jlocke Loc: Austin, TX

My grandson's hockey team opened the season last weekend, and we were able to catch the games. He is #6 on the Texas RoadRunners junior hockey team (NA3HL). All the photos were taken with a Nikon D7200 with Nikon 80-200mm f/2.8 D AF ED lens. Shot in Manual mode at F/2.8, 1/500, ISO 4000.

The first photo is my grandson with his "war face" lining up a hit.

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Uaana

Nice shots.

Just a quick question. Have you considered jumping up to say 1260 shutter speed to reduce blur?
I know it's indoor so lighting is an issue, but with all the reflected/ambient light from the ice and boards??

Asking because I don't know and am curious.

jlocke Loc: Austin, TX

I've played around a bit with higher shutter speeds, but then I start pushing the ISO into a range where I'm not comfortable with the resulting noise. I may try pushing it a bit more in a couple of weeks when we go to the next game.

tshift Loc: Overland Park, KS.

These are real nice. Filled frame and good comp. Like Uaana said need more speed. Did you try faster speed but lower ISO and how did it look. I wasn't there but I would think with the white boards and ice there would be plenty of light. Just my thoughts. Thanks post more.

Tom

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

Those darn arenas!! Like members have said I would shoot at 1/800 minimum, go to iso 5000-6400 and shoot tight. No cropping at those iso numbers and the noise issue would be minimal. Nice work.

tshift Loc: Overland Park, KS.

It will be here TODAY!! How would it look do you think at say ISO3000 @ 1/000, is that way to much. I thought all ice rinks were bright?? Thanks

Tom

Jaackil Loc: Massachusetts

Hockey is a nightmare to shoot. You would think with the white ice and boards there is a lot of light but actually the only thing it does is mess with the exposure. It fools the camera into thinking there is a lot of light when there really isn’t. You actually have to ignore your meter. Unfortunately the best you can do is fix in post when shooting in these rinks.

Jaackil Loc: Massachusetts

These are good shots. You have the white balence spot on. Try pushing the shutter to at least 800-1000. I shoot Hockey with a D7200 also. You can push the ISO a little more but not much. That said a noisy sharp hockey image is ok too. It kind of adds to the grittiness of the game. Are you shooting RAW? Were these JPG’s straight from the camera?

Jules Karney Loc: Las Vegas, Nevada

If it was me I would push the iso, shutter speed up to avoid blurry or soft shots. Just me.

jlocke Loc: Austin, TX

Thanks for the advice. I'll try going a little faster on the shutter speed for some of the next ones. These were all shot RAW and processed in Lightroom. Most needed from 0.6-1.2 boost on the exposure as it was. After I get the basic processing, I run them through Nik Dfine2 for the noise. Then output the resulting TIF as JPG.

Jaackil Loc: Massachusetts

Jules agreed, then fix your exposure and white balence in post. There really is no way around that. Hockey is not easy to get right in camera. But some of the blur and softness is because he is shooting through the glass which is dirty and scuffed,you can’t do much about that. Even through the cleanest areas the glass is not optically very good and it is pretty thick. Most junior rinks don’t have shoot holes in the glass. They also have netting now all the way around the top to protect the spectators so shooting from above the glass is out. The only place to shoot good clear shots is from the bench and that isn’t going to be allowed very often. There is no way around the fact Hockey requires a fair amount of post processing to get good images.

Jaackil Loc: Massachusetts

Ah so some of that softness is from noise reduction? I am curious because I shoot a lot of hockey. What do they look like without noise reduction? Don’t look at them like a pixel peeping photographer, what does the average person viewing them see? As photographers we tend to get crazy about noise when it doesn’t matter as much as we think it does. Sharp noisy pictures are still better in my opinion than soft pictures with noise reduction. These are really good. Keep experimenting. Shooting hockey is a work in progress. Every rink is different and every game is different. There is no simple formula for shooting hockey. Bottom line is I bet your grandson and his buddies love the pictures, perfect or not. The great thing about the game of hockey is how it connects us to the people we care about the most.

jlocke Loc: Austin, TX

Here's the last photo without any noise reduction applied. I've also attached the basic Lightroom adjustments made. Another issue is some of the reflections picked up from the glass; you can see some of that across the helmet of the player in the foreground.

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jlocke Loc: Austin, TX

Here's the original RAW photo exported as JPG. No crops or processing done. Histogram is also attached.

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david vt Loc: Vermont

Won’t comment on all the SS and ISO comments, but I agree with pushing a bit to see if it works. As Jules said, no cropping then

I just have to ask, what is with shot #7 of the ref’s butt?🙃🙃🙃🙃