NHL: Stars at Avalanche 09 Apr 09 at TapiaPhoto Blog

(Photo by Ric Tapia / TapiaPhoto)

09 April 2009: Avalanche goaltender Peter Budaj (31) and Stars Loui Eriksson (21) during the NHL regular season game between the Dallas Stars and the Colorado Avalanche at the Pepsi Center in Denver, CO.

Back in Denver! Its been about a year since I have been in Denver. I flew in Tuesday night and will stay until Sunday. In that time period I will shoot 3 NHL games and 1 NLL (Lacrosse) game.

For this NHL game I was able to shot with strobes during the hockey game. Shooting with strobes is great! Everything is better; colors, contrast, sharpeness, etc. The only down side is when you shot with strobes you only get one shot. When I shot with Available light I can take up to 10 FPS (frames per second) but with strobes you take one shot and have to wait at least 3 seconds before you can take another one. This might not seem like a long time but in sports it is an eternity.

(Photo by Ric Tapia / TapiaPhoto)

I was also able to set up an overhead remote camera facing down on the goal. I didnt get any good photos until the game went into a shootout. In a shootout the players get closer to the goal and try to make a move at the last second to score. For the remote camera I used available light to increase my chances of success.