I shot my first NHL game recently. A special thanks to the Sabres photographers for the warm hospitality.

This was the first time, I was able to shoot through a photo hole, and what a huge difference it makes. Also, it's the really first time, I was able to shoot my D300 at 8 fps. I usually never shoot in burst because of my strobes. It was fun.

Buffalo won the game 5-0.

it was a rough drive because of the snow storm, but all-in-all a lot of fun. The weather made for a very stressful and long day. But I made it to Buffalo and home safe.

All shots, Nikon D300, ISO 1600, 1/500 f/2.8


#1
HSBC Arena, very nice building, very impressive. It was my first time in the building.

Wow. And all these from a guy who normally is pampered by strobes... this is fantastic stuff Paul.

My faves are the fisheye shot, #6, #9, and #10, and of course as a guy who sees the Storm from time to time I appreciate the Doughty shots too...

Thanks for sharing Paul. Nice work all around!

agreed, great stuff here, nice eyes, everything is nice and bright, some good action, white balance looks great. kopitar's face in no. 6 is priceless. the dude needs to step it up for my fantasy team though

Thanks for the comments.

I was a little worried with my D300, as it was rendering the LA Kings "purple" blue on my screen. So, here I was thinking, I traveled all this way in a snow storm, to have my camera render the wrong colours. Turns out it was just on my LCD. I tried everything possible for the colour management, (way too many options on the Nikon's) but couldn't fix the purple on the screen.

I was thinking that I would have to adjust all the pictures on the computer to get the purple, turns out the files are fine, just the colours on the LCD...

Pampered by strobes? Yes, but shooting ambient was fun, as long as it's through a hole...

For what it's worth, if you nail your white balance, getting the colour you want is the easy part...

Great shots man. It is a treat eh. It's hard to go back to the CHL as much as I love shooting Juniors the photo hole and great lighting is a treat. Buffalo looks like it has great lighting.

Hi Paul,

Fantastic series, love everything about them..

My favorites are #9 & #11.

Getting rid of the strobes now?

Mark

Git rid of my strobes? Not anytime soon. But shooting ambient has a lot of advantages, like shoot anywhere you want.

With my strobes, I am very limited to where I shoot, and of course there is the shadow issues...

However I can't help but think how much more pop these would have with strobes...

-Paul

Great shots Paul, seems like it was well worth the drive to Buffalo. I especially like #1, #3 and #4. Colours seem spot on.

Any shots of Dustin Brown or of Dan Paille, 2 other Storm graduates playing that night?

Ken

Nice job.

bb