How to take the best photos at the snow - news article
Author: Rachael Oakes-Ash
Why do people think that just because they have an iPhone with a camera that makes them Herb Ritts?
I have a friend who insists upon entertaining us all with a ‘slide night’ when returning from holidays. He sets up a video screen in his backyard and lays out deck chairs like an open air cinema, throws snags on the barbie and opens a few bottles of wine. But no matter how he dresses it up it’s still like a Facebook photo album on steroids.
An ex-boyfriend of mine used to have a photo philosophy, if he wasn’t in them he didn’t want to see them. In today’s terms he’d say ‘if I’m not tagged on your photo I’m not going to click on your link.’ Clearly I didn’t tag him enough or we’d still be together.
To save your friends’ eyes, and your relationships, this snow season we’ve got the top tips and philosophies from the real professionals, adventure photographers who make their living from capturing action at the snow.
Hmmmm snow, mountains, crevasses, ice waterfalls, ski pros and snowboard riders - there’s no doubt winter provides some great photo opportunities.
Even the world’s best snow photographers like young Whistler-based hotshot, Jordan Manley, who in a single year graced the cover of both Powder Magazine and Skiing Magazine and took out the honours at Whistler’s Deep Winter Photo Challenge, had to start somewhere.
In the days of digital photography you can tell in an instant if you got the right shot or not but you still need to know what you’re looking for. Photoshop can only do so much. Even if you are just taking pictures on a simple point and shoot there are some tips that can improve your images.
Australian photographer, Dan Himbrechts, shoots Billabong’s snow catalogue in New Zealand each year and his images have been used in Anon goggles, Volcom and Rip Curl advertising campaigns.
His mood inspiring images of snowboarders around the world have graced the pages of Japan’s Transworld snowboarding magazine, UK’s Whitelines, Europe’s Method, Australian Snowboarder, and the list goes on.In short, he’s good and knows his stuff.
“Don’t put your point and shoot camera on ‘auto’ because snow is very reflective and the camera’s light metre reads it as being too bright so forces a shorter exposure and your images come out too dark” suggests Dan. “Instead put it on the snow or beach mode which will counteract this problem. If you are shooting on manual then over expose just a little to compensate for this.”
“Force your flash on for portraits or group photos in the snow as it helps fill in shadows from the sun and compensates for some of the brightness and reflected light from the snow. If it’s cloudy you’ll also want to use a flash as it will boost your colours and make your subject ‘pop’ more.”
Scottish lass turned Kiwi local, Camilla Stoddart, also shoots mountain action sports for a living from skiers and snowboarders to mountain biking. The up and coming photographer has already been published in Outer Edge magazine, Chill Factor and Powderhound and she is the senior photographer for NZ Skier and the official photographer for the NZ Freeski Open.
“Taking photos of skiers or snowboarders without any context in the shot is the most common mistake” says Camilla. “It is important to remember where your subject matter is as this makes the photo. Don’t just concentrate on the rider. If you took the rider out of the shot would it be any good?”
Chris Hocking shoots for Falls Creek resort in Victoria during the southern winter and his photography is published in newspapers around Australia. He travels the northern hemisphere shooting for Powderhound, The Ski Mag, Chill Factor and other action magazines. He says it’s all about composition.
“Look at the context of the shot. Is there a tree sticking out of your friends head? Is there a lift tower peaking into the camera you don’t want? Too many people just look at the person they are shooting not the context they are in.”
Mark Gillett is a London-based action photographer. He travels the world following extreme athletes on ultra marathons in snow, ice, desert and the like. You’ll find his photo credits in London’s The Sunday Times, CNN Traveller, Geographical, The Observer, The Guardian and more.
His top tip is to always turn around and check out what’s behind you. “You can miss so much if you focus only on your subject. I use this technique a lot. Look around you, don’t miss anything. For me it comes from photographing sport in culturally interesting places.
Shooting runners when you have Amazonian children behind, Marathon de Sable runners with Bedu behind watching. It changes an image completely.”
If your mates actually show up to your slide nights and you think you’ve got what it takes to get published then our photographers offer more suggestions. They all agree it’s about taking your camera with you everywhere, even on a bad day the weather can change and the more photos you take the better you will get.
“You don’t need the top of line camera with the best lens money can buy to make a great photograph” says Dan. “An entry level DSLR camera with a $300 50mm lens is all you need to get started.
Photography is about composition, light, and of course the subject. Don’t get too caught up in the tech side of things before you grasp the basics. Just get out there and take lots of pictures.”
This is a great article and the photographer Dan Himbrechts is a real cool guy based out of Sydney. He had a couple shots in the last issue of Pop Magazine. Follow the link and you can see one of em.
All I can say is get inspired, look at things differently and take some sick inspiring photos.
i am thinking of modifying my iphone lens with this…
