Head to Head Snow Ski Racing

Here is another photograph from a duals ski race with two skiers racing head to head.  It is tricky to get both skiers in the same frame.  In the two frames previous to this one I was only getting the more distant skier (she was slightly ahead) but as they passed my position I was able to get two more frames that included both of them.  This image is pretty good representation of exciting head to head racing.  Usually I shoot the alpine ski races with a fixed 400mm lens because I am getting only a few gates with a single skier.  For this duals race, though, I used a zoom lens because it allowed me the flexibility to zoom in on one skier or go wider to get both athletes in the frame.  In the shot above I had backed out the zoom all the way as they flew past me.

100-400 lens at 100mm, 1/2000 second at f/5.0, ISO 250.

Airborne Giant Slalom Skier

We photograph many downhill snow ski races during the winter season and this is one of our favorite images.  This skier is racing on the giant slalom course and as he rounded the gate he became slightly airborne.  The dark trees in the background allow us to clearly see that the skis are off the snow.  Also, the angle of the skier's body and legs gives us a nice diagonal line that helps make the image dynamic.

400mm lens, 1/2500 second at f/3.5, ISO 200.