A little help please

I am fairly new to the photography world, but enjoying the heck out of it. As such, I am working on getting a better understanding of my Canon 40D. I was snapping pics of my son's hockey game and noticed some differences in the quality of the pics. I snapped 2 pics in a row using the continuous shooting function so I never refocused or took my finger off of the trigger. The first pic was dark like the white balance was off, the second pic was almost perfect. I was using the custom white balance set through using an expodisc. Even throughout the day, sometimes the WB would be fine, other times not.

Here are 2 pics as an example, taken within 10th of a second apart. They have not been modified. I realize that it can be fixed in post production, but wondering why this was happening?

Any thoughts?

1. Are you sure you have the camera set to custom or manual WB?

2. I have heard that indoor/gym lighting can be very inconsistent and at high shutter speeds it may pick up different shades??

3. When I am around light like that I just shoot raw and worry about WB later in processing.

Great pictures, btw.

Alan is correct on number 2. Indoor stadiums (especially hockey arenas) use an inconsistent light that flickers and changes color temp throughout the day. Sometimes your ice will be pink. sometimes white. Even if you do a custom white balancing setting. When I shot more hockey I used to do my custom white balance on the ice. (fresh sheet) and then in photoshop I would use the "selective color" tool. Use the dropper on the ice, and then set my saturation all the way down so there was no color to my white ice. (sometimes not all the way down.) Thats about the best advice I can give! That or use strobes to over power the ambient light. :-) HEHE!!!!

I'll bet the yellow uniform helped fool it as well, notice how the uni color is fairly consistent! You might want to make sure the cam is set to lock exposure when you're shooting sequences as well as custom WBing the cam.

BTW I hear a lot of guys rave about using an expodisc to custom WB in indoor arena lighting like that.

How were your sequences overall focus wise? Those two look good as far as AF goes.

Here you go.

http://www.nikonians.org/forums/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=226&topic_id=10861 &mesg_id=10861&page=

I'm sure E.J. will chime in here, he takes great pics of his sons hockey games. Maybe he'll have some pointers

Thanks everyone. Alan, that article provided a very good explanation.

I specifically set the WB with the expodisc and set to manual. I borrowed the expodisc from a friend, I think I will have to pick one up. Once I got home I was able to use LightRoom and correct the photo with no issues. Not that I needed to, as one of the others came out fine.

The AF seemed to work fairly well. I just need to learn to track the action a bit better. That sequence was in one spot so it was easy to stay on target. Skating at high speed down the ice is a bit tougher. I am just getting started, so my shooting will improve.

If E.J. chimes in, I would love some pointers on shooting hockey. Always looking to learn. Can't wait for warmer weather and start shooting on the boat.

Thanks again.