ICE HOCKEY – SØNDERJYSKE ESBJERG ENERGY 2023
These images are from the quarter final series in 2023. Sønderjyske ended up loosing the series.
How to set your Camera during Ice Hockey Photography
Ice hockey is a fabulous sport to photograph. I have had season tickets for over 40 years and back in the 80ies I made a slideshow with music and a crossfade between two projectors with a good friend. It has since become easier with computer technology and suitable programs. On my YouTube channel, there is a show where the sound is the coach’s comments and sounds from training, added to images from a match.
SønderjyskE was extremely kind every time I asked, and I have been able to photograph as accredited whenever I wanted. I can stand down by the barrier or sit in the press box up under the roof. I prefer the latter, because then I can photograph at both ends at the same time and I don’t have to photograph through a barrier that is dirty, full of sweat after a heavy tackle or where the puck has left a big black line on the acrylic.
I set my camera to:
• quality RAW
• 2500 ISO
• continuous shutter at highest speed
• M manual program
• In our arena the color temperature is 3800 K, and I use1/1000 second and F:5.6. Should there be an over- or underexposed image, it is easy to correct in RAW.
You completely forget the time and place, but it is not an ice hockey match, you’re watching, you’re photographing one. You don’t have time to get an overview of the match, you’re more thinking about the next situation and the next image. It all happens super-fast and you’re shooting wildly. There are many misses, and when you get home, you have to look through everything and mark them for editing or delete them. Shooting in RAW means, that almost all the pictures have to be edited, but it also means that the end result is better – especially reducing High ISO noise. The lights are not even across the entire rink.. Right at the edges and in the corners, it can be a whole F-stop smaller.
I’m not a professional who needs usable pictures ready within an hour after the match. I attach great importance to remove noise, have them nicely lit and contrasted and cropped to a good composition. And I actually enjoy it too.
If I edit pictures for the club, they obviously have to be finished within a day or two, but then I have to do it with a slightly lower quality.
Photographing Kart racing is a sport where you also have to keep your finger on the trigger.