So I shot the second game of the weekend taking in the suggestions to try to get faces in the images. I ended up getting some shots I was happy with, unfortunately though I ended up getting a lot of shots of DU's opponent and not enough shots of DU players. Here are some of the shots.

and some additional shots.

and one more shot I wanted to share even though my aperture was a little fast...should've used around f/8 to get more in focus.

It looks like you had a better second go at this! Shooting from the catwalk gives you a wonderful perspective.

I am going to critique you kind of hard here, to me it feels like you can take the criticism and you understand that it is coming from a helping perspective.

That being said, this is only my opinion and is not the final word about what is right and what is wrong.

1. You have good action going on here, puck going in the net, players celebrating, etc. You also are shooting from the rafters/cat walk which gives you the benefit of unique angles. What you don't have is congruity. The frame is at an angle...half of the net is cut off and two of the Minnesota players are cut off. There isn't any way that you would be able to crop this to save it in my honest opinion. What you do have is a good white balance. Exposure wise it could stand to come up about 1/3-1/2 stop.

2. There isn't enough action in this shot...the players are too far from each other, the defense isn't applying any heat to the offense. Action wise it is rather bland. Although you did a better job of getting faces and pucks in the picture, the height/angle that you were shooting from inhibits your chances of getting clear shots of their faces. You had mentioned in your previous post that the glass is really dirty at the arena...since you are a student you should see if you can get access to the rink before they start doing warmups. If you can get on the ice, take some windex with you and clean the ice side of the glass in a few different locations. Try using that magic eraser product...it works wonders! Once you have those locations cleaned mark, from the outside of the rink, the shooting location with gaffers tape and an arrow pointing to the clean spot of glass! Since it is a big arena you would probably be shooting from the corners where they run the zamboni's in and out of.

3. Again there is good action but it is hard to put it into perspective. Here is one time that you are in too tight Besides not being square...you are also unlucky that the goalie is in an awkward position. I would also like to see the players that belong to the sticks coming in from the left and the right. The color, white balance, and exposure look pretty good though!

4. This is a really good shot with great composition. Pat yourself on the back for this one. It needs a little bit of work though to sell it. You might want to contact the WCHA and see if they want to use it. To fix it: it is underexposed and the white balance is off. See how gray the ice is...it should be white. What white balance settings were you using? If you aren't setting up a custom white balance it would be very advantageous for you to do so.

5. Excellent white balance and exposure! Good job. Better view of the goalies face and action from the puck. This is the best action photo of the bunch. Too bad for you it's for the wrong team.

6. To be honest doesn't do much of anything for me. It is a boring shot, no action, weird angle, no stick, no puck, player looks off balance and has his eyes closed. The white balance and exposure look pretty good though!

7. Like you said it is a little OOF because of the DOF. As well, the frame isn't square and the white balance and exposure are off. Next time make sure that you are shooting square...the red goal line should be straight, not at an angle. If you are shooting stuff at the goal try not to cut off the edges of the crease (the blue area where the goalie is at).

Like I said before, I offer this critique only to be helpful...not to discourage you. Get out there and shoot some more. As long as you are learning every time that you are out there, you will be in good shape. I look forward to seeing your future work.

Isaiah

Wow, i really appreciate the very specific critiques. Actually the first shot I cropped it...I think I got a little crop happy. I'll show you the shots uncropped when I get a chance to get back on the computer I've imported them to. And I did set up a custom white balance, unfortunately the lights change a little based on where you are in the arena as they are not as evenly placed as one would hope. Also for being square from the top...It is extremely difficult because of where the catwalk supports are. What i hope to do for a game next year is mount a camera where it can be square (where I can't easily shoot from) and remote it with wizards. thanks again for your ciritiques I really do appreciate them.

I also wanted to post this one other shot that I forgot to post last night. and I have posted the uncropped version of the other shot. I shot it at 70mm and had then cropped it in because I had thought the action was more interesting there. I also have posted another shot I got of an MSU-M player

Some nice stuff in here...

(1) I get the idea you had in mind, but it doesn't work for me... framing is just weird.
(2) Not bad, I'd crop it different and get rid of the legs in the top right.
(3) Neat shot, neat perspective. Like it.
(4) Wow, winner here. Great find.
(5) Nice tight goalie shot, just seems like you "just missed" the better shot somehow.
(6) Nah. Just doesn't do anything for me... no context for the shot.
(7) Again, unique, and really like it. You got action, and a great perspective. You're lucky to have overhead access and this shot works, although something inside me is screaming to level up the goal line in the image.
(8) Great goalie shot... well done.
(9) See #7 exactly.
(10) Not bad at all. Seems just a touch soft somehow, and wish there was just a little more space - particularly below the puck. Crops are such a personal thing, but I like to leave a little space so the player is looking/skating/shooting into the frame.

Much more to enjoy this time around though... keep 'em coming!

Thanks DJ Dunzie. THis is my last hockey game until November 20-21 timeframe (may not shoot on the 20th depending on how my finals are going). I love shooting sports and am meeting with someone who has done some freelancing for the NYT and AP and used to be the photo editor at the paper I work at for some critiques. I know about the goal line, it is really hard to deal with. Once I get a long lens my next order of business will be to buy a body and gear to allow me to set up a remote camera that is centered, I figure another d90 or a d300 would work well up there on remote. Thanks again for all the feedback. And you are right about #5...I sort of missed the soht, I have two frames before that frame but neither of them show the puck as it blends in with his upper leg pads, the puck you see there is off of the rebound. Also on number 10, I am cropping at the bottom of the frame, I too would have liked more space below the puck but I just didnt have the right framing in camera for that one.



PS: #5 ended up being the only hockey photo of mine that ran this week...back cover