Friday, March 26, 2010

Face-off









At the beginning of the month, I attended my first hockey game. It was awesome! A couple of fights and lots of checking into the boards. Oh, it was great! I'll admit I jumped when a player was slammed right in front of me. The poor guy's face, flat against the glass, reminded me of a child pushing his/her face up against glass and making faces and blowing their cheeks out.
It is a difficult sport to photograph, as I found out, and those who do it well get my respect and admiration. Valarie, the Utah Grizzlies photographer, gave me the tickets and some tips. Understanding the game and anticipation of the action are key. A BIG thanks to her. At times I was so busy watching the game and trying to follow the puck that I forgot to photograph what I was watching. When I got the camera up to my eye the action was over or I had missed the best part. We live and learn don't we.
The reflections off the glass are a bit annoying. I could not use a CPL, it would take away to much light. I did not want to get my ISO up to high. I thought the pictures turned out okay for my first game. May-be I'll have better luck next time.
D200, 70-200mm f/2.8 lens, f/2.8, 1/200 sec., ISO 400. Manual settings. Some levels correction.

2 comments:

holdingmoments said...

I think these are excellent David.
It must be hard to capture the action as it happens so fast.
A very physical game. Love to watch it.

Jeff Farabee said...

Really cool, David! I know what you mean about missing parts of the game. I just had to put the camera down for a while so I could watch the game. Hey, I've got an award for you at my blog!