Outdoor Hockey Game

[PatrickLiamPhoto]

I had the pleasure of shooting a game between 2 beer companies at Hershey Stadium in Hershey, PA. It was awesome to have the access I had, which was a spot ice level between the two player benches where there was no glass. Let me know what you guys think! Shot with Nikon D4S / Sigma 120-300 F2.8 @ISO 3200 1/500th

 

[tirediron]

Nice work on the exposure & focus. My two main points would be framing; get rid of the "part players" in some of the images; and MORE PUCK! Pretty much any team sport image should have the ball/puck/whatever in the frame.

 

[waday]

Neat! Hershey loves pimping their outdoor rink when they put it up, so it's nice to see it get used for a lot of different things.

I see Dogfish Head, is that Troegs in black and orange?

 

[PatrickLiamPhoto]

Neat! Hershey loves pimping their outdoor rink when they put it up, so it's nice to see it get used for a lot of different things.

I see Dogfish Head, is that Troegs in black and orange?

Yup - I have friends on both teams, so it was a lot of fun to not only shoot the game, but hang out at the Troegs Brewery before and after.

 

[PatrickLiamPhoto]

Nice work on the exposure & focus. My two main points would be framing; get rid of the "part players" in some of the images; and MORE PUCK! Pretty much any team sport image should have the ball/puck/whatever in the frame.

Great feedback - thanks!

 

[ac12]

Nice work on the exposure & focus. My two main points would be framing; get rid of the "part players" in some of the images; and MORE PUCK! Pretty much any team sport image should have the ball/puck/whatever in the frame.

Agree, get the ball/puck in the frame.
My basketball shots look oddly empty, without the ball in the frame.

 

[ac12]

NICE SHOTS.
But I would be scared as heck.
I've had a few too many close calls avoiding getting run over/hit in shooting sports.
A flying hockey puck scares me.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I had a puck bounce off my lens once, and I wasn't even at ice level! lol front row, and it wouldn't have been funny if it had been coming at full speed; it fluttered over the glass and left a melted ice splat on my lens.

You got some nice action. Some need straightening. I found with the curve to the ice it works to frame shots sometimes using the posts as guidelines; I make sure posts are parallel to one side or the other of the frame of the viewfinder (usually toward center ice).

I agree about catching the edges of other people and would crop those out (and the reddish color that must have been someone to your right). The 4th one would be fine if you wanted one of that player but otherwise there's more space than needed in the composition. It might have been better if possible to frame lower to keep the edge of the netting above the glass out of the picture (and it got more challenging in some arenas once netting was put up at the ends of the rink to avoid it).

You got the best action in the crease, those are nice. Some photos do have the puck in them, you just don't see it. In #6 the goalie is looking right at it, and you can tell which player has it on his stick. I like #5, that's a great moment to capture of the goaltender. In the last one I wondered for a minute because the lineman looks like he already dropped the puck, so it must be on #15's stick (behind the blade) since #19 seems to be looking at it there.

Bet Hersheypark would be a fun place to watch hockey and to take photos.