A couple of people have been asking me about this pic, and, more specifically, saying that I used flash.

Well, here are the exposure details:

Panasonic GH2,  lens 7-14mm @ 7mm,  iso 200, f/5.6, 1/1250th sec, No Flash.

To me, however, the numbers are secondary. What matters more is the process of getting there and deciding how to take the image. Not only in choosing the camera settings but also the dynamics on the hill. So what I thought I’d do here is walk through my photo process of getting to the above image, and I hope some of you find it useful.

Capture – Gear

For a 1500m climb ski tour and my first one this season, then I wanted to minimize the weight on my back. It’s a no-brainer: less pain on the up hill and more fun making tracks on the down. Safer as well, since, you can move faster and crashes have less impact. It’s the same thinking for summer biking hiking. So I took a Dakine Mission pack with the GH2, 7-14mm, 14-140mm and the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8. For close up action you have to go wide, hence, the 7-14mm.  The 14-140 isn’t the best performing tele on planet Earth but it’s competent in good light and gives me the zoom flexibility I like/need when on skis. The 50 f/1.8 is in because it’s feather weight and gives me a little reach (100mm) with high quality or low light or both, just in case I see something really sweet.  Was still enough space in the pack for an avalanche shovel, probes, food, hot flask, goggles, spare clothes, skins, two 2-way radios. Overall, very light and compact.

Capture – Ski

We skied the descent in the afternoon. On the summit we could see the sun starting to rake across the slope. Trees, boulders, bumps, mushrooms were starting to cast long shadows and it’s exactly these shadow/light border lines that we’re aiming for to get the best contrast. I also prefer to shoot into the sun, stars are great and the light through snow is beautiful. Fabi and I both understood the game, so from the top we spied out possible spots and began leap-frogging down the slope.  I’d ski down first and stop on or close to a shadow line, skiing around the virgin snow to leave it pristine for the shot. We used the radios, too, and these are invaluable at communicating back to the skier exactly what spot to hit. Without them, and over distances of more than about 50m, it’s just impossible to communicate, and throwing snow balls to mark a spot is a waste of time. I’d get the cam out, radio to Fabi how many meters in front of me I want a turn and then he’d nail it (usually over the front of my skis). There’s no second chances at one spot, and the shadows are moving fast, so I’d immediately ski down to the next spot, radio Fabi, and so on…

For this shot the shadow line was special because the light was casting across the slope, only a feint amount was hitting the snow and all light was in the air (so to speak). As soon as Fabi teared up the powder I knew the sun would light the spray up beautifully, thus giving me the contrast.

Capture – Camera

I used aperture priority at f/5.6,set ISO 200 and saw my shutter speed was up at about 1/1600 to 1/2000 of a second to reach exposure. Which is fine for stopping the action, but into the sun with snow reflection then the meter is under-exposing.  To compensate this I dialled in +2/3 ev , so dropping my shutter speed to 1/1300, which is still fast enough. Could have done +1ev but I played safe to retain highlights.  Actually, one of the EVF features I think is great in helping with this is the live histogram!

Why f/5.6 on an f/4 lens? — Well, purely just to get a little sun star effect. Was no point shooting it a f/4, I had plenty light.  Alternatively, could have closed the aperture more but then I’d have to increase the ISO thus compromising image quality.

Why aperture priority? — the GH2 only has one dial and I wanted to work fast, mainly due to cold fingers, so I let the cam figure out the shutter speed. So long as it was over 1/1000th sec with compensation then I was quite happy.  Didn’t lock the exposure, but could/should have done, since, if the skier blocks the sun then in A mode the shutter would probably have dropped to below 1/1000th, so bad for sharpness.

Focussing — at 7mm at 4 or 5.6 I’m not worried about DOF.  But I do like to preset the focus ( in time honored Nikon AF-ON fashion ), so with the GH2 I use the autofocus to select the sweet point then flick the focus switch to Manual to hold it there. By doing this my eye / finger control is concerned only with pulling the trigger at the right moment and there’s no autofocus getting in the way. You can use AF lock, you can use the half press, but I still prefer this method for wide ( perhaps with a tele tracking a skier it’d be different ).

Frames per second — for situations like this where you have one take at each spot then hose it.  For the GH2 that’s 5 fps. I normally try and anticipate where the rider will be in the first 1 or 2 frames anyway, and I aid the run in anticipation by using the other eye.

Camera tilt — to achieve a little extra steepness juice in the frame then rotate the cam into the slope.  For example, if the slope is at your right elbow then rotate the cam clockwise a little. Don’t over do it, and watch out for those 45° trees  Tilting the camera plane forward a little helps a too.

Capture – Post

16MB RAW taken into LR3. Raised the exposure by +1/3 ev to get some more snow brightness. Clicked auto-WB  - I already shot it on the warm side, since I hate blue snow, so the auto-WB didn’t have much to do. Exported at 16bit TIFF and took this into Photoshop.  In there I CMD-J’d  a new layer, raised it’s brightness and used the eraser tool to remove everything on this layer except for the skier and the trail of power. CMD-J’d again, used the Dodge tool to bring out more brightness in the helmet, goggles, jacket ( the Dodge is especially good for those reflective surfaces on goggles and helmets ). Checked everything, then flattened the image.  This method is particularly good for achieving a post process flash-like effect, and generally brings in more contrast to the image. Didn’t touch vibrance or saturation. Reduced the image to 1024 pixels on the long side, did a little selective sharpening on the skier, exported the image for the web.

