Ice Hockey Photography - 2012/2013 Season

Great shots and great highlights Matt. Love the one lifting the waterbottle off the top of the net!

They really are lucky to receive the service you're providing free of charge. Interesting comment you make about feeling 'unappreciated'. Must be a UK hockey thing that!!
 
Tell me about it!!

So how you getting on with the D3 now? Love mine, although I find myself being drawn to the D4 after I had a bash with one last week. Friend let me play with his and a 300mm f2.8 prime, blew me away!
 
hewhoknows said:
Tell me about it!!

So how you getting on with the D3 now? Love mine, although I find myself being drawn to the D4 after I had a bash with one last week. Friend let me play with his and a 300mm f2.8 prime, blew me away!
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Loving it. Picture quality and ISO performance is top notch.

I've been lucky enough to have a play with the 300mm f2.8 VR which, as you say, is astonishing. Wish i'd got £3k laying about - i'd pick one up in a heartbeat!!
 
Nice shots, Matt. Looks like the D3 is working well for you.

And I think you're absolutely spot on re: why we all do this for our clubs. It's not done for personal gain, it's done for the love of our teams. And with your playing links to the club, it must be even more of a labour of love.

Anyway, I've not bored everyone with any pics recently, so here are a few from last weekend's game:

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going to take my camera to a game on Sunday at Whitley Bay. Has anyone got any tips? Do you guys spot meter? If so, is there a danger of blowing out the highlights of the ice?
 
oROSSo said:
going to take my camera to a game on Sunday at Whitley Bay. Has anyone got any tips? Do you guys spot meter? If so, is there a danger of blowing out the highlights of the ice?
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I personally get the best results when using full/zone metering and manual exposure. Personally, my go to setting are:-

Shutter - 1/500
Aperture - between 2.8 and 3.5
ISO - between 2000 and 3200 depending on aperture size
Customer white balance - measure from ice if no grey card/expodisk

I would say that this has taken me some time to come to and is no doubt very specific to the lighting in Sheffield Arena. A general rule of thumb forgetting about specific manual exposure is:-

1. Shutter speed no slower than 1/400 to avoid blur
2. Customer white balance is a must

Outside this, have a fiddle to see what works best for you. I'd recommend arriving in time for warm up to do your fiddling/playing then so when it comes to the game, you're good to go.
 
Just stumbled across this site and thread while searching for photo tips for hockey so its my dream thread! I need to ask some advice please. My two boys(ages 7 & 10) play hockey and I really want some decent shots of them so I have been thinking of getting a decent camera instead of my point n shoot! I was looking at a Canon 650d (drawn to this for the high iso capabilities) and a 70 - 200 f2.8 tamron lens. Can anyone advise if this would be a 'decent ' set up for hockey? From experience of rinks I think the lighting is sometimes not as good for the kids games as it is the seniors!

Any advice is appreciated
 
colinw63 said:
Just stumbled across this site and thread while searching for photo tips for hockey so its my dream thread! I need to ask some advice please. My two boys(ages 7 & 10) play hockey and I really want some decent shots of them so I have been thinking of getting a decent camera instead of my point n shoot! I was looking at a Canon 650d (drawn to this for the high iso capabilities) and a 70 - 200 f2.8 tamron lens. Can anyone advise if this would be a 'decent ' set up for hockey? From experience of rinks I think the lighting is sometimes not as good for the kids games as it is the seniors!

Any advice is appreciated
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Welcome Colin! Hope you like our little thread.

Being a Nikon man I'm afraid I couldn't really offer any advice on the body you're looking at so will leave that for our Canon users to answer for you. It's safe to say you'll probably get mixed opinions on the lens with it being a 'budget' make, however, the aperture size is the main thing and you would have what you need in that you can get right to what you need I.e. 2.8.

At the end of the day, it all boils down to the kind of money you have to spend. It's no point us telling you you'd be best picking up a brand name £1000 lens if your budget can't stretch to that. Only you can know what you can afford.

As a general rule of thumb, if you can pick up a body with decent ISO performance and a lens that has a constant f2.8 aperture, you've got what you need to make a start. You can then change/upgrade further down the line should you need to.

I'm sure some of my esteemed posters will jump in if they feel I'm talking complete rubbish! :D
 
Thanks Steelerdan. My budget is £1100 max for camera and lens so I have to really look at the Tamron for the lens. However I have no real affinity to Canon, its was just the 650d has a really high ISO capability. (I still have an old Nikon SLR up in the loft.) I am happy to go second hand if necessary, I just want something that will be able to handle the low light conditions!
I am only looking for quality pics of my kids doesnt have to be pro quality though! So any recommendations of Nikons or Canons that will be up to the job will be gratefully received!
 
