Fun in the sun!

Its ski season here, and part of the fun in Colorado is that 'ski season' means snow, sunshine and 50 degree days. Not too shabby. Most of the time I am skiing with my daughter, or skiing on my own, and I don't take a camera. Today, since my wife was with me (extra set of hands), I took the battery grip off, put on an all-purpose zoom (Nikon 24-120 VR- maybe the worst lens they have ever made), and took some snapshots. 

The scenery is great, the sky is clear, the air is warm- so what's the problem? The whole world just became a great big light source. I am pretty sure that all the people shooting today with their point and shoots were mostly getting this. The computer in your camera is trying to make the snow middle gray- which it isn't. Backlit brightness and dark people. And that's if you actually remember to hit exposure compensation. Okay I guess, but not really what we want. The trick is to balance your subject with all that ambient light. We aren't talking magazine ads here, that is level of production most of us never approach. But just getting to a good snapshot would be nice. All that really takes is a little thought, and a small amount of planning. One trick is to always watch where the sun is. In the shot above, its just out of the frame. Lots of light. Tough to manage. 

A little change in angle can really change the image. Here, just a few hundred yards further down, the sun is now at a more acute angle to the lens, allowing a bit more of the skiers to come through. My exposure comp is +1, making the snow very bright, but the skiers more visible. But there is still a whole lot of light in that frame.

So a little more strategy is necessary. I start to actually think a little bit, and look for spots that won't be so tough. This is a bit better. The sun is still at a terrible angle, but I have cut the amount of snow (and therefore light) in the background by half. My daughter looks a little dark, but the colors on her outfit are starting to resemble their actual hue, and you can make out both she and my wife's face much better.

Just as a side note, the promotional posters of people like Bodie Miller and Lindsay Von that the manufacturers give away are almost always shots of the skier in the air coming off a jump and either a)against a clear blue sky, which looks fine if it is dark enough to make the skier look good, or b) shot as the skier, who is usually airborne, passes in front of a big dark stand of trees. Shots of the skier on snow are almost always taken on overcast days when the photographer didn't have to fight as much ambient light. Images of the skiers not actually racing are as produced as any other ad shot, and so fall in a different realm.

So get the heck out of the sun!! Here is Marin cruising a cat walk. The trees are doing a nice job shading us, and add a little texture to the background. There is enough light coming through to make it interesting, but the skier is the dominant element in the photo now, not the sun on the snow.

Or, get the sun at your back and make sure the whole background isn't snow. This shot is still really bright, but the sun is working for me now, I have enough trees in the background to break up the white, and the skiers are close enough that they aren't drowned in all that light. Its also nice if you can catch your subjects not looking at the camera. So many ski shots are posed. That's fine if you find the right spot, but otherwise let your vacation photos show you actually on vacation, not staring into a camera. 

And if you do need that posed photo, remember your fill flash! On most cameras these days you can let the ambient take care of itself, and the flash will deal with your close in subjects pretty well. So find a nice spot, take a moment to compose, make sure the flash is on, and 'cheese.'