Winter is the perfect time for great photos in mountains – lots of sunshine, bright white snow, smiling faces, a relaxed atmosphere. But anyone who has tried to snap the ultimate image of a priceless vacation knows that shooting outside in the winter has its drawbacks. We asked Park City’s most prolific professional photographers for their number one bit of advice to help you with your Kodak Moment.

David Schultz (Westlight Images, (435) 645-8414)

Exposure and metering. Know how your camera’s light meter works. In conditions where there is a lot of white in the frame, such as snow, your light meter can/will give you an incorrect exposure reading. Your meter is calibrated to read a scene as 18 percent grey, which, when averaged out on a “typical” outdoor scene, would include a blue sky, perhaps a green foreground, white clouds, mountains, etc. When your scene is basically all white, the camera’s light meter still wants to average everything to 18 percent grey. Now all that beautiful “Utah Powder” is a dull grey. Overexpose the film by about 2 f-stops when you meter off the snow or meter off your faded jeans or a “grey card”.

 

Dan Campbell (Dan Campbell Photography, 435-655-7700)

Experiment. Compact digital cameras are small enough to carry all day in your ski jacket so there is no excuse not to have it with you at the top of the mountain, at lunch and while cruising Main Street. If you don’t like what you see, try again. Check each shot to make sure you like the composition and to make sure you nailed Uncle Billy going off the jumps in the terrain park. Make sure you take a big memory card like a 2g, extra cards and an extra battery. Set your digital camera to save all photos at the largest file size to give you the best quality prints.

Mark Maziarz (Sportsstockphotography.com, (435-649-0002)

Fill the viewfinder. Most amateur photos have too much empty space around the subject. Train your eye to look at all parts of the frame through the viewfinder rather than just concentrating on the little target in the center of the frame.  It’s even OK to visually cut off some body parts, such as the top of a head or someone’s legs.  But be careful; hands sometimes look weird if they’re missing and you pretty much always need to see the eyes. 

Richard Cheski (Mindset Media, (323) 318-4885)

Catching the action. Riders move fast and your clicking finger, slow. If you’re not on it, you’ll have a card filled with white, with no one in the frame. The best way to get the peak action shot in a winter photo setting is to watch the athlete hit the jump first or have the rider pick a set spot before you shoot. The best shots in those mags capture one turn. The photog will often make the rider hike back up and run the same line again. Create communication and a focal point for the action and snap away. If you get just one shot on the roll that is “EPIC” than you have done your job!

Patrick Cone (Patrick Cone Photography, 435-640-0458)

The best photographs draw the viewer into the frame and are well-designed within the borders. So try different vantages: down low, from above, or use different lenses to edit out extraneous objects in the viewfinder or to affect the overall color and lighting. Time of day is hugely important as well. The “Golden Hour”, just after sunrise and before sunset, has a colored directional light that defines the form you are shooting. Go for those times. Avoid photographing anything when the sun is directly overhead.

I hate deleting music from my iPod. Not only does the iTunes interface suck so much I avoid it like my boyfriend’s breath in the morning but you never know when you’re going to miss that Glee version of Don’t Stop Believin’.

Therefore, my solution is to beef up my music library so it takes longer to shuffle back to Highway To Hell. The challenge is finding new tunes that haven’t been blow out on the radio to the point that it’s the last song you want to hear on your personal player. So where do you go?

The Internet

You can dig into your CD vault and burn, you can peruse the Billboard Magazine online charts (and try to make sense of them), or you can wait for the monthly ‘what’s hot’ list from a little-known music lover named Chris Lawlorn. The free list is sent to your inbox with hyperlinks so you can taste before you buy. Totally works for me. Now all we need is a foot of fresh powder so I feel like getting back out there.

Here’s what February’s list looks like-

Disclaimer: If you’re a heavy metal, ska, reggae, acoustic or rap fan, move along. This list is for clubbers; for ripping skiers and boarders who care about their BPM’s.

Flo Rida – Good Feeling (Jaywalker Remix) – 127 BPM

 

Jay Sean & Nicki Minaj – 2012 (It Ain’t The End) – 126 BPM

 

Cobra Starship & Sabi – You Make Me Feel… (Felix Leiter Remix) – 127 BPM

 

Beatfreakz – Somebody’s Watching Me – 129 BPM

 

Katy Perry – The One That Got Away (R3hab Club Remix) – 128

 

Train – Drive By – 123 BPM

 

Adele – Set Fire To The Rain – 109 BPM

 

Maroon 5, Christina Aguilera & Mac Miller – Moves Like Jagger (Remix) – 128 BPM

 

Outasight – Tonight Is The Night – 120 BPM

 

Selena Gomez & The Scene – Love You Like a Love Song (DJ Escape & Tony Coluccio Club Remix) – 130 BPM

 

Not another iPhone or iPod case, I begged as I scanned Central Hall at the Consumer Electronics Show. Apple did things right when they made one device without straying. There are so many ‘other’ phones out there that it’s impossible for accessory manufacturers to keep up. But you make one iPhone case and it fits all iPhones. In addition to rugged cases and personalized skins, there are charging sleeves for Powermats and portable power storage (ie back up batteries) to get you longer life, and contraptions like the Miveu that turn your iPhone into a point of view camera.

