Hi all, got a question for the group -- anyone here ever shot field hockey? I've done some homework on YouTube as far as positioning, but I'd like to converse with someone who's actually shot the sport ...
I've shot some field hockey as a favor to a player I knew, so would not consider myself an expert.
I positioned myself near the back line to which the team I was shooting was attacking, so I got them facing me most of the time. I had 3 camera's, one with a 120-300 f2.8 and another with a 70-200 f2.8 . I just brought my third camera because I had it and was not sure on how the game would run. I fitted a 24-70 f2.8 on the 3rd camera.
The 300 felt a bit short, but with R5's 45MP I could crop in. The games I shot were night games under the flood lights, so I needed f2.8 and 300mm was my longest at the time.
I chose the right hand side from the defending goalie and set towards the corner. That gave me a wide angle towards play and since most players tend to be right-handed, for a large part of the field they open up towards the lens when hitting the ball. Also it seemed better as one of the referees would not occasionaly run in front of my camera. Since I was at the backline and it was an amateur game, I was able to walk towards behind the goal, in case of a penalty corner. There I could also try to use the 24-70mm.
The 120-300 and 70-200 I switched when the 120 of the larger zoom became too long or I expected some more play nearer by.
To get some different angles, part of one half I positioned at the sideline, still near the corner to see if I could get some more action for the goal in the circle.
I did not walked around the pitch, so not sure of positioning more along the sidelines would have given some nice shots. I expect the positions I chose were most suited for general action shots. Walking along the sideline would help to get closer to 'your' team in defending position, so that would be better to capture defending actions.
I shot some in Australia. Don't go direclty behind the net or in line with where the 'D' hits the endline (a passing target). Do make sure there is something to stop the ball hitting you -- it usually rolls on the ground -- becaus the ball is VERY hard and often coming very fast. Otherwise it is a lot like shooting soccer, although the trick is getting the eyes looking up.
I shoot a lot of high school field hockey. If the refs permit it and the teams are equally matched the best spot generally is posting on the end line about five yards from the sideline or so on the left side of the goal as you are facing the goal. If you send me a private message I will be happy to share some galleries so you can see what one person does. If your team is not very good and not coming to the goal I would move up to the mid field line usually on the same side as the teams. It's busy there but you can get a team that might not otherwise come to your goal. I am normally running three bodies and lenses with a 400 on a monopod and a 70-200 and 28-70 on a harness or at my side. A 400 is generally going to be too tight from a spot on the end line for shots on goal. It's a fun sport to shoot though you will throw a lot of shots away. They are hunched over a good part of the time and often will have their back to you. You don't want to post anything you wouldn't want if it were your daughter.
I love shooting hockey, it's one of my favourite sports. As far as positioning goes, usually I'll sit field side on the sideline about level with the dot in the middle of the goal circle, or closer to the front of the goal circle if there's not a lot of goals being scored.
Shooting hockey you'll want a long lens - I used to shoot a lot on either a 600mm or a 400 2.8 + tc - plus usually a 200 f2 or 70-200 on a second body for goals etc.
One word of warning as well - speak to the refs and the venue beforehand if you want to sit inside the fence on the field beforehand... hockey balls hurt. And buy kneepads for whichever knee you kneel on, cause the turf will be wet!
