Hockey

[Rylek]

Hi All,

I just got back online from a long hiatus and am planning on getting back involved again. However with a 8 month old running around -- finding time can be interesting. Howver to get to the point we went to a benefit Hockey Game the other night (A friend was playing) so I decided to take along the old SLR.

Here is just a simple shot I took (no post production either except for maybe a crop)



1. When shooting through plexiglass how can my images become more crisp?

2. How can I show "movement" without seeing the shaking of the camera in my hand (our seating was not the best and made it difficult in that aspect. Or in fact do I want to show movement at all?

3. What is the best way to achieve perfect level (photo has a slight tilt to it) --- as i stated earlier our seating was not the best location - so how would you adjust your shot to stay balanced? (Focus on the boards? top of boards? cross bar level?"

Thanks in advance for your comments.....

[BryanC]

Originally Posted by Rylek

Hi All,

I just got back online from a long hiatus and am planning on getting back involved again. However with a 8 month old running around -- finding time can be interesting. Howver to get to the point we went to a benefit Hockey Game the other night (A friend was playing) so I decided to take along the old SLR.

Here is just a simple shot I took (no post production either except for maybe a crop)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/8599779@N08/3509014326/

1. When shooting through plexiglass how can my images become more crisp?

2. How can I show "movement" without seeing the shaking of the camera in my hand (our seating was not the best and made it difficult in that aspect. Or in fact do I want to show movement at all?

3. What is the best way to achieve perfect level (photo has a slight tilt to it) --- as i stated earlier our seating was not the best location - so how would you adjust your shot to stay balanced? (Focus on the boards? top of boards? cross bar level?"

Thanks in advance for your comments.....

One thing about shooting through the glass that you can do is to manual focus on the players. In auto focus, it might choose the glass to focus on.

I'm not sure what you are asking about the "movement'.

Horizontal lines like the crossbar, top of boards and glass, etc...won't be level unless you are straight on with them because of perspective. Use the vertical lines of the posts, glass dividers, etc., these should be straight up and down to have a level shot.

Go Hawks!...

[jul]

hockey is pretty challanging to shoot. I'm not sure if you would want to show movement. Your shutter speed was set at 1/30 which is too slow to stop the action. I've found that 1/160 to 1/200 is about the slowest I could shoot and that's with the ISO bumped up to 800 or 1600 depending on the lighting in the rink.
Shooting through the glass just makes it harder. Set your AF to a single point then pick the player you want to focus on. Shoot a lot in hopes of getting a few keeper. Shoot on continuous mode also. Good Luck.

[Rylek]

Originally Posted by jul

hockey is pretty challanging to shoot. I'm not sure if you would want to show movement. Your shutter speed was set at 1/30 which is too slow to stop the action. I've found that 1/160 to 1/200 is about the slowest I could shoot and that's with the ISO bumped up to 800 or 1600 depending on the lighting in the rink.
Shooting through the glass just makes it harder. Set your AF to a single point then pick the player you want to focus on. Shoot a lot in hopes of getting a few keeper. Shoot on continuous mode also. Good Luck.

Thanks for the help and info.

I do have 1 other question --- what happens if my camera will only let me shoot at 400 ISO? 800 - 1600 was not an option ---- is there a way to override?

[Trader]

Originally Posted by Rylek

I do have 1 other question --- what happens if my camera will only let me shoot at 400 ISO? 800 - 1600 was not an option ---- is there a way to override?

If your camera is limited to 400 ISO that is all you can do with that model camera.

[barabe]

When shooting trough plexiglass or window to get a crisper image and not be focused on the transparent material with auto focus, use the landscape setting that will allow to focus on the players. What we have here is motion blurr because of relatively slow settings and you moving as the shot is taken plus the fast action of hockey.

[beagle92]

Hockey is very tough to shoot. You pretty much have to have the biggest, most expensive lens you can afford or you will not be able to get enough light for fast shutter speeds. And if you don't have the money like me, then you just have to play as many games as possible to get one or two good shots a game.

You also have to go as manual as possible. I generally set the ISO as high as possible, usually 1600. I set the white balance to florescent lighting. Then I set the mode to A (aperature) and set it to the smallest number F-stop possible and let the camera choose the fastest shutter speed. If I can't get faster than about 1/100 I don't bother taking the shot.

One thing I had to do was turn off image stabilization (IS). I found that IS would try to overcome my panning and would make the ice clear and the player blurry when I was following the action.

Another trick I use is to attach a folded up small tripod to the camera. It keeps the camera a lot more stable and makes a good handle. I also always use the view-finder rather than the LCD monitor.

If you can't get fast enough shutter speeds during normal play look for places where action stops, such as by the goalie. I've got some great shots of defense taking slap shots on the blue line, because their head is generally stable and their hands are blurry, kind of a cool effect.

One last thing about the glass - avoid it if possible. Try to get behind the players bench, or stand on something by the glass, or get in the penalty box if there is no glass there. I've never gotten a good sharp picture through the glass. The picture below was taken standing on some bleachers in the corner looking over the top of some lower glass.



Camera: Olympus E-510
Focal Length: 86.0mm
Exposure: 1/160
Aperature: f/4.8
ISO: 1600