Again i'm happy for someone to jump in and tell me i'm talking rubbish, but with the sort of budget you have I personally would look at a Nikon D700 and lens combo. The D700 can be picked up for around £800 second hand now and the noise at high ISO is superb. It actually has the same sensor as the D3 I believe which is, even nowadays, renowned for its low light performance. From what I can gather from a (very!) quick online read, the 650d doesn't come close to the D700 with its low light performance. Worth bearing in mind that the D700 is full frame - not sure if you're insistent on a crop body to get that easy extra reach?

I believe you can pick up a mark ii Sigma 70-200 f2.8 for around £350 which only just puts you over your budget but would give you a cracking piece of kit to start with.

Please bear in mind i'm not one of these people who is religiously Nikon over Canon so although my post may sound this way, its simply down to the fact that my knowledge is completely Nikon so that's the only advice i'd feel reasonably confident enough to give.
 
steelerdean said:
Again i'm happy for someone to jump in and tell me i'm talking rubbish, but with the sort of budget you have I personally would look at a Nikon D700 and lens combo. The D700 can be picked up for around £800 second hand now and the noise at high ISO is superb. It actually has the same sensor as the D3 I believe which is, even nowadays, renowned for its low light performance. From what I can gather from a (very!) quick online read, the 650d doesn't come close to the D700 with its low light performance. Worth bearing in mind that the D700 is full frame - not sure if you're insistent on a crop body to get that easy extra reach?

I believe you can pick up a mark ii Sigma 70-200 f2.8 for around £350 which only just puts you over your budget but would give you a cracking piece of kit to start with.

Please bear in mind i'm not one of these people who is religiously Nikon over Canon so although my post may sound this way, its simply down to the fact that my knowledge is completely Nikon so that's the only advice i'd feel reasonably confident enough to give.
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I am going to have a scout around ebay for a D700 and check out some reviews. Typically the 650d that I was originally interested in is on special at Asda direct for £483! Obviously the D700 is a lot better camera and I have to decide on which one as the full frame appeals but the crop suits for shooting from up in the stands! Decisions decisions!
 
colinw63 said:
I am going to have a scout around ebay for a D700 and check out some reviews. Typically the 650d that I was originally interested in is on special at Asda direct for £483! Obviously the D700 is a lot better camera and I have to decide on which one as the full frame appeals but the crop suits for shooting from up in the stands! Decisions decisions!
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Good luck with your search. I appreciate the body I've suggested is quite a lump more than you've been looking at but even with that, I don't think you'd break your budget by that much. You've mentioned in each of your posts that the performance at high ISO is really important to you. If you went for the 650d, or even a Nikon equivalent for the same sort of price, I think you're going to be disappointed by the level of noise in your shots.

That being said, I started my shooting with a Nikon D3100 and Sigma 70-200 f2.8 and I was really pleased with my results in the early days. The problem is though now I know what I know about photography, I look back at those shots and can see they're not a patch on my shots with the D3 for sharpness and quality due to the much superior sensor. You obviously know what you're talking about and looking for so I think it's probably important you go for something as superior as possibly straight away.
 
steelerdean said:
Good luck with your search. I appreciate the body I've suggested is quite a lump more than you've been looking at but even with that, I don't think you'd break your budget by that much. You've mentioned in each of your posts that the performance at high ISO is really important to you. If you went for the 650d, or even a Nikon equivalent for the same sort of price, I think you're going to be disappointed by the level of noise in your shots.

That being said, I started my shooting with a Nikon D3100 and Sigma 70-200 f2.8 and I was really pleased with my results in the early days. The problem is though now I know what I know about photography, I look back at those shots and can see they're not a patch on my shots with the D3 for sharpness and quality due to the much superior sensor. You obviously know what you're talking about and looking for so I think it's probably important you go for something as superior as possibly straight away.
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I am a little concerned that the D700 might be a bit beyond me as the last SLR I used was about 10 years ago pre digital. Going to think about it but it might be better to serve my apprenticeship on an entry level DSLR. I could always sell it on in a years time and upgrade. Whatever I do I will post some pics on here.....unless they are terrible! Appreciate your advice SteelerDean
 
steelerdean said:
I personally get the best results when using full/zone metering and manual exposure. Personally, my go to setting are:-

Shutter - 1/500
Aperture - between 2.8 and 3.5
ISO - between 2000 and 3200 depending on aperture size
Customer white balance - measure from ice if no grey card/expodisk

I would say that this has taken me some time to come to and is no doubt very specific to the lighting in Sheffield Arena. A general rule of thumb forgetting about specific manual exposure is:-

1. Shutter speed no slower than 1/400 to avoid blur
2. Customer white balance is a must

Outside this, have a fiddle to see what works best for you. I'd recommend arriving in time for warm up to do your fiddling/playing then so when it comes to the game, you're good to go.
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well Dean I used your tips, thanks.

