Skiing

Would welcome any constructive comments.....

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intresting shot. skiing shots are usually beter from the front or side.

different angle but a very good look at the pitch of the slope...that is a pretty steep section ahead...instant increase in skier speed...he's probably doing 50+mph and gaining speed in this section...

where is this? the Alps?

I don't really like shoots from back. They might be interesting from time to time, but even then try to compose it a bit different (this is my such photos from one of last seasons World cup races). With your it's "just" normal composed shoot, just that instead of from front it's taken from back, and to be honest it doesn't really work for me. But that's just my personal opinion
Another thing is not exactly right exposure. Skiing is pretty much impossible to shoot with any of program modes (P, TV, AV). You get small person, which should be lit right, on huge shiny white background. The way cameras are done, you usually end up with underexposed skier and gray snow. That's reason why I shoot all skiing (or pretty much all sport) on manual. And if nothing else, dial something between +2/3 and +1 stop of compensation.
PS: This "gray snow" issue can be easily "fixed" on your photo with bit of playing with levels or curves in PS.

You guys gotta realize, this is the first skiing photo of an actual skiing surface, as a skier would see while on the slope skiing, posted here in several months...

It puts me right behind this guy in the red jacket, skiing like a "bat out of hell."

Just for the sheer enjoyment of the moment, I find this picture to bet just fine...It certainly serves it's purpose of putting me right in the picture behind him...

I'm an expert skier, and past professional ski school director, having skied in Europe and all over the USA all of my life...I don't want to see racers or gates, or extreme stuff, which I've done...Just like to kick back and dream of being on the slopes...Now primoz, I'm going to check the World Cup shots of yours...(by the way, thanks for the exposure pointers for snow...will remember to try them out.)..

makes me wanna ski

I would like to see a picture looking UP at the skier coming down maybe...or from the side...

The picture is good, more of a compostion or angle issue with me....

Thanks for the advice,

johnstoy, the photo is from the Royal Engineer's (British Army) Alpine Ski Training Camp held in Neustift, Austria every December.

I was sat just above the gate that was photographed trying to get skiiers as they came down the hill - this guy (a friend of mine) passed me and I fired a couple of extra shots as he disappeared over the edge. It's one of my favourates from last year's event.

Thanks, Tony

After looking at it closer and longer, I THINK the focus spot was just between you and the skier. See where the clumps of snow are very much in focus and just a little on the back side of the focus line is the skier...

mind you, this skier is right in front of him not even 10' away, while the skier is booking it at over 50mph...

What I'm impressed with is the 300' drop straight down in front of him...and it looks like he is bold enough to take it full speed...chances are pretty good that he will be toping 85 mph any moment now...

The shutter speed on this photo is 1/2000...while the f stop is set at f/8...getting this very fast skier crossing directly in front of you, and still show the extreme, steep slope of the mountain makes for a very good picture..

He's not going that fast. Mens Downhill FIS barely gets up there at those speeds. This is GS and he is probably in the range of 30-40mph max.

Exposure is nicely done - shooting over snow is really tough.

This shot would really pop if you were down on the other side of that gate looking up as he comes thundering over the top into the turn (but be prepared to dive out of the way). When shooting GS there is no substitute for a long lens. My choice would be to be a bit away and then use a 70-200 with a 1.4TC or a 300mm prime lens.

JohnJ80, you must be talking of children skiing...as your two pictures on the relatively level slopes exemplify...

Just get up to the High Sierras to watch the western US junior national team practice down narrow chutes at 85 mph...I regularly cruise at 60mph, as all of my National Ski Patrol friends do...

Well, I'm a patroller too and a cruiser and a former alpine racer.

Get out the radar gun and see. You're not going as fast as you think.

I don't doubt the National team gets up there. But the guy in the pic is not going that fast and staying in a GS course.

J.

I shoot really lot of skiing and for now jpeg works good for me So raw is not really necessary. But let's not go into raw vs. jpeg now
As far as lenses I agree with you... Gs is pretty much impossible to shoot with anything shorter then 300mm. Slalom on the other side can be done with 70-200. Most of slalom World cups I did, were mostly shoot with 70-200... but with slalom you can stand almost next to gates, while with gs (not to mention super-g or downhill) you have to stay further away.
Btw... I like your first photo. It's nice one and a bit different then "regular" skiing photos
And to John's comment about speed. 85mph would be 135km/h. You very very rarely see such speed at men's World cup downhills and never on women downhills and also never on men's (or women's) super-g or gs. Usually top speed on men World cup downhills are between 110 and 125km/h (65-75mph) and on GS it's very rarely over 60mph. And I'm talking about World cup races not some lower category races... so you exaggerate a little bit
I do quite a bit of alpine skiing too (before I was in competitive xc skiing) and I'm actually perfectly comfortable on all those icy World cup skiing tracks with skis on and camera in hand, so I guess I know how to ski And I also know, it's pretty much impossible to ski at 100+km/h on normally populated skiing hill. It's just way too much other slower skiers around that this would be at least reasonably safe... at least around here in Europe. So real number is not that high as it might feel

The skier in the picture is entering a nearly vertical drop and is about to go into a free-fall...even if he checks his speed briefly, he will still sustain the velocity into the freefall...Accelerated freefall speeds are easily attained at 85 mph, plus...
This doesn't mean he sustains this speed for a long duration...It simply means that when he realizes he's about to go into a "free-fall", he will check his speed repeatedly, to slow down.

Mind you, these are the Alps...well above the tree line, where vertical slopes are every where...

Try dropping of the cornice at "Squaw Valley USA" or at "Kirkwood" California...The cornice is easily a thirty to fifty foot drop before you even begin to touch ground...skiing the western High Sierras allows you to shoot the slopes at world record speeds, if you're daring enough...

Warren Miller's extreme skiing movies are filmed all around these areas...That's where I and my ski patrol friends ski...we almost always are the first ones up the mountain...and on a weekday, there is no one around to get in the way of skiing all out...
I worked for many years with World Record holder atheletes...
And many Olympic medalists, including some "American Football" - Super Bowl players...we trained hard, and played hard...

Oh, by the way...that's a military training ski course...These guys have the tuned up skis and the technology to take on the task at hand...I don't think there are any "joe public's" to get in the way around this course.