Contour, Drift, Oregon Scientific, and more debuted new POV cameras. In fact there are almost as many cameras as cellphone cases. Personally, I get sick of watching all those glory vids. It’s great if you intersperse it with regular video footage but the only time I want to nothing but you point of view is –maybe- when you’re caught in an avalanche. The presenter for the new Magisto iPhone app said it perfectly. We all post boring videos. Magisto magically takes your silly footage, uses some weird algorithms and voile’, creates a more interesting cut of your filmography. I haven’t seen it work in real time but as soon as I have my next boring video look for it posted on Twitter @pcskigal

Companies are also pushing additional storage for iPhones and iPads in the form of detachable mini hard drives or cloud computing.

The CloudFTP creates an ad-hoc network where you can link your storage devices (flash drive, computer, phone) for sharing anywhere.

Cars –electric and otherwise- will soon become mobile hotspots so once you have that cloud setup you’ve got your own mobile office.

The 2013 Ford Escape no longer comes in a hybrid version but has this cool feature where you wave your leg under the back bumper to open the hatch when your hands are full. Think of the implications when you’re carrying all of your ski stuff as well as your kids’ gear. I’m a simple girl. Smart ideas like that get me excited.

Finally, I ran into the folks at Recon to hear what they’ve been up to. New deals with Smith, Uvex, Briko, Zeal and now Polar. Clip on a heartrate strap and see your real-time heartrate. The readout inside the lower right edge of the goggles features Bluetooth connectivity, GPS mapping, speed, altitude, temperature, jump analytics, vertical, distance, free fall detection, and more. The most usual feature is the GPS/Bluetooth connection. If your friend also has a Recon goggle you can see where they are.

The sheer number of companies attending the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas is dizzying. The gal at the press desk dropped that this is the second largest show in in history. More than 140,000 thousand attendees, 3000 exhibitors and 1.8 million square feet between the Convention Center and the Venetian.

Health and lifestyle gadgets have leapfrogged over the tablet craze this year. Although we still saw a fair share of wafer-thin notebooks set to compete with Mac. Including those with touchscreens.

From Roomba or one of the other robotic vacuums to heartrate monitors with built-in MP3/GPS/calories-burned counter, looks like it’s no longer about making life simpler. Be prepared to read a lot of instruction manuals. One thing that shouldn’t require too much thought are headphones. The only question next year will be what color. Fighter Floyd Mayweather and 50 Cent drew a sizeable crowd signing autographs and pimping his new earcups from SMS Audio.

There were a zillion different styles of buds as well, including waterproof models for swimmers. The Motoactiv from Motorola showed promise for fitness junkies. The iPod Nano sized smart device has a built-in GPS that will track time, distance, speed, heart rate, and elevation change, then sync with your computer or WiFi Cloud. The touchscreen is protected by rugged Gorilla Glass, and the entire unit is sweatproof and water resistant. It’s also a radio and Mp3 player that determines which songs boost your energy and creates a workout specific playlist. IF you have a Motorola phone or tablet you can also get texts and calls.

Finally, the proliferation of POV cameras continues. There are cases that turn your iphone into one, GoPro introduces a remote control and Oregon Scientific is out to buck those negative quality reviews by introducing two new cameras this fall. One – The Chameleon- has two separately adjustable lens so you can record you and your journey at the same time then play back simultaneously on a split screen.

Off to check out more stuff!

I entered the Consumer Electronics Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center with one mission last year. To find a pen that would record my strokes so I could write in a hardback journal (blog) without having to be logged into a computer or without having to type it all in after. The only company that came close was Yifang.

The Asian group had purchased the technology from an Israeli company and got the ball rolling. There were other electronic pens at the Show but they were either wired to the computer, needed special paper, or worked with a touch screen. Nothing for regular paper, away from any computer. But even Yifang was limited- I told them so. Until now.

There they were! Pens that could write on any paper, anywhere. Granted you needed their clip and software but so long as the clip fits over your paper or book you can write and upload it later. Think about it. I could be at a tradeshow, taking notes on a pad and upload them when I got home. Beats carrying around my laptop, recorder or tablet. Not to mention if you have a tablet, you can use the pen as if you are writing on paper. No typing. Take notes old school. Bravo! 2012 CES opened with a bang in my book!