is interested.

I would love to see a few if you care to share. Thanks, Gary!

thejohnremus

I'll definitely post some more up later then.

I'm out in Palm Springs all week for work, so I won't have a chance until later. Thanks for the interest though