Toledo Street Hockey

[jjeling]

This is the street hockey league that me and a few others have been getting started for the past year and a half. Without an inline hockey rink, we got the city to give us some space to use. We have been on a poorly maintained tennis court, but were just given a large parking lot. We are resurfacing it and putting up boards and will be relocated in about a month. Here are some of the pictures from the league the past couple weekends. I have found I really need a new lens. The Tamron Ive been using is as slower than my manual focus, and the color representation is terrible. Forgive the blown highlights. Its something Im just doing for fun to get some practice and could use some help. MA, I know you have some experience in sports, so if you could help me out here.

[jjeling]

There are about 200 people involved in the league now. Some of them were taken on a bright sunny day, and others were taken on a darker, rainy day. You will be able to tell. For some reason though, there are always blown highlights, even on underexposed pictures it seems. Whats the deal?

[jjeling]

Last ones for a full understanding of the general problem

[jjeling]

Did I mention I get an exclusive media pass as well? hahaha, Im actually skating around inside with them and my camera. Taking pictures and trying to avoid running into them, avoiding the action, and trying not to get hit with the ball. Maybe if it goes well, I can get a real exclusive deal doing this for the NHL. hahaha On the real, its a lot of fun, and great practice, even if this is how the images are coming out.

[AntZ]

I'm no expert, but have taken 1000's of sport pics in the last year of my boy's soccer team(which is somewhat similar to hockey) and have learned the following;
1. Use shutter priority. 1/1000 or faster and adjust ISO to suit.
2. Photos that catch the ball and faces make the most interesting. So it helps if you can read the game and get in to a position where you have the players running toward you.
3. Experiment with focus points and focus modes. If you are close multiple points work for games like soccer. For cycling where the subject has a fairly predictable trajectory pick the best single point.
4. You can use burst mode, but prepared with lots of memory and to be ruthless during post production. Unless I absolutely need to get a shot, or for fun I prefer to try snap single shots.
5. Good(fast) lenses help like all photography. If you can't get close, so does a big zoom.

I hope that helps, but interested to see we have some sports pros on here...Other than MA that is :p

[Marko]

Antz has some excellent advice and this is hard hard stuff imo.

I really like the middle and last shot in post 2, and the first shot in post 3. They are like mini stories that are well composed.

I'd also spend time reading the sports section of the local paper or pick up sport mags to get inspiration.

[Mad Aussie]

I think the best angle for JJ is to squeeze into the goal behind the goalie ;)

Nice work considering you are skating around as well!!

[F8&Bthere]

y'know, JJ, seeing these photos after some of your other posts just made me realize I like your photos much better without the creative approach photography watermark. I'm sure it serves a purpose but maybe a bit too big? bold? It's kinda like it's fighting against your subject for attention. Probably just me though, but anyhoo, nice photos! This kind of action, as mentioned above, is not easy to photograph.

[jjeling]

I agree with you F8. Its been more of a personal experiment to be honest with you. I personally do not like them either. You will start to see them less often now. There were a few people here locally that needed to know this is more serious than it seems. Now that they have a better understanding, they have given me some good contacts out of it and its really no longer necessary. They serve a purpose beyond that for others but for me they dont. Thanks for the input. There will be plenty more of these shots to come as the season progresses.