You Know What We Really Need? More On-Ice Photography

[RGM81]

There's a lot of hockey cards on the market these days. Pick a common player or a rookie that played in a game once; he's probably got about 100+ cards made.

A shockingly small percentage of those cards actually show the players playing on an ice surface. So many images these days are cropped & Photoshopped. Lots of them look really cool. You get the odd weird design like 10-11 Artifacts where it looks like everybody plays in mustard gas. Mostly, though, you'd think players played in an ice storm or sea of white rather than a hockey rink with boards, glass, and fans in behind them.

My absolute favourite photo on a card used in the past five years is this one. You'll be amazed by its simplicity...



To me, that's a thing of beauty. That card, that photo, tells a story. You've got the much-beloved ex-captain returning to Montreal for the first time in an opponent's jersey. But the fans remember, and they still want to show their love and appreciation for Saku Koivu. He was just a supporting cast player in Anaheim, but in Montreal he was one of the faces of the franchise.

The standard card design these days would crop Saku onto a bland background or some fancy thing that makes the image of him pop. Here, he's immersed in the scene, still at the forefront but it's the background that helps make it great.

I think this is part of the mass appeal of Young Guns. Yes your Future Watches and Cup RC's are worth more but do they really just have the simplicity and grand elegance of a classic action shot?

Discuss.

[hugehitter31]

One of my favorite base sets is UDS1 because of the great photos taken. There is a similar one of E Kane in 13-14UDS1 with a fan holding up a sign behind him at the glass. They're cool shots of them actually playing hockey

[atruong317]

I think that is why Series 1 and Series 2 are so popular. The base sets and the canvas sets always have impressive pictures.

I also like the Authentic Moments subset in the SP Authentic set as it usually shows a larger picture of the play or moment.

[30ranfordfan]

Agree entirely.

There are some really nice cards out there with the Photoshoped type images you're talking about - that look really nice - but it's overdone.

Something like the FW Autos... It does make sense to me there, as part of the appeal of those cards is the very clean white background, and the autographs really stand out nicely on top of them.

Overall though, I think flashly looking backgrounds are too prevalent, and good in-game photography would be preferable.

Of course the only set I really collect from year-to-year is UD Series 1/2 - and it's always had nice photography. That it's been around since 1990 (in varying formats) and has that picture appeal: That's a big part of why I collect it, and I'm sure it's the same for others too.

[odjickfan]

Stadium Club was nice back in the days too.

[Sharky94]

I remember reading an article in THN a year or so ago about some guy's card from the early 90s. Don't even remember who it was. The reason behind the article was because of the picture of the crowd behind him. Sitting in Row 1 right on the glass was a young (about 10 years old) Patrick Kane (why isn't THAT his rookie card???). It's stuff like that which makes collecting INTERESTING, rather than just figuring out how much each card is "worth" (which is what ruined the hobby in the first place).

Here it is: http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/eye-on-...n-trading-card

[RGM81]

I remember reading an article in THN a year or so ago about some guy's card from the early 90s. Don't even remember who it was. The reason behind the article was because of the picture of the crowd behind him. Sitting in Row 1 right on the glass was a young (about 10 years old) Patrick Kane (why isn't THAT his rookie card???). It's stuff like that which makes collecting INTERESTING, rather than just figuring out how much each card is "worth" (which is what ruined the hobby in the first place).

Here it is: http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/eye-on-...n-trading-card

Sylvain Turgeon, yeah. People still collect that card just because it's a "pre-RC" LOL now

[Cunnuc]

I am a huge fan of actual photography and I enjoy collecting base sets. I even like reading the stats on the back from time to time. I started collecting as kid in the 90's (like a lot of us) and the photos on the cards are still the reason why I collect base sets. I tend not to bust boxes of sets with just a cut-out of the player and especially stay away from sets with cut outs of players with a lot of the actual player cropped off. I'm not looking for stars or sunshine or whatever in the background.

11-12 Pinnacle was a good set and that set is 1 of 2 Panini sets I collected.

Upper Deck Series 1 & 2 is a great set for that. It is a set that is targetted for all audiences and it brings in collectors starting at an early age so Upper Deck Series 1 & 2 is a staple of the industry.

I started collecting again when I was 17, during the 01-02 season. Stadium Club was a great set! I still buy 01-02 Stadium Club Master Photos /100 when I come across them.

I wouldn't mind at all a set with a photo-variation sub-set. Not really a sub-set, just a parallel set inserted maybe 1 per pack. Home and Away would be nice.

My ultimate goal is to collect a hockey card with myself in the background! :) Even though that would likely make for an ugly card :P

[odjickfan]

Photography wasn't bad in Donruss 2010-11 too.