I thought I'd take the time (I always ask other photographers at games) to find out what you guys use to create a custom white balance at hockey games? I've dialed in the color temperature in Kelvin, with moderate results. Auto white balance is terrible (at least with the different cameras I've tried). My best results so far have been using a card to shoot through like the Expodisc, which is a Promaster SystemPro transparent card. I use it to shoot through at a light source, and this gives me a good color white balance. So far, the best results have been with this, but I'm told that there are other things that are even better.
So I thought I'd ask just to see what other hockey photographers are getting good results with.
I'd have to learn from you, I shoot mostly film. Lighting, that's the challenge, depending on the arena. I figured out in time where the lighting was the best and that's where I'd shoot from. In our arena it was old mercury vapor or something?? - low, that's for sure. I had to figure out what camera settings worked, usually couldn't get a meter reading (needle didn't even move). I was just glad when they cleaned the glass.
Rob will know. I could probably do a series on bad glass I have tried to shoot hockey thru...
I've had to deal with glass almost that bad. In some cases, I've managed to hunt around and find some glass that isn't as bad as this. I get there early and usually get management let me walk out onto the ice and attempt to clean the area(s) I want to shoot from.
With a lot of rubbing and a little bit of glass cleaner, I can sometimes do a great job of eliminating the nasty stuff, and sometimes you can hardly notice that I've tried to clean it.
Most of the time, I can get a few inches of clear glass to shoot from, so it's worth the effort.
Corners are the worst, because that's usually where pucks, sticks, elbows (and faces) end up more often than anywhere else.
I should add, I've thought about photographing the glass like you did, just to show people what we have to deal with in some rinks. Because people rarely believe us when we try to describe why we do what we do.
I suppose you're right, people wouldn't understand what it's like shooting in local hockey barns. Even when they clean the glass, invariably a puck hits the glass right where you were set to take a picture. Or people are in and out of their seats and walk right in front of you and go 'oh, sorry' - I learned how to shoot with both eyes open! LOL Or a player looms up in front of you or a ref skates by w/his arm up just at the moment you release the shutter.
Some nights I'd just end up entertaining myself taking pictures of the nutty stuff (bad glass, goofy mascots, wacky intermission entertainment, etc).
Rob pix4u2 wrote: I meter the ice and set my white balance off of the ice- works most of the time but I do have to do some in post processing too
I recommend get a reference shot using a tool like the Promaster that I use, as I don't have to adjust white balance in post processing very often. It's just that I sometimes wonder if I can do better. I'm told that the Expodisc is better, or the Colorright, but I just am too cheap for that (so far).
I've taken white balance off the ice, but this Promaster card produces better results (for me).
Rob pix4u2 wrote: I meter the ice and set my white balance off of the ice- works most of the time but I do have to do some in post processing too
This is what I would have thought.
As for white balance and colour stuff. Go for the color checker passport (x-rite) and make your own custom profiles for lightroom using Adobe's DNG editor.
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