Ski Photography 101: A Beginner's Guide To Shooting Skiing

1. Dial in Your Camera Settings

Understanding how to use your camera on the fly will set you up for success more than almost anything else in photography. Whether you're on a DSLR setup or mirrorless, there are a few essential settings you'll need to understand to get started.

First is your shutter speed. Odds are when shooting skiing, your subject will be moving pretty quickly so you're going to want a higher shutter speed to capture them in motion without blurring. While there's no "correct" shutter, 1/250 and higher should be plenty fast to capture a skier flying past you. When it's super bright and sunny out, you can increase your shutter speed to help keep your photo from getting "blown out" or overexposed. 

Next is the aperture or f-stop. This is how open your lens is and is usually controlled by a dial on the lens, depending on your camera model and make. A good rule of thumb is to shoot with the lowest f-stop possible so you have more wiggle room with shutter speed and ISO, but it can definitely be a case-by-case decision. How low your f-stop goes depends on your lens as well. 

Last is your ISO. ISO determines how sensitive your camera is to light. In general, you want to work with a lower ISO to keep your photos from getting "noisy" or grainy. On a bright, sunny day, you can often get away with an ISO of 200 or a little higher. When it's darker and stormier, your ISO will be a bit higher—more in the 350-400 range. The lower your ISO, the more light your camera will let in, so if you're shooting at 250 ISO and it's still looking overexposed, you can increase your shutter speed or your aperture to compensate. 

Once you've mastered the basics of exposure and movement, you can start playing around with these things more. While an image like the one of Elyse Saugstad was taken with settings that ensure it's clear, crispy, and not overexposed, one like this motion-blurred skijoring shot was taken with a low shutter speed, low ISO, and super high f-stop to achieve the motion blur effect, and it is an example of the ways you can play with settings to make different types of images. 

2. Know How To Protect Your Gear in the Snow

Ski photography can be a fairly unfriendly pursuit for cameras and camera equipment. While there's a certain amount of wet, snowy gear you're just going to have to expect, there are certain things that can mean the difference between a great day and ruining a few thousand-dollar camera. 

Most high-end cameras have weather sealing or weather sealing options these days that are 100% worth investing in. While that doesn't mean you should plunge your camera into a lake, if your gear gets a little snowy and wet on a shoot day, when dried out properly, it should be just fine. With that being said, make sure you dry out your gear at the end of the day. I like to lay all my bodies and lenses out on a microfiber cloth indoors and let them dry at least overnight, if not longer. 

A good, waterproof camera bag will make all the difference as well. Being able to pop your bag in the snow and not worry about the fabric soaking through is one less thing to think about while shooting. A pack with a good waist strap will also help you when shooting skiing—even if you're the best skier in the world, skiing with an extra 30+ lbs on your back is going to put you in the backseat and make it more difficult to ski. Also, don't forget to zip your bag shut between shots. The last thing you want is a skier to spray you and for all the snow to get inside your bag as well. 

If you're shooting skiing or anything in cold weather, never, never, never walk to a warmer climate indoors and then take your lens off. If your camera sensor fogs up because of the temperature change, it's toast. 

3. Understand Image Composition

Visual composition is all about keeping the eye moving in a circular motion around the image. In photography composition, we talk a lot about the rule of thirds. The rule of thirds takes the rectangular frame of a photo and breaks it into thirds horizontally and vertically. When you're composing a photo, think about placing the subject where these invisible lines intersect to keep the eye moving around the image.
 
Think about how to use the things around you to help the eye move around the image as well. Whether it's a tree branch that points towards the skier or positioning their tracks in the frame to enhance the composition, there are a million ways to be creative with the composition of the photo.
 
Another important thing to think about in photo composition is depth of field. In other words, how you frame the photo to enhance the foreground, middle ground, and background of the photo. Maybe you have some tree branches out of focus in the foreground that point to an in-focus skier in the middle ground and a background that adds contrast to the image. Like many other pieces of photography and art, there are no hard and fast rules; rather, there are things to practice and play with, so you have many different skills in your toolbox to fit a variety of situations.
 
Don't be afraid to move around, whether on your skis or by boot packing. You're not always going to be able to ski to the perfect location to frame a shot, so get comfy with the idea of working a little extra to line something up.

Looking at other people's work has also really helped me learn about composition. Grab a stack of old POWDER magazines (or subscribe to our newsletter, where we release archival issues every week!) or go stalk the Instagram of your favorite ski photographer and really think about why you like their images and what they did to get them. 

4. Learn To Communicate With Your Subject 

Communication is one of the most important things in ski photography. You'll never get a good shot if you say, "Ski here," but your skier doesn't understand what you're saying. So, learn to use landmarks and descriptors that make sense from both your point of view and theirs. It might seem simple, but throwing a snowball exactly where you want the person to make a turn is a great trick. If you're shooting bigger terrain, radios can also be a crucial piece of equipment that can make your job a hundred times easier. 

5. Make a Plan 

It's no secret that ski photographers will do A LOT to get a good shot, but that doesn't mean that safety doesn't still come first. Make a plan of where you're going and what you're skiing so everyone is on the same page and comfortable with the terrain, avy danger, and plan. Shooting skiing takes a lot longer than just skiing a line, so account for plenty of extra time out in the field to get to your objective, ski it, and get out of wherever you are. Getting the shot is never worth putting yourself in a dangerous situation. 

Odds are, you might be out in the mountains longer than a normal ski day, so it's also important to bring extra layers, snacks, and water to keep yourself fueled, warm, and hydrated. Throwing an extra puffy in your bag, which you can put on top of all your layers when you're standing around waiting for someone to drop, is never a bad idea.