Minor Hockey Week is in full swing so I thought I would do a post with a few tips to all the hockey parents out there!

At the end of the year, I like to make slideshows for the team so I approach MHW with that in mind.  Here are a few things to try and capture this week:

• Be prepared – Remember to charge your camera, bring extra batteries so you don’t have any problems during the game, make sure your sd card has lots of room for photos.  Bring an extra SD card in case you need it or you have problems with the card in the camera.
• Bring your camera with you to all the games so you can capture the story of the entire week
• Before the game – I like to wait until all the girls are ready and then quickly go around the room, taking pictures of each of them and then letting them be goofy and do some group photos.
• Kids and parents -  It can be lots of fun getting shots of the parents tying skates, putting on helmets etc.
• Action shots –  Remember you are going to have to speed up your camera’s shutter speed so the photos won’t be too blurry!  Set it to at least 400 iso
• Get down close to the action – try not to take all your photos from the same place.  Try going behind the net too!
• Include the coaches in your shots…I love getting shots of them as they talk the players in between periods, hi-five them after a goal, etc.
• Get a group shot of the parents in the stands.  We spend 6 months together and make some friendships.  Try and capture that!
• Look for unique shots.  How about a shot of all the kids standing at the gate waiting to go on the ice?
• If your teams make it to the finals, once the game is over you will be able to get a team photo of them on the ice if you are quick enough!   Try to get down to rink level so you can get up close.
• Once you are back in the dressing room, take 2 photos of each player with their medal…you always want to take 2 to make sure you get a good shot of each of the kids.  Also, take a look after each shot to make sure no one blinked.

Have fun!

January is the perfect time to think about organizing your digital photos that are on your computer!

I found an article online that has 10 really good tips to help you get things organized and outlines things like:

• how to properly rename your photos so you can find what you want
• how to rotate all those photos that are tilted and not easy to quickly view
• the importance of keeping your original files but how you can also resize them for emailing
• suggestions on some good Photo Managers, and most importantly
• backing up your hard drives.

Read more on organizing your photos >>