Hockey shots critique

[lerabu]

Hello everyone,

I posted some shots in the SYS section but as this was my first time shooting a sporting event and as I found it an enthralling experience, both being there experiencing the game, making the shots and cropping and editing them afterwards in Lightroom I would like to improve the technique and make them even better.

Here is the type of shot I would like most of your critique on as this is what I find really thrilling to photograph!



EXIF:
Camera Nikon D80
Exposure 0.003 sec (1/320)
Aperture f/5.0
Focal Length 52 mm
ISO Speed 1250
Exposure Bias -1/3 EV
Flash No Flash
Exposure Program Aperture-priority AE

I cropped the shot in Adobe Lightroom where I corrected for White Balance and Exposure a little and I also added Blacks and Vibrance and set the toning curve to Medium Contrast.

The shot IMHO came out a little dark maybe. I really had to bump the ISO high to get good shutter speeds in order to avoid blurs and such other mishaps.

I am using also a UV filter (mainly to protect my lens) and a hood.

How could I have made this shot better? Are the points of interest all here or should the shot have been cropped tighter around the right hand side players showing better the interaction? I thought this was nice because it also showed some kind of "active space" to the left of the blue player leaving it to the imagination to see where he could end if he didn't break on time.

I learned that shooting in RAW is key, which I unfortunately didn't do here, so that I can get the best possible quality out of cropped shots, this was a Medium JPEG unfortunately, I was worried about memory card space... I only have a 2 GB card.

Due to low light I am sure a faster telelens would have been nicer but I don't have the budget for it, so I am down to cropping for a while

Thank you in advance for your constructive feedback!

[Jensers]

Based on your gear description you should have been able to go lower (numerically) than f5 and that would have helped. 320 is a little slow, but according to your description of the lighting you may have had no other choice.
Every hockey game I have ever been to is super bright - what is up with this arena?

All in all the image just needs a bump - it is like an overcast day. The moment is good, the framing is good, but the pop is not there.

[Jensers]

Part of the problem may be the overhead lighting as well - you should get a good reflection off of the ice, but it is not showing here.

[lerabu]

Thank you for your reply Jensers!

The issue with lightning here is that it is quite an old arena actually and it doesn't have the latest up to date lighting available to it, so it's not as bright as it is probably where you have been, maybe that is part of the issue? Or perhaps that I am using a lens hood and a UV filter (for lens protection mostly)

I will defintely try to go below f5 next time I go and see how it works!

How can I add "pop" to the picture? Just increase brightness in post? I have added blacks for more intense colours. Is that maybe part of the issue here?

In terms of shutter speed, would I be better off going in manual mode and upping the shutter speed and have the following settings:

Shutter: 1/500 - 1/1000
Aperture: Highest possible for the lens
Exposure: set it so that is is compensating enough for possible lower light due to faster shutter speed

I am afraid I will have too little light coming in, or maybe then go into shutter priority mode and let the camera adjust aperture? Or just shoot at the biggest possible aperture for the lens?

You are right, it does look like an overcast day

Thank you for the praise and critique It has been most constructive!

[Jensers]

No worries -

As you are finding out, you can only do so much with any given camera and lens. I would shoot it in Manual and take a number of test shots with different settings and see how bright you can get the image with the shutter speed over 400.

When I get into a gym or stadium, and if the lighting makes it possible, I keep farting around till the image looks a hair over-blown as it is easier for me to back it off in post than the other way around. Just work the exposure triangle and do the best you can.

Shoot in RAW - as you have already mentioned... That will give you more to work with in post. (Delete the obviously bad images as you go along and you should be fine with storage space.)

After all that - see how much you can tweak it in post to give it some pop. If the image is a bit dingy, give the exposure a bump, the fill a bump, the brightness a bump - then adjust the blacks and the contrast to give the image some depth. You can also tweak the saturation and/or the clarity. Just have some fun with it, but try to keep it close enough to reality that it is believable.

Maybe a little noise filter as well due to what we are seeing from your camera at that ISO.

If all that fails - you can go to black and white or some other variation of color removal as that can give you a little more freedom for brightening things up. On the other hand, you can also give the image a whole different style where you embrace the grain and dingy feel.

[Jensers]

Oh - and if you work the triangle and you cannot find something that works, you may just have to realize that you do not have the equipment and lower your shutter speed and look to take images at the event that dont demand the high shutter speed. Capture moments within the game where time stops and drama is high. I guess for hockey it would be stuff like players about to face off or pausing and looking skyward either after they have been scored on or they score. You know what I mean.

You just have to switch gears and get whatever you can get and you will be surprised - it may not be what you thought you needed to shoot... It may actually be better.

[lerabu]

Thanks for the in-depth reply!

Well to be honest I had to Google the Exposure triangle! I am still very new, so this is all very new to me also.

Is there a graduated version of the exposure triangle that I might be able to take with me just for reference? I will try finding it on the web.

Just a question, it may be newbie-ish but I have to ask When I am shooting in manual mode EV compensation doesn't work at a given shutter speed. I found out that when I am in Aperture priority mode when I Compensate EV the shutter speed actually changes. So am I right in assuming / concluding that the set shutter speed is actually the EV comepnsation, be it + or -? So + is a slower shutter speed and - is a faster shutter speed?

[Tom Williams]

You might want to pay a bit more attention to the white balance as well BEFORE you start shooting. Many old arenas have mercury vapor lights that cast a yellow darker tone on the image
Tom

[Jensers]

Originally Posted by lerabu

Well to be honest I had to Google the Exposure triangle! I am still very new, so this is all very new to me also.

Is there a graduated version of the exposure triangle that I might be able to take with me just for reference? I will try finding it on the web.

Start here and you will learn far more than you can take in one sitting. No need to go to Google - this site is a great resource if you start looking around.

Digital Photography Tips and Tutorials

[lerabu]

Originally Posted by Tom Williams

You might want to pay a bit more attention to the white balance as well BEFORE you start shooting. Many old arenas have mercury vapor lights that cast a yellow darker tone on the image
Tom

Thanks for the tip Tom. I was trying to compensate with temperature settings but couldn't get it quite right so I switched to auto WB when I started shooting and corrected WB in Lightroom afterwards, but as I had learned earlier from another shoot, it is better to have the correct WB out of camera than to correct it later because it can't quite correct it in post to be as close to the original scene.

Originally Posted by Jensers

Start here and you will learn far more than you can take in one sitting. No need to go to Google - this site is a great resource if you start looking around.

Digital Photography Tips and Tutorials

I am diving right into it! Thanks! I have looked a bit already earlier but as you say, there is more material than can be gone through in one sitting. I also found the Adorama.com videos on YouTube which are quite nice.