Shooting in snow advice

emt123 · Nov 25, 2016

I'm new to photography but I've been able to capture some good looking shots so far. But with snowboarding season upon us I want to take my 70d to the mountain and take some awesome snowboard shots. I think I've got a good game plan but if anyone has some advice on how to get crisp, correctly exposed shots of a moving subject (snowboarder) in the snow please chime in!

Equipment: 70d, 18-55 kit lens

Plan: shutter speed around 500-1000, f5 (or higher) I want a lot of the scene to be in focus, ISO as low as possible? Using back button focusing. Single af point, evaluative metering, and try to over expose by 2 stops. Also shooting in RAW.

Any other advice? It's hard to get practice shots because once my friends go by I've got to wait until the next run to try again, pack up my equipment and go back up the lift.

Thanks in advance!

Dave442 · Nov 25, 2016

Shooting 2 stops over will help with giving a good reading for the snow, may not be the correct exposure for the subject so you might have to raise some shadows in post or overexpose the snow to have good exposure on the subject or add lighting.

I know some people add flash for better lighting, I think someone on here does a lot of snowmobile shots and they use flash. If it is your friends then it shouldn't be an issue, although I've busted a speedlight tube with rough handling.

I would do some tests just stationary in a spot where a number of boarders are going by and in the light that you expect to have with your friends.

I would bump up the ISO so you can be around 1/1000 and f/8 and then have a bit of room for going up or down from there. If they're are doing tricks then I like to do one shot at the peak of the trick, if they are skiing past then continuous. If you are at f/8 or a smaller aperture then could focus on a spot and catch them when they go past that point. Tell them where you want them to go and where you are going to be.

Usually I prefer skiing to taking pictures of other boarders or skiers. Good luck

vintagesnaps · Nov 25, 2016

Get out somewhere with your camera in snow for test shots (use a tree or maybe take something along to use as a subject) to figure out proper exposure. I've done hockey and often take into account overhead lights reflecting off the ice; the snow is very reflective so on a sunny day you'll have to adjust differently than cloudy conditions.

You need a fast shutter speed for action and usually a midrange or smaller aperture shooting sports, depending on the area you need to have in focus (it can often be more than one player/athlete). Aperture is smaller or larger, not higher/lower, so that makes me think you may be a less experienced photographer and need to learn more about camera settings and exposure before you get out on the slopes trying to capture action.

I'd think you'd need to minimize what you take with you. A kit lens usually isn't necessarily the sharpest lens, and it depends on how close you are to the subjects what length lens would be best. Look online at sports publications that cover winter sports and see what those photos look like and maybe get some idea what may work best.

If you can search users on here, look up imagemaker. He's a sports photographer who covered the winter (and summer) paralympics for Team Canada.

dennybeall · Nov 25, 2016

The brightness of snow can be very deceiving since your eye will compensate so you have to go with the meter. If you use any kind of wide area metering your subject may very well be very underexposed. Using Fill Flash works well for me as does using spot metering.

Didereaux · Nov 25, 2016

All your points are valid as far asi can see. the over-expose is the primary one. DennyBealls suggestion of fill is excellent. I would add though that for sports like that you are going to need the most powerful flash you can afford. Adding on a Better Beamer would probably pay you dividends....I use them for some wildlife shots in shaky light situations. If memory serves, Syl Arena covers that in his ''from snapshot to great shots'(?) book

I used to use Canon 550Ex's, now I use the Yongnuo 600's. The YN's are superb and are (was far as my experience goes) 100% compatible with Canons...they communicate without error.

emt123 · Nov 25, 2016

Thanks for all the advice!

Drive-By-Shooter · Nov 26, 2016

good advice here. also, just like with guns, extreme cold makes the lubricants ineffective. might start having issues as you approach 0 degrees F.

photo1x1.com · Nov 28, 2016

If you need a flash or not depends a lot on the position of your friends to the sun. However the snow is a great and massive reflector, and as long as the sun is not comming from the back, you should easily be OK without flash if you don´t want a specific look. Even if the sun is comming from the back, shooting raw and brightening shadows in post will usually give you exactly what you need.
I have yet to shoot snowboarders, but I shot a lot of skiing stuff. I tend to go for 1/2000th ISO 200 which usually gets me somewhere around f6.3.
Here is an example - both images with the same above mentioned settings, the lower image with brightened shadows in lightroom.

For exact exposure the tips you´ve received are perfect: stop with your friends a little bit uphill, do a testshot (use something to cover your head with when you look at the display, otherwise it might be hard to read in bright sun). Then dial in the settings you get in manual mode (not difficult at all, just read the shutter speed, aperture and ISO you liked best from the testshots and dial them in - read your manual before if you don´t know how this is done on your camera - usually it is your front fingerwheel and the thumb wheel, and for ISO you need to press a button). After dialing it in, you ride down to the photospot and shoot away

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If you are familiar with reading the histogram of your camera, that will help you tremendously, especially in snow.