By Tomas Annerby

It's fun to take photos of your buddies, and keep a few memories of your skiing adventures. Here are a few tips that have helped me to take better shots...

I almost always use faster shutter speeds than 1/1000 or slower than 1/40. I use fast speeds to get the object sharp or slow ones with or without flash to get interesting effects.

A good skier is not the same as a good model, and a good model doesn't necessarily have to be an extremely good skier. Some guys have to practice to look good in photos just as you, the photographer, have to try and improve. Some people are naturals. You can help models by showing them their shots so they can see what they did, right and wrong.

If you have the chance, weather, ski patrol hang-ups, and the X factor aside, then try to stay up in the ski area after closing time. There's nothing like being up there shooting in the evening sun with it's warm light. It's dead quiet and not a single tourist around. You only have one run so if you don't want to hike up again, let the models do the hiking. It's good to be the photographer!

Plan your pictures in advance. When the snow falls, make sure you have a secret stash of untracked snow where you can shoot. Don't waste these days shooting motion blurry pictures. Any other day will do for that.

Don't think you can't get any good pics on bad weather days or when everything is skied up. These are the days to experiment. You'll be surprised at the results you can get.

The photo above is an example of the kind of photo you can always shoot. It doesn't matter if the weather is crap and everything is tracked out. The only thing you need is a little soft snow. In this photo, it worked to my advantage that the weather was bad- it resulted in less contrast on the snow.

A solid background, low contrast light, short focus distance and slow shutter speed are the ingredients that made this photo work.

The slow shutter speed (1/15s) creates a motion blur. I also put a flash (automatic TTL) to get some sharpness in the skier. Remember to put the flash on the second curtain so that the motion blur will appear behind the skier and not in front of him. That way, the flash freezes the motion just before the shutter closes. Look at the pole and you see what I mean.

The specifics for this shot: Canon EOS 1n, Canon 28-70mm/2,8L (50mm), 1/15s / 22, 540 EZ, Flash: Automatic TTL on second curtain (The s-speed and aperture values are the result of measuring the incoming light with a Minolta Autometer IV f)

Have Fun!

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