Prep Week

All right - I have to say, I love this photo. He went down this hill a hundred times. He'd hit the bump and both he and the sled would fly up into the air... and then he'd come right back down on the sled and finish the hill. Everyone else fell off their sleds over and over again - but not him. He nailed it every time - without a bit of effort. We were laughing so hard our sides hurt. It was great fun shooting in the snow.

I haven't had much time for updating my blog this week - I'm sorry about that. I've been busy preparing for our upcoming workshop in Death Valley. I'll try to keep my blog updated, but once we're in the park, I won't have internet access for a few days.

Sledding

Shooting moving subjects isn't as difficult as you think. You'll need a fast lens - like our Canon 135mm f/2.0. A wide aperture (f/2.0) allows us to capture more light than would be possible with a narrower opening - which means we can use a faster shutter speed to freeze the action. This shot was taken at ISO 100 with a shutter speed of 1/800th of a second, and the aperture set at 2.0.

We were happy to have overcast skies to work with - so you won't see blown highlights or shadows that lack detail in this image. We overexposed the shots in camera just slightly - since we knew the white snow would confuse the light meter. I'd recommend taking a couple of test shots, and checking your histogram now and then as the light changes.

If 1/800 sec isn't fast enough to capture your action shots (a speeding baseball or racecar perhaps) - you can increase your ISO to compensate. Most SLR cameras handle high ISO situations relatively well - though I'd hesitate to go beyond ISO 1600 without a really excellent camera. You'll get more noise the higher you go - just be aware of that. You can check out your camera's ISO capabilities by reading some online reviews or taking a few test shots on your own.

I'm in the process of cleaning up my hard drive. I'm afraid I have entirely too many photographs on this poor machine. :) I'll be busy with that for a good part of the day - and then it will be time to back up the system. I'd like to get all that done before the holiday. Wish me luck!