Five Ways to Get Perfect Skiboarding Pictures. Before we start – we want your photos! Email them to us at: info@skiboards.com. Tips on taking better photos from the New York Institute of Photography.
One of the biggest problems you face when taking pictures on the slopes – whether of your favorite skier or snow boarder – is how to meter the scene to get a well-exposed skin tone. The problem is that your camera’s built-in meter will often be fooled by the white snow and bright sky into converting your subject into a silhouette.
Here are five ways you can solve this problem according to Chuck DeLaney, Dean of the world’s oldest and largest photography school, the New York Institute of Photography.
First, get next to the skier before the shot, and take a closeup reading of his or her face with your camera’s built-in meter. Set your exposure accordingly.
Second, if you can’t get a closeup reading, take a substitute reading on your own skin provided it’s similar in tone.
Third, take an incident reading with a separate light meter. An incident reading will place the whiteness of the snow, the brightness of the sky, and the skin tone of the skier exactly where you want them.
Fourth, take a reading of a gray card with either your camera’s built-in meter or a separate meter. The result will be the same as you would get with an incident reading.
Fifth, use fill flash. But realize the limitations of your camera’s built-in strobe. It probably has a range of ten to fifteen feet. Don’t expect it to light up the mountain.
The one thing NYI does not advise is to rely on your built-in meter and just “meter the scene” from a distance.
Just take lots of photos, edit them later. We want your photos, no matter what. We want to visually show the many faces of skiboarding.