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I know a lad who plays for my local non-pro Ice Hockey outfit and I jumped at the chance to go and take photographs as I generally love sport. I also love photography so what a great opportunity to make a really tasty sandwich.
I've written a small blog on the experience here: http://www.tomgreenphoto.co.uk/blog/2014/5/ice-hockey-photography
But essentially the summary is as follows.
Having never done any sort of sports photography before I tried to apply existing knowledge with 'common sense' to try and work out how best to approach photographing a sport as fast as Ice Hockey under the challenging lighting conditions of an ice rink. I think I did OK but on reading posts on this forum and a few other blogs, perhaps I could have done a lot better in a number of areas.
Ice hockey seems to be a popular sport on here and there are some very talented folks on here who's experience I would like to tap into.
Firsty, RAW vs JPEG. Given the number of images I thought JPG best, but perhaps as a beginner I should be going for RAW, just for added elbow room in post as I'm not tied to any stringent editorial guidelines or anything like that.
Secondly, shooting settings. I've basically gone with the rule that if a fast shutter speed is required and high ISO needed, shoot wide open, so pretty much everything I've shot has been at f/2.8. The general opinion online seem to be that f/4 or f/5.6 should be used where possible to allow more depth of field. There are a few shots where I've focused on a stick or other area just away from the face and therefore had to bin the shot for poor focus, but that really hasn't happened too often, so wondered what other thoughts are on that.
Focus set up. I have a Nikon so I've gone for AF-C (continuous) with back button focusing (AF-ON), single point in the top/middle of the frame and aimed this at the players heads. It has been suggested to me that auto area might actually work out easier to use with a reduced number of focus points for increased speed (say, 11) or that I should just rely on 3D tracking as it can be uncannily accurate. I must admit there is a level of handing over control the camera with 3D tracking that I haven't trusted or used before, but perhaps I should. I use a D3s so there certainly isn't any good reason why not.
ISO wise I seem to have found myself at 6400 more often than not, I certainly haven't got down to 3200 or even 2000 which seem to be used successfully by others I've read about in blogs, perhaps I'm giving too much bias to the shutter speed and over egging that. Do people have a general minimum they stick to shutter speed wise? I'm of the mind that lighting will differ and it might well just be a bit darker where my team play, but do those on here that don't shoot ice hockey at a non pro level have any comment regarding an effective shutter speed and lower ISO combination they've used where lighting hasn't perhaps been as light as it might be?
That's it for now, I'm sure I'll come up with some more questions.
Cheers.
Tom
I've written a small blog on the experience here: http://www.tomgreenphoto.co.uk/blog/2014/5/ice-hockey-photography
But essentially the summary is as follows.
Having never done any sort of sports photography before I tried to apply existing knowledge with 'common sense' to try and work out how best to approach photographing a sport as fast as Ice Hockey under the challenging lighting conditions of an ice rink. I think I did OK but on reading posts on this forum and a few other blogs, perhaps I could have done a lot better in a number of areas.
Ice hockey seems to be a popular sport on here and there are some very talented folks on here who's experience I would like to tap into.
Firsty, RAW vs JPEG. Given the number of images I thought JPG best, but perhaps as a beginner I should be going for RAW, just for added elbow room in post as I'm not tied to any stringent editorial guidelines or anything like that.
Secondly, shooting settings. I've basically gone with the rule that if a fast shutter speed is required and high ISO needed, shoot wide open, so pretty much everything I've shot has been at f/2.8. The general opinion online seem to be that f/4 or f/5.6 should be used where possible to allow more depth of field. There are a few shots where I've focused on a stick or other area just away from the face and therefore had to bin the shot for poor focus, but that really hasn't happened too often, so wondered what other thoughts are on that.
Focus set up. I have a Nikon so I've gone for AF-C (continuous) with back button focusing (AF-ON), single point in the top/middle of the frame and aimed this at the players heads. It has been suggested to me that auto area might actually work out easier to use with a reduced number of focus points for increased speed (say, 11) or that I should just rely on 3D tracking as it can be uncannily accurate. I must admit there is a level of handing over control the camera with 3D tracking that I haven't trusted or used before, but perhaps I should. I use a D3s so there certainly isn't any good reason why not.
ISO wise I seem to have found myself at 6400 more often than not, I certainly haven't got down to 3200 or even 2000 which seem to be used successfully by others I've read about in blogs, perhaps I'm giving too much bias to the shutter speed and over egging that. Do people have a general minimum they stick to shutter speed wise? I'm of the mind that lighting will differ and it might well just be a bit darker where my team play, but do those on here that don't shoot ice hockey at a non pro level have any comment regarding an effective shutter speed and lower ISO combination they've used where lighting hasn't perhaps been as light as it might be?
That's it for now, I'm sure I'll come up with some more questions.
Cheers.
Tom
