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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Hockey through the glass
Dave Breen, Photographer
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Somerset | PA | USA | Posted: 9:39 AM on 03.05.10 |
->> Larry Smith's Olympic hockey photos today are great. It would appear most, if not all, of them are shot through the glass. In Robert Hanashiro's Olympic diary, he bemoans shooting through the glass because of mushy images.
Is there a secret? I noticed the glass appeared unusually clean and clear on television (I assume it was new glass for the games).
I seldom shoot hockey, and always look for the least-scratched area in the glass to shoot down the ice. I also pay attention to my reflection in the glass; once I tried attaching a black cloth to the glass to prevent overhead light from illuminating me and the camera, but the tape wouldn't stick (I think because of the temperature). |
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Adrian Gauthier, Photographer
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Mississauga | ON | Canada | Posted: 9:41 AM on 03.05.10 |
| ->> I believe they had said that one side of the rink was far worse for reflections than the other. I'm going to assume this side was the one that was better. |
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Eric Canha, Photographer
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Brockton | MA | United States | Posted: 9:53 AM on 03.05.10 |
->> Dave I don't know about the Olympics but I have a small spray bottle and a small bottle of windshield fluid in my truck for those times when I know I'll be behind glass. To clean the glass I half fill the spray bottle with the hottest water I can find (nuke it at the snack bar if possible) and a TINY amount of the windshield fluid.
Got the recipe from the guys at the URI (maybe PC?) rink and it works like a charm. The hot water softens the rubber puck scars and other muck, and the alcohol dries fast. DON'T spill or over spray! It will cause havoc with the ice, thus only a SMALL bottle goes out on the ice.... Spill a quart of this on the sheet and you'll never be allow back! |
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Marshall Wolff, Photographer
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Framingham | Ma. | USA | Posted: 3:45 PM on 03.06.10 |
->> I use windex and a glass razor. The real problem is getting on the ice because the dirt is on the inside. When I ask they say no because of insurance issue's. Usually I just try to find a clean area and do my best.
Marshall |
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George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 12:23 PM on 03.08.10 |
->> At the Olympics no one was allowed on the ice except the crew.
They would make an effort to clean the glass and get as many puck and stick scrapes as possible before a game.
But once the game started if you got a puck or stick in front of you then you were out of luck for the remainder of the game. If you got ice spray then you just had to wait it out for it to evaporate which could take the rest of the period or longer. |
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Ed Hyde, Photographer
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Big Rapids | MI | USA | Posted: 1:26 AM on 03.01.11 |
->> I guess I am very lucky. I shoot for a university and we have a D-1 hockey team. For the most part, I have the run of the place. I clean the glass, both sides, of the shooting spots I am going to use.
I also tape a large piece of black felt on the glass. Standing inside of this, I do not have any issues with reflection and love it. As I said, I am lucky. |
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Sam Santilli, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Philippi | WV | USA | Posted: 8:29 AM on 03.01.11 |
| ->> Ed, does the black material get taped above you? Or do you make a hole in the center of it? Thanks, Sam |
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Dave Burbank, Photographer
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Ithaca | NY | USA | Posted: 4:14 PM on 03.13.11 |
| ->> I like the black felt idea. I use short rubber lens hoods when shooting hockey through glass and gently press the hood to the glass. This works pretty well in terms of reducing reflection. |
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Bob DeChiara, Photographer
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Burlington | MA | USA | Posted: 4:59 PM on 03.13.11 |
| ->> Dave I also use a rubber hood, its the Mamiya brand. Great for reducing reflections. Fits nice and snug a long the glass. |
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Robert Hanashiro, Photographer
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Los Angeles | CA | | Posted: 11:33 PM on 03.13.11 |
->> I'd probably try this if I were to shoot through the glass again:
http://www.lenskirt.com/
A lot of ice level shooters made something like this out of cardboard, foam and gaffer tape during the Olympics. |
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Matthew Hinton, Photographer, Assistant
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New Orleans | LA | USA | Posted: 1:19 AM on 03.14.11 |
->> If you have shot with a tilt / shift lens or view camera this is easy to understand.
The glass acts like a plane of focus so as long as you are perfectly parallel to the plane you should have little to no distortion. But if you move the lens at angle to the glass / plane then you will get distortion like the tilt on a tilt /shift lens. Obviously it won't be as bad as a tilt / shift lens but you'll notice that it gets more mushy when you have to follow a play around a corner. You may still get usable results even at an angle to the glass but not as sharp as when the lens and glass are perfectly parallel.
So to start, put your lens flat up against the glass to make sure you are parallel, then back off a little to actually take pictures. Obviously don't leave you lens up against the glass because the players will make it wobble quite a bit when they body check each other into it. |
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Steve Russell, Photographer
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Toronto | ON | Canada | Posted: 10:34 AM on 03.14.11 |
| ->> The other trick used at the Olympics because of the lighting is to use those extra stops of light and bump up your aperture as much as you can. |
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Ed Hyde, Photographer
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Big Rapids | MI | USA | Posted: 2:00 AM on 03.15.11 |
->> I tape the black felt above me with gaffers tape. The felt stretches a little over a pane in width. This allows me to stand inside of it and not worry about reflections. It does get a bit warm under it though.
I am not allowed to play the felt towards the rear of the goal where it may interfere with the players seeing the puck. Our A.D. Likes the idea of it and how it helps photographers that he brought up the idea of i stalling something permanate for all the shooters.
I am shooting through 1/2" glass. With clean glass and my felt, I can shoot from end to end without and issues. |
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