Youth Hockey Photo Tips
My son is in the NJ Devils Youth Hockey program. His first experience was last season, playing for one of the few Devils Youth Hockey Mites team. These games are always entertaining to watch for the parents and sometimes get pretty competitive.
I got my camera to few of the NJ Devils Youth Hockey matches – home and away. And I thought of sharing a few tips that might be of interest, if your kid is in youth hockey or in any other action sport and you are into photography.
Viewpoint
You need to remove the clear wall between the camera and the game. Either get a high seat to get an unobstructed view and shoot down or stand close with your lens against the clear wall. In the latter case, the clear wall be so out of focus that it will practically disappear from the photo. In the former case, you will probably need a tele-photo lens. The first 2 and the last 2 images in the above gallery were shot through the clear wall.
Lens
If you want good shots, then a fast telephoto lens is needed. I use a Nikkor 70-200 f2.8 VRII. A great lens and not cheap. A kit medium zoom lens is the next best bet.
Camera
A high ISO setting is required as sometimes the light in the rink is not bright enough. If you are shooting at not more than ISO 800, then you should be OK, unless you have to make large prints. A good DLSR can handle noise better, meaning you can get rid of most of the noise (grain) in post-processing even when the shots were taken at high ISO. Again, cameras like that tend to be more expensive.
Shoot in RAW
Shoot and process RAW – shooting JPEG and dumping the files out of the camera will not do, if you want good images. Learning a software like Lightroom is a great idea. It is not that difficult and depends on your interest and the time you are willing to spend.
Exposure
Keep the shutter speed at least 1/125, although you might need higher depending on the pace of the game and how close you are to the action. Exposure metering against ice can be tricky, but you can always tweak the exposure after looking at a couple of test shots in the LCD monitor.
Creating Motion
The photos need to create a feeling of motion, as hockey is a fast paced game. This article can help.
Anticipation
Ice hockey is a fast paced game and no matter how good you get with the things listed above, the most important thing is the ability to anticipate the photo worthy moments of the game. The photographer needs to anticipate the moment, just like the player on the ice.
But that should be easy.
Parents are into the game which the kids play and often have played the game as kids. The key is to transfer that awareness to action photography. You just need to be interested enough, and practice enough for one season.
The next season will be great!
