I’m putting this article together mostly for other sports photographers working for Pro Hockey News. I’m not an expert, and I’m not a professional, but my approach is professional (for the most part). I’m often asked about how I do things, or what equipment I use, and although I’m sure there’s probably other sports photographers that have better equipment and better technique, I thought I would write down my approach to shooting sports and specifically, hockey.
With equipment, where do I begin? It’s difficult because although I have a lot of stuff, I didn’t get it all at once, and none of it was bought brand new and for full price. Everything I own was carefully purchased on the second hand market, primarily on Ebay, but also with other sources.
After lugging around multiple bags, I finally got a Pelican case. These are hard-cases that are sturdy, somewhat weather proof, and they hold a lot if you pack well. Plus, it has wheels. I bought the Pelican 1560 case on Ebay for about half price. And even at that price, it was still expensive, but worth it.
As you can see in this photo I took with my cell phone, in the dark, I have four Canon camera bodies crammed in. Two have lenses attached. One lens is a Canon 70-200mm f/2.8, and the other is a Canon 16-35mm f/2.8. There’s a Canon 430EX II Speedlite. There are several Pocket Wizard remote triggers and assorted cables. And of course, there are spare batteries and assorted small tools.
Note that there’s nothing special about these cameras. The two that I carry around are Canon 7D Mark II models. The remotes are Canon 7Ds.
Although the Pelican case rolls reasonably well on indoor smooth flooring, I prefer avoiding relying on it’s wheels when going from the back of my car up to the arena. So I bought a foldable cart to carry the case and other items.
I usually have a Sigma 120-300mm f/2.8 lens with me at games, and if I use it, I have a monopod that I attach to the lens to support it and the camera.
Since I can’t be in multiple places at once, but I like getting photos from different angles, I set up remote cameras in the arena. I usually show up three hours (more if it’s an NHL arena) prior to the game, and do my setup.
I like to sync the time on my cameras so that after the game, the photos are in order by when they were taken, and so even if a shot is done by more than one camera and different vantage points, they appear close to each other in the series of photos.
To sync, I always pull up a clock app on my phone and take a shot of the clock with each camera. In my post processing, I can use that image as a reference to adjust the date/time on photos from each camera. I’ll explain more on that later.
I equip my remote cameras with a Pocket Wizard PlusX. I make sure all of my triggers are set to the same channel so when my master (on my handheld) camera fires, the remotes also fire.
One camera is setup on a railing in an area near where media, off-ice officials, and broadcasters are situated. So the camera is reasonably safe from being pilfered with.
This camera is set up with an old manual focus Canon FD 200mm lens It’s great glass, but since I always prefocus my remotes on their target (the opposing team’s goalie area), I wouldn’t need automatic focus anyway.
I mount the camera using a Manfrotto Magic Arm and clamp.
If this were an area with more people below, I would also attach a safety cable to the camera and the Magic Arm.
The second remote camera goes up in the catwalk on a platform that shoots directly down on the goalie’s area, with a great overhead view.
As you can see, a safety cable is used here. It is attached to the camera with little metal i-rings that I bought off Ebay, and I have them attached to most of my cameras.
Other than the location and the safety cable, the setup is the same, and the Pocket Wizard trigger is the same as with the first remote camera.
I’ve recently bought “pre-trigger” cables for these two setups. This isn’t absolutely necessary, but without them, both cameras will sleep during times of non-use during a game. And then when I remotely trigger them, there’s a slight delay. WIth the pre-trigger cable, both cameras are sent a signal from the Pocket Wizard that keeps the cameras awake. This makes their reaction to my triggering them during a game, to be almost instantaneous. The down-side is that it runs the battery in the cameras down faster. So I always make sure I have fresh batteries before every game.
Both remote cameras are manually focused ahead of time. This works much better than relying on auto focus, which can sometimes get confused on what to focus on (plus, the auto focus causes another slight delay). Every photographer that I know that uses these triggers, manually focuses their remote cameras.
The camera that I use most during games is the one equipped with the 70-200mm lens. I have a Pocket Wizard set to “transmit only”, mounted on the hot shoe. This trigger is a Pocket Wizard Plus IV, which has a lower profile from the other triggers, but it works the same. The only reason for the lower profile is that it doesn’t interfere with my hat when I’m shooting.
Note the gaffers tape on top of the trigger. The trigger has another hot shoe on top of it, and I don’t like it snagging on my hat, so I cover it with tape.
During games, when I focus on the goalie from somewhere on the glass to the side of the goalie, the remote cameras also fire. So even if I have a player or ref in my way sometimes, the other two cameras have a good chance of getting the shot.
After the game, I will probably have a lot of throwaways from the remotes, but you never know when there’ll be that great action there at the goal, and it’s great to get it from different angles all at the same time.
Back home, I pull the photos from each card onto my computer, and I use Photo Mechanic on them. The first thing I do is sort by camera serial number. I then set the time correctly based on that first image I took of the clock app on my phone. With the correct time set, I select the rest of the photos taken with that particular camera. Photo Mechanic uses the adjustment from what it made on the clock image, and applies it to the photos I selected.
I then do this same procedure for the three other cameras I use at games.
Once the time is set properly on all of the photos, I sort by capture time, and then set the meta data I want, which typically includes copyright information, GPS coordinates (from a map in Photo Mechanic) and keywords to be included in the EXIF information on all of the photos.
I can then use Photo Mechanic to cull photos I don’t want. I can also set other keywords on various images. Photo Mechanic also has a “code replacement” feature where I can enter different codes and it will expand them in the Capture of a photo, so tell what player, what team and what jersey number is in the shot. It’s a handy feature.
Once I have all the photos tagged and culled, etc, I rename them using Photo Mechanic. The photos are renamed with a datetime based on the time each image was taken. I then use Photo Mechanic to copy the photos to their final destination on my external hard drive.
Lightroom is then used to import the photos, read the metadata from the sidecar files. Before doing any processing, I actually go to the trouble of using Lenstagger (a plug-in) to inject the correct information about the manual lens, so that the photos taken with it have EXIF information that actually reflects that they were shot with that FD 200mm old-fashioned lens. This step isn’t necessary, but I think it’s a nice touch.
I do my Lightroom adjusting, including noise reduction, and apply this to the entire set of photos. I then go through and crop and straighten the shots. I can then render jpg files to send out at that point.
I should also mention that while I’m doing all this post processing, I have batteries being recharged and making sure I’ve tested the AA batteries that go in each trigger, so I’ll be ready for the next game.
As you can tell from all of this, the equipment isn’t as important as the steps. Some people might not do everything I do. And to be honest, if I’m on deadlines and got a series of games (such as with a tournament), I might not do everything that I normally do. The key is that whatever you do, you have to be prepared. Make sure you have plenty of fresh batteries (for the cameras and the remote triggers). Show up ahead of time so that you’re not rushed, and you can go through your setups and test everything to make sure you haven’t forgotten something. That really is the key; being prepared and not being rushed.
In the end, there’s no magic. The equipment isn’t top of the line (I wish it was). It’s photographic technique and a few gadgets, and lots of preparation. And I didn’t do this all at once. I built on it a little at a time, and that got me where I am today. Anyone can do it.
Contact Les: Les.Stockton@prohockeynews.com
Editor’s Note: Les Stockton is a long-time photographer for Pro Hockey News. He is the staff photographer for the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL, and has covered numerous events for PHN across several leagues, including at the NHL level. In his time away from hockey he covers several other sports, including indoor football, Semi-pro football, rugby, roller derby and dirt track racing, to name a few.
If you would like to join Pro Hockey News as a writer or photographer, stop by our recruitment page by clicking here.