shooting snowboarders/skiers on terrain parks

greetings everyone,
i was wondering what would be the best setting for shooting skiers/snowboarders doing tricks on terrrian parks. ..... I have done this before but never on the actual ski mountain; all i have done is urban photo shoots. in urban shoots there is usually very little snow. when i am at the real ski MT, snow is everywhere

I was thinking:
ISO 100-400 (depending)
M mode but shooting around 1/400 or 1/500
AI servo

what kind of metering mode should i use? i usually use partial metering.

i have my lens in my sig, I think i will bring the 18-55mm and maybe the 70-200mm f/4. i dont really see the need for the 70-200mm f/4 because i know all the people that i will be photographing so i will usually be close to them.

thoughts? ideas?

Don't forget that the meter will probably render your snow as gray, so some sort of exposure comp (+1 or +2) is probably involved. If not set, it's no big deal, you can always bring it back in PS. I'm sure some more experienced people will be offering you their tips on metering shortly...
Can you have your friends wear a neutral gray ski jacket with 18% reflectance? Then you can quickly just spot meter off their jacket

Snow I find very dificault to set up. I shoot my kids Sleigh riding and snowmobiling and 1 stop + EC is still not enough to get the snow white. I have been told by this fourm to find the brightest patch of snow around you and set the camera to 2 stops + EC and that should be good but have not had a chance to try it yet.

ok so should i shoot in TV mode at 1/500 with EC+1.5 or 2?

Shooting during snow
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=113565
snow and exposure compansation.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=125323
Snow Skiing question
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=134586
Ice/snow sculptures
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=134306
20D settings for snow photography.
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=134541
White balance for snow?
https://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthre​ad.php?t=140206
Let The Weather Affect Your Photography!
http://www.vividlight.​com/articles/3904.htm

Personally, In snow I set Ev to +2/3 and ISO 200 to 400, shoot in Av mode and I usually use around f/8. This will give me 1/500 or better in all but the dimmest of scenarios. There's no reason to shoot manual. The snow will fool the meter to the same 2/3 stop the whole day, and you will miss your best shot of the whole day while you are fiddling with the camera in manual.

I don't see how, & I think there's a lot of fiddling that goes on with Ev settings, too?

This works for me:
Need an exposure crutch?

Only once, when you arrive on the scene and see the snow you think "I need +2/3 EV or +1 here". You set it, set Av mode, pick an aperture for desired DOF. Also remember to set servo focus for the snowboarders. Then I would point the camera at the subjects and start taking pictures, keeping an eye on shutter speed to ensure it is high enough. If the shutter was borderline, I'd bump the ISO. Noise is so low in these dslrs I pretty much never go below 200.

My experience with just this kind of shooting finds that the actual lighting changes up and down from shot to shot constantly depending on direction of the subject relative to the sun and especially if they are moving in and out of shade. In manual this means constant adjustment of the shutter speed to keep the exposure correct.

If you don't like Av mode, fine. I just happen to find myself ripping off a large number of pictures when I'm shooting action (like snowboarders) and I don't want to look at the meter in the viewfinder and adjust the wheel very often. The camera will do it for me, and I still retain control by setting the offset at the beginning.

The meter reading may change, but the "actual lighting", the highlights & shadow exposures remain the same. Except for...

True. I don't think you can dial in enough EV in that case. I just change a few stops when I see it happening.
Nobody will "win" this issue. Whatever you do, have fun with it.

You can pretty much forget about iso100. Most of my shooting of skiing is done on iso400 to iso640 or even higher. And I do shoot quite lot of skiing Personally I don't shoot snowboarding all that much, but I shoot whole bunch of alpine and xc skiing, ski jumping and biathlon World cup, but basics are pretty much same everywhere. I never, and I really mean NEVER, shoot anything but manual. Manual exposure and custom white balance. There's just no way camera is smart enough to expose at least kinda right scenes with bunch of snow around and dark skier in middle of frame. Nowadays it's easy to set right times and aperture, so just check your screen and go for right lit face. Snow will always be overexposed with right exposed athlete. And athlete is only important thing on photo
Ai servo is must and times around 1/500 or higher are also pretty much required to guarantee sharp photos. As far as lenses go, for snowboarding go with wide angle. Snowboarding shots are something completely different then "conventional" skiing, so if you will be shooting some tricks or jumps, wide angle is only way to go.

dont forget your flash at home!

I didnt use mine the first day out and got KILLED woth dark subjects

these are mostly near 100% crops (no zoom lens )
a fill flash would have helped me a lot, as I had to use a shadow recovery
these are from my first day out shooting snow, and sports of any kind. learned a lot that day

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Flash wouldn't help you with this. Personally I never use flash on any skiing (except sometimes for some big air snowboarding) for two reasons... first it just doesn't reach far enough, and second I don't like it
Your "problem" can easily be corrected with a bit of overexpose, or even now with bit of correction in PS (levels or curves whatever fits you better). Your photos are actually perfect sample of that what I wrote before... never use automatics Camera doesn't know snow is a bit special thing, so you end up with photos like that. So just overexpose for +1/3 to +1 stop and you will be fine next time.

this thread will come in handy for me..

Flash might help, but I wouldn't use it in this case.
My post #9: "True. I don't think you can dial in enough EV in that case. I just change a few stops when I see it happening."
Primoz: "I never, and I really mean NEVER, shoot anything but manual. Manual exposure and custom white balance. There's just no way camera is smart enough to expose at least kinda right scenes with bunch of snow around and dark skier in middle of frame."
My post #7: "This works for me:"
Need an exposure crutch?

EDIT: Primoz types faster than I do!

thanks again for your input and advice ( I still think you should write a book), In manual mode, should I have the speed set to say 1/500th and let the apature vary; or should I set the apature to 2.8 and let the speed change according to the light?