Shots on Goal: Goalie Photography

Miami (Ohio) vs UNH

The #1 Miami (Ohio) RedHawks played the first of two games against the UNH Wildcats on Friday night. The teams were tied 2-2 after the first period but Miami broke it open scoring four unanswered goals in the second period enroute to a 6-3 victory over the Wildcats.

(Click on the pictures to see more goalie photos from the game.)

Goalie Cody Reichard, Miami (Ohio)

Sophomore goalie Cody Reichard helped his team notch their third win of the season stopping 15 of 18 shots on goal.

UNH's Mike Borisenok beats Cody Reichard stickside for the first goal of the game.

Cody Reichard makes one of his 18 saves of the night in the third period.

Goalie Brian Foster, UNH

Brian Foster started the game and played the first two periods stopping 20 of 26 shots.  He was replaced by Matt DiGirolamo in the third period.

One of four second period goals scored by Miami (Ohio).

Jarod Palmer , with an open net, can't quite get the handle on the puck after a Brian Foster save.

Photo Tip: Camera set up for hockey

Hockey rinks are typically dark places to shoot in unless you’re in a college or pro rink. They usually require a camera that has an ISO of 1600 or higher and a lens capable of  f2.8 or faster.

The first thing I do when I get to a rink after I set a custom white balance is look at the lighting and see if the rink in evenly lit or not. This will determine how I set the camera up. Look at the lights and see if there are some that look dull or have a pinkish color to them. Also, check the ice for dark spots. If the lighting does not  look good, I’ll switch to my uneven set up.

With an evenly lit rink I’ll set the camera up in manual mode and start off at f2.8 and a shutter speed of 1/640 and adjust from there to try and get the best depth of field I can get. I then adjust my ISO until I get an in camera meter reading of +1 to + 1 1/3.  This is because of all the reflectivity of the white ice and boards. The meter will see all of the white and try to underexpose the picture and your ice and boards will have a gray look to them. Overexposing will make the ice brighter and make the colors of the uniforms pop. I also frequently check the histogram and try to keep the highlights barely clipping the right side. The above picture were shot in manual, f3.5,  1/800, ISO 2000

In an unevenly lit rink I’ll set the camera up in aperture priority mode at f2.8 and just live with whatever shutter speed the camera gives me. I still try to get the camera to overexpose by using the exposure compensation button. Some typical setting that I get in a dark or unevenly lit rink are f2.8, 1/400 to 1/640 at ISO 3200.

The goal here is to get a properly exposed picture.  A well exposed picture will look better and have less noise than an underexposed picture that was redone in post processing ,if you are shooting in RAW.