Hockey Photoessay

11-23-11 Cincinnati Cyclones vs. Kalamazoo Wings
Action in the 'Clones crease

Chet Pickard makes a blocker save

Stopping on a dime

Blocking a shot on goal

CRASH !!!

Incoming puck on net

Rob these are stellar. You have me thinking Hockey every time I hear the word Action... The local photo club has a challenge of action shots and I'm looking around for a local hockey game. It's just as well there aren't any close by as I would not like any shots I got - you have set the bar pretty high.

Thank you Charles, It pays off after 18 years of toiling in the minors. I always get a kick out of seeing players make the big show ( NHL ) and be able to say that I have shots of them in their first Pro seasons

what a great essay Rob enjoyed it a lot.

Thank you David I really enjoyed shooting this game and sharing it

Nice series. Well done as always. You're right Rob it's cool to see the players go on to the next level, quite a few from college level now moving on to the NHL which didn't used to happen too often.

Rich, maybe there are some high school games around? - hockey at a local level usually seems pretty flexible w/people taking pictures (parents with cameras - I'd often get asked if the goalie was my kid LOL). Or a college club team maybe?? intramurals? youth tournaments? We gotta find you a game...

I think your shots capture the experience of the game, as if being at the game. I am repeatedly criticized for not "watching my horizons", but I look at the photos and what I see is the spectator's experience. I often become less confident because of that criticism, but then I see photos by other hockey enthusiasts and feel that I'm on the right track. Thanks for posting.

Well this is derailing Rob's thread a bit but I looked at some of your photos Les, didn't notice til you mentioned it but I see some where the horizon is off a bit. Easy to have that happen when you're focused on the player(s) and things are happening so fast you're framing shots pretty quick. (My problem is usually getting a blur because I'm reframing/shooting too fast!)

However, I don't know if whoever's critiqued your shots realizes that since the ice rink is oval, the boards curve and sometimes it can appear that the horizon is off when it isn't. I usually go by the posts along the glass, if you notice in your photos that they're leaning then the horizon is probably off a bit, if they look parallel to the right or left side of your photos then the horizon is straight. That's what I see in some of yours, the posts are straight but the boards etc. may not look straight (because they aren't!!)

I noticed it more in your photos of the OU club hockey, but it looks like a smaller local rink and that and the lens you used could have made a difference (because you were in closer maybe). There's a nearby rink I've been to a couple of times for tournaments where the boards literally lean at what looks to be a 45 degree angle! - maybe not really that much, but it's quite bizarre... local rinks do tend to have boards that lean more than a bigger arena.

You could probably do a bit of straightening in Photoshop, with film occasionally I literally would get an enlargement and crop it to adjust. There's a close-up for example with a player (white jersey) going down the ice where you can see just the edge of the yellow paint along the boards across the top of your photo; all you'd have to do is crop the top a bit. You have some similar to that where just a bit of editing would do the trick.

I often would also try to not have a post right near the edge of my photos, if the posts are further away from the sides of the photo it isn't so noticeable if the horizon is a tad slanted. Tricks of the trade I guess! I know what it's like shooting in an old hockey barn, the lighting's bad and the glass is worse! - a challenge for sure.

Charles there are probably local high school or college club hockey games to cut your teeth on and would be worth checking out as Sharon said.
Les I use in camera grid lines to line up my shots when I can ( except when the action is moving too fast ) to keep my horizon level
Sharon I don't mind a bit your hijacking the thread to pass on hard learned advice on shooting- it helps me sometimes too. Chet IS working hard as the 'Clones are in the cellar right now of the North Division.