What Nikon Flash Should You Use for Hockey?
Whether you're shooting a photo of your kids running through the sand or of your son kicking a soccer goal, the term to remember is action. Action photography requires the right camera and the proper flash and flash settings to make the most of the shot.
Sports Photography
When it comes to action and sports photography, high-quality shots are often hard to come by. Lighting conditions, your proximity to the action and your equipment will all contribute to the overall quality of the photos.
One thing that will definitely help you get a decent shot is a fast shutter speed combined with a decent flash. The flash will provide the exposure necessary for the fast shutter speed to do its work.
Built-In Flash vs. External Flash
Many newer Nikon cameras, particularly the DLSRs (Digital Lens Single Reflex), come with a flash. There are limited customization options and modes for the built-in flash, but it gets the job done.
If you would like to experiment with lighting, change the angle of the flash and how often it fires, then you'll want to consider an external flash. Nikon's line of external flashes starts with the beginner's SB-400 and goes all the way up to the advanced and feature-packed SB-900.
Which Flash Should You Use?
Use an external flash for sports photography. The SB-600 is a nice choice because it provides angle and tilt options without being too complicated or bulky to use on-the-fly. Harness the power of an external flash to create the perfect lighting for the sports setting you want to capture.
Of course, you'll want to work with the lighting conditions that the location of the hockey game provides. Many indoor hockey rinks use a variety of brightly lit bulbs and overhead lights, so you'll want to adjust the settings of your external flash properly.
For an outdoor roller hockey event, you may find that sunlight provides more than enough lighting for your shots.
Things to Consider
Hockey is usually played in a smaller, more contained area, which means that your location and the type of lens you use shouldn't be too much of a problem. But remember that the spectators are almost always separated from the game area by glass. When using a flash, it's quite possible that you'll wind up with bounce-back glare from the glass. You will want to angle your flash up and forward a bit to avoid a direct glare. And if you're shooting through a chain-link fence (a fence is more common with outdoor roller hockey), you'll want to make sure to aim both the lens and the flash through the chain link in order to compose a great shot.
Where to Buy
If the built-in flash on your camera simply doesn't do your sports photography justice, you'll want to purchase external flashes. External flashes such as the Nikon SB-400 and the Nikon SB-600 and SB-800 are all sold at camera shops, and can be found at a variety of online retailers as well.
Tags: Flash Should, external flash, external flash, external flashes, fast shutter, fast shutter speed, flash flash