Hit the Garmisch back country today with Fabi. Took the Osterfelder lift up, left the piste and did Stuibenkopf. Awesome views of the Alpsitze and some nice powder about too. Below 2000m on this Northerly ridge line the snow conditions felt quite safe.

First day out doing some proper shooting with the Panasonic GH2 – all I can say is WOW! Vastly reduced shutter lag compared to the GH1 and 5 fps at 16MB Raw is fast enough for me considering the lightness & compactness of this cam.  To me, it’s performance feels like the Nikon D300. Used the divine 7-14mm to capture the above image and the great thing is that the cam and lens is so compact I can just plug it into the top of my jacket, ski down some more along those fast moving shadow lines, and take it out again easily – with a big Nikon + lens I can’t really do that, gotta put it back in the sack.   One disadvantage is that because the cam is so small, so are the buttons (focus selector, iso, wheel) which means I just can’t operate it with gloves on, which is something I can do with a Nikon d300 or d700. Other minus point is that Aperture won’t load the GH2 RAW files just now, got to take them through LR3 instead.  Anyway, great cam !

Munich Lupine from Big Col on Vimeo.

Filmed in Munich and Tegernsee, December 2010, for Lupine Lighting Systems.

I used a Panasonic GH13 and only the Voigtländer 25mm f/0.95 lens. All scenes were shot at between f/0.95 and 1.4 and at ISO’s 800 and 1600. I’d have preferred to use the GH2 due to its better high ISO ability but the unit just didn’t arrive in time.

Much of the additional lighting, particularly in the forest section, was done by using the very powerful Lupine Betty bike lights. There was so much light bounce from the snow that is was possible to get some well lit footage. Conditions were also pretty cold, so the lights doubled up as great finger warmers too;-)

Night rider is Max Schumann, riding a Fatmodule ANT and torching the way with a Lupine Wilma.

Bavarian Snow Trails from Big Col on Vimeo.

Filmed at the end of November 2010 somewhere in Bavaria. Riders are Max Schumann and Maxi Dickerhoff. Snow cover was about 50 or 60cm. With hikers trampling down the snow and making a trail then some good riding is still possible. Took us 2hrs of pushing and carrying to get to the trail head but, once again, the up hill grunt was well worth it. Considering these guys were running with normal downhill tyres (without spikes) then this is some of the fastest mountain trail snow riding I have seen. Some sections of the trail are pretty exposed too, kiss your ass good bye if you fuck up.

Filmed using two GH13 bodies and lenses:

Panasonic 7-14mm f/4,
Nikkor 50mm f/1.8,
Nikkor 20mm f/2.8,
Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95.

The 20mm Nikkor was attached to a Lensbaby “Tilt Transformer” to get the focus shift in the first couple of scenes.

The Voigtlander 25mm was used in the forest near the end and was a “life saver” at getting some usable footage at 4pm in a dark forest. The quality and feel of this lens really is sweet and it’s made for filming using a GH1. At only €900 then buy one quick!

Max Schumann (l.) and Maxi Dickerhoff (r.).

Munich clips from Big Col on Vimeo.

A couple of short clips of Rainer riding in Munich, November 2010. Unusually warm weather for the time of year, almost like summer. Didn’t have much time, only a few hours, and the city center shut down due to the neo nazi march didn’t help us getting about town either. So just some short clips, Rainer thinks he’s not smooth enough and the tricks aint big enough. blah blah. blah. I like the light & compositions anyway.

Tried my first time lapse. Hiked up Olympiaberg with Niall, plonked the GH1 & 20mm on a tripod and left it there interval-ometing for 45mins into sunset. Wild exposure guess was iso 200, f5.6, 1/1000sec with one shutter release every 10 secs. Seemed to work out okay.

Video was done using Panasonic GH13′s + 7-14mm + Nikkor 85mm f/1.8.

Music is by “mindthings” and a song called “Feel a little”. Awesome music, sourced from Jamendo.com.

The dog is called Betty Wilma, the riders are Max and Fabi and we had a fine 1500m summit today. Awesome light the whole time. Every pic just seemed to hit the jackpot, although we have some work to do to get Betty trained up for photo modeling;-)

Nikon D700 + Nikkor 20mm f2.8, developed in Aperture then SilverEfexPro.

Here’s another one from our trip to France. Pic was taken on the same trail as my last post, with the Pelvoux National Park in the background. I can really recommend that area in autumn: no people at all, everything is quiet, perfectly dry trails and you can’t beat the colors if the weather’s fine!

Nikon D300 + Tokina 12-24 and stitched with PS.

R + B Stone from Big Col on Vimeo.

Filmed in October 2010 during Bavaria’s fine Autumn color-time! It’s one of the classic trails relatively close by to Munich. Riders are Fabian Gleitsmann and Max Schumann riding Liteville 301 and 601′s.

Filmed using a Panasonic GH13, 7-14mm, 14-140m, Nikkor 50mm, GoProHD.

Music by Brad Sucks, song is “Total Breakdown” (sourced from Jamendo.com).

Some exposure here on the home page of nsmb.  Interesting comments on the forum along the lines of those crazy Germans. Fabi’s written a piece on the thread, quite a good reply, worth a read.

mtb-freeride.tv are highlighting it too (…and have interestingly cut a still out of the vid to use, Mmmm).