Matthew Durr Photography

I guess my first excursions into sports photography this year will all be trials-by-fire. Following up my first time shooting soccer last week, I shot my first field hockey game this past weekend, and will be photographing indoor volleyball for the first time later this week!

I won’t lie, field hockey is a strange sport. It’s essentially ice hockey (which is interesting enough by itself), but with shorter sticks, a ball instead of a puck, and it’s played on short grass. Oh, and there’s no real pads or helmets, so players feel every push and shove from their adversaries. It isn’t as fast-paced as soccer, but when the ball gets in-between two players, chaos ensues—what I try to capture, in other words.

Conditions were bright and sunny for this match, helping keep ISOs low and shutter speeds very high. Harsh shadows are no match for Lightroom 4’s excellent shadow recovery tools. All the following taken with the NEX-7 and Nikon 180mm f/2.8 AI-s ED and Nikon 300mm f/2.8 AI-s ED, two lenses I love more and more every day.

Digging Deep
300mm, ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/1250

Charged
180mm, ISO 100, f/3, 1/2500

Chopped
300mm, ISO 200, f/3.5, 1/2000

I had competition of my own…
300mm, ISO 100, f/3.5, 1/500

Trying to Trip
180mm, ISO 100, f/3, 1/3200

Power Shot
180mm, ISO 100, f/3, 1/2500

And my personal favorite of the game:

The Run Down
180mm, ISO 100, f/3, 1/2500

That’s all for this post guys and gals, I’m going to hate having to go into the high ISOs for volleyball this weekend. The NEX-7 handles high sensitivities just fine, but I’ll be losing that pixel-level detail I cherish so much. Oh well, it’s all about getting the shot. And that’s what I’m going to do. 😀 As always, have a great day!