Advice on taking pics when gone skiing

[pwynn-mackenzie]

Hi there, going skiing in a couple of weeks to France, La Clusaz if anyone knows that. Two things, firstly a bit worried about some of my equipment (although will keep it to a min, like no extra lenses) and whether it will be okay and work okay in the cold. I will keep my stuff in a backpack and then my camera will be inside a camera bag in that and will probs protect the bag a bit more with some padding. Going quite late in the season tho so should be a bit warmer hopefully.

Right secondly, any tips on taking pictures when going skiing. When I say this im thinking more of doing landscape pictures rather than taking pictures of people skiing. Anyway any tips would be great.

Sorry for long comment but any help would be awesome and much appreciated. Ta muchly

 

[grum]

My experience of this is that it can be quite hard to get away from the clutter of ski lifts/pylons, run markers etc. For this reason I found using a longer lens quite handy. I wasn't doing anything too extreme or attempting tricks or anything while carrying the camera - I very rarely fall while just pootling around.

Camera should be fine in the cold but battery life is severely affected - take several spares and try and keep them in a pocket near to your body, and/or warm them in your hand before use. Remember too that if your camera has been cold outside or in your bag then you take it in somewhere warm, you will get a lot of condensation on the lens.

Here's a couple from a recent trip to Zermatt.


Gornergrat Railway by Grum Wynne, on Flickr


Matterhorn at Sunset by Grum Wynne, on Flickr


Matterhorn - Hornli ridge detail by Grum Wynne, on Flickr

 

[pwynn-mackenzie]

wow those are some stunning shot, love #2 and #3 really nice I have read a bit about condensation problems and I heard people mainly leave there camera off for a couple of hours once they get back into the warmth to reduce condensation problems or something. Anyway I think I will be using my beercan lens (70-210mm) for a lot more of my shots than I originally thought.

 

[Craikeybaby]

There have been a few threads about this recently, although more aimed at snowboarding.

One thing to bear in mind is that a lot of the content of your shots will be white, whereas auto exposure is based on the majority of the shot being 18% grey, so you will probably need to dial in some positive exposure compensation.