How to take better Ice Hockey Photos

When I first started shooting photos ICE Hockey was my main passion. I would sit around my tv with an empty film camera just snapping away at the action as it unfolded on the tv.

Being that the NHL is currently on strike the only ice hockey in town to go photograph is the local minor league team, the Trenton Titans.

I am sure many of you will ask how did I go about getting a photo pass for the game? I simply called the teams front office and they gave the e mail address to the person who I should touch base with. One e mail later I was all set to shoot their opening night. The tips I have for you when you are attempting to get a pass is to make sure you have something to show. If you do not have work to show there would be no reason for them to let you in. Second offer something, in this case I offered to send them photos to use online in exchange for the pass to go out and shoot.

In this video you will see me not only capturing images but I stop and talk to the camera between each period to give you tips and tricks as well as discuss how I think the period of shooting went.

For this game I was a little concerned that there were no photo holes in the glass. A photo hole gives you no obstructions between you and the ice. It means you will get cleaner, sharper and more colorful images. In this case since there was no hole I had to find glass that was clean enough to shoot through.

Sometimes the glass can cause distortion when attempting to shoot with longer glass. I thought I may run into this issue and you can hear me voice this concern during the recording. I thought I may have trouble capturing sharp images but as it turns out I am very pleased with the results from the game.

At the end of this video I bring all of the images back into lightroom for my own critique. I let you know how I was able to make the colors pop as well as what images are keepers, what images are not and what I could have done better with others. I still really enjoy capturing ice hockey, I know and love the game and that makes capturing it even more fun.

As a final thought, there is nothing like being back in an arena with a press pass. You get to go behind the scenes, sit in the press room with other like minded people and just have a great time. It just feels like home again and that is a feeling I love to have. I look forward to going back to photograph the Titans over the 2012-2013 season.

I am looking into having a FroKnowsPhoto night at one of the games where you can bring your camera and after the game get to skate on the ice while I teach how to take better photos. Would you be interested in something like that? If so please leave a comment below.