Shot at ISO 6400, f2.8, 1/500 with a custom WB. Main problem I had was reach, as I was only using my 85mm. First period I shot over the plexi from my seat so they're gonna need some heavy cropping. Second period I got a little closer and sat on the stairs near a gap in the plexi.

I'm gonna load them up into lightroom later tonight and go through them to see if I have any keepers, will post anything I'm happy with.

Most of all though, I enjoyed it, just need more reach!
 
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oROSSo said:
well Dean I used your tips, thanks.

Shot at ISO 6400, f2.8, 1/500 with a custom WB. Main problem I had was reach, as I was only using my 85mm. First period I shot over the plexi from my seat so they're gonna need some heavy cropping. Second period I got a little closer and sat on the stairs near a gap in the plexi.

I'm gonna load them up into lightroom later tonight and go through them to see if I have any keepers, will post anything I'm happy with.

Most of all though, I enjoyed it, just need more reach!
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Looking forward to seeing these as Whitley Bay has to be the darkest rink in the country!
 
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this lad got a canny slash to the ear
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thought the sign made it
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my favourite shot of the night
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really could have done with some more reach. Just makes me want a 70-200mm even more!
 
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I can see why you like the final shot, but the shot for me out of that set is the second one - nothing better than a good old hit to the boards!

That's a great job for your first go. For me:-

Main positive - your white balance. You've really nailed it. Lovely whites in there.

Main negative - distance from the action. But I don't need to say any more on this as you're already aware.
 
I like the one of the guy going to the penalty box, just because I know the kid opening the door. Used to train with my lad but moved to Whitley Bay kids this season, plays u 16's netminder now! Wait till I tell him he's famous!
 
severely tempted to put my 24-105mm on gumtree to fund a first gen 70-200mm 2.8 IS USM due to this!
 
Just one from last night. Adam Henrich just scored the winner in a 4-3 game against Cardiff.

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Incidentally, after 9 seasons of being the team photographer for Coventry, I'm hanging up my camera at the end of the end of this one.

I've had a great time - being involved in league championships, play off finals, cup finals, trebles, NHL players playing for us, Continental Cup trips etc has all been great. However, I feel like it's time to pack the camera away, so I'll be getting a season ticket next season and watching instead.

Oh, and as I only ever use my camera for hockey, I'll be selling up after the Play Off final, so if anyone on here is interested in buying a pretty good hockey setup, let me know!
 
tredders said:
Incidentally, after 9 seasons of being the team photographer for Coventry, I'm hanging up my camera at the end of the end of this one.

I've had a great time - being involved in league championships, play off finals, cup finals, trebles, NHL players playing for us, Continental Cup trips etc has all been great. However, I feel like it's time to pack the camera away, so I'll be getting a season ticket next season and watching instead.
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You know what, I was just looking on Twitter and saw a tweet from Thommo to you which made me wonder whether you were deciding to pack things up.

I've got to say, British Ice Hockey photography won't be the same without you Mark. I know we haven't met face to face (yet!), but you really are one of the premier shooters in the league and in the sport as a whole. Just a quick look at some of your pictures proves that. I really do wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do to in the many hours you'll now have free!!

As a side note, i'm making the trip down to the Skydome on the 16th. Simmsy says he's been able to sort a media pass out for me - is there anything I need to do/know before I arrive? Goes without saying that i'm looking forward to finally meeting you!!
 
steelerdean said:
You know what, I was just looking on Twitter and saw a tweet from Thommo to you which made me wonder whether you were deciding to pack things up.

I've got to say, British Ice Hockey photography won't be the same without you Mark. I know we haven't met face to face (yet!), but you really are one of the premier shooters in the league and in the sport as a whole. Just a quick look at some of your pictures proves that. I really do wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do to in the many hours you'll now have free!!

As a side note, i'm making the trip down to the Skydome on the 16th. Simmsy says he's been able to sort a media pass out for me - is there anything I need to do/know before I arrive? Goes without saying that i'm looking forward to finally meeting you!!
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Thanks for the comments, Dean. Yes, after taking what seems like 15 billion hockey photos in the last 9 years, I thought I'd go back to watching the sport we all love. As with many of us here, photography is a hobby, and it's one that's taken up a fair bit of my spare time over the years, so it feels like the right time to go back to watching. I have to say, I'm quite looking forward to turning up 15 mins before face off, and leaving straight after the game!

Look forward to finally meeting on the 16th. If Simmsy forgets your pass, just call me (David has my mobile number) and I'll sort you out (y)
 
hockeyboy150 said:
Looks like Campbell up to his tricks again in that last pic Dean. Great set again. Where you shooting through the glass or ?
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Him and Olson were like a double act - great to watch though!

I was shooting from the Steelers bench so no plexi in the way.
 
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