p.1 #2 · Honest review for first time post - HS hockey
Just a couple things... They seem slightly underexposed. I'd probably bring the ISO up a little bit. You seem to have an eye for the action and you're in the right place. In post, you need to watch the horizon lines. Whenever you have strong vertical lines in an image, it's good to use them to determine straightness (is that a word?). Your horizon lines seem slightly off in a few of the images.
p.1 #4 · Honest review for first time post - HS hockey
Basically, horizon lines refer to the horizon. Think of a shot of the ocean... Water can't tilt. It needs to be straight. In photos, you should stay straight unless you've made an artistic decision to slant. With sports, there are very few times where a slanted image works.
When you have strong vertical lines in an image (a building, flag poles, windows, etc. ), you need to keep them at a right angle to the horizon. Once you recognize correct horizon lines, you won't be able to tolerate a titled image again. Sometimes the tilt is slight... Other times you feel dizzy looking at the image.
Does that help? Hope so! I had a professor in college who was a freak about straight horizon lines. Thanks to him, I have a big problem with inappropriately crocked images.
p.1 #7 · Honest review for first time post - HS hockey
Very good shots and good action. I agree with Kathleen, they look slightly underexposed though. #6 is cropped a little too tight for my liking. I'd like a little breathing room around the puck like in your other shots.
p.1 #10 · Honest review for first time post - HS hockey
When you have strong vertical lines in an image (a building, flag poles, windows, etc. ), you need to keep them at a right angle to the horizon.
Rarely will you be able to tell if vertical lines are at right angles to the horizon, especially with indoor photography, because there often is no consistent true horizontal reference. Even when shooting outdoors, unless you can actually see the horizon, you can be fooled by things you think should be horizontal (bases of walls, fences, buildings) cuz these things can be affected by perspective. IMHO, it is far preferable to use vertical references…almost always, vertical things are vertical. You can use the ruler tool in Photoshop…drag it along something vertical (like a corner of a wall, the stanchion holding the glass, a seam in the boards, etc) and "Rotate Canvas Arbitrary" under the Image menu.
Regarding your images, first, you should number them. Second, too many have no faces or only a part of a face. Several look underexposed, also. Keep at it, though, you're close.
p.1 #12 · Honest review for first time post - HS hockey
I agree with the other posters. The one thing about shooting with a "busy" background, like in the 5th image, is they tend to be very distracting. You were correct in shooting f/2.8 for DOF, but the banner takes away from the shot (distracting) and it can be VERY difficult to get away from these things. Another thought you may want to consider is in the 6th & 8th images, you have part of the background players (closest background player) head partially chopped off. I would have liked to have these players heads intact (pardon pun) because they are observing the action and add to the image. Still, the DOF are perfect in these two. I think my second observation, opinions may vary and you should make the decision what is correct...whether you are selling prints of the individual players or it is for editorial purposes. Good luck, and like the others said...you are on the right track!
PS- when shooting an action scene, try to get the players face visible. That is where the story begins and really sets the tone of the shot. I always shoot for the eyes, as they are the windows to the soul of an athlete.
