This season I am trying to get close up photos of the players on the ice for the Syracuse Crunch to use if a player needs to be featured on their website or social media outlets.

I use photography holes cut into the protective plexiglass large enough for a lens and small enough to keep pucks out (so far!). Without thick and marked up plexiglass between me and the players, I can shoot with a faster shutter speed. This helps a lot when players get close to me.

While sometimes they are not going at full speed, I still need to be ready when the players turn towards me.

The key to a good action portrait is to catch the player with their head up with little background clutter and the frame as filled as much as possible so little to no cropping is needed. This gives the Crunch media people the best image possible.