Night Ski Photos

[mca80]

Last two pics the best. No headlight required.

[lowangle al]

Yeah it was pretty bright and the iphone makes it brighter.

[Montana St Alum]

Skiing, snowshoeing, biking, hiking, it's all good at night!

You forgot paddling

Funny you should mention that. I was thinking the same thing.

@JohnSKepler - nope, things happen too fast!

[TallGrass]

Kicked off some snow to sit on wood to put on gaiters, deploy Z-poles, free the skis after hiking up the road.

Regularly trafficked, and red/white reflective tape on my poles...

... to make it easier to locate the body for recovery... eventually.

Raised walkway to start. Then it got... interesting ...

[TallGrass]

So... I'm learning to do this stuff...
in leather boots...
on skis I can't fully control (i.e. "stop", I'm used to alpine; "balance"? what's that?) ...
in a skied trench ...
downhill (make mistakes faster and with more momentum) ...
at night (- I can't see where I'm going, + no witnesses) ...
and alone (If a skier cusses in the forest and no one is around to hear...).

And remember, "Lift that heel!!!"

What could possibly go wrong?

S-turn on a downhill (nothin' for you guys, but see above). Don't overshoot it.

Reverse Target Practice: the goal is to miss, downhill.

A more rustic lighting version.
They remove the bark on the skier's side to make the obstacle more visible for beginners, right?

Where does this go (besides downhill)?
Don't ask me; I haven't done this before either.
The nice part is there's a downslope for you to get your speed up before the abrupt turn just out of sight when you begin to pick up speed -- I'm beginning to see a pattern

The Learning Curve.
This down slope sight-line gave you enough advance warning to fit in at least four "choice words" before "the test."

The Head Scratcher: max clearance 4 ft, 0 in ... or less.
Yes, downhill, and a curve at the end for, ya know, 'fun'.
Why? Because doing turns standing upright is for sissies.
Gee, why is there little snow on top of that log?
It's almost as if someone pushed it off...

Sorry I didn't take any photos of the uphill switchbacks that came next.
I was... busy. Yeah... busy.

Yes, there's more to come.
But first, sleep.
ZZZZzzzz....

[TallGrass]

Had a nice view of 'the hunter' with tree silhouettes. Time to play with settings.


"Night mode"

Camera flash (my breath diffusing the light)...

... and a .jif of it.

Headlamp spot beam, no flash.

[TallGrass]

These look better on a small (phone) screen.
I was playing with "PRO" mode where one can adjust ...

SETTINGS
ISO: 50 (darkens photo, use in bright sunlight) to 800 (brightens, use in low light and to avoid motion blur)
f-stop: depth of focus, from a shallow f/1.8 needing less light/time, to a deep f/32 needing more light/time; a targeted object like a Flower* uses low, while a Mountain* landscape (near, middle, far) needs high.
* Flower-to-Mountain icons are often used on cameras, and you might have to disable AF (auto-focus) to Manual
Shutter Speed: how long the "film" is exposed; low light requires LONGer speeds often 4 seconds or more versus fractions of a second (1/500th) for bright daylight; any movement will result in streaking or blur
(There's also White Balance 2300-10,000K, Tint, Contrast, Saturation, Highlight, and Shadow to play with, on my phone at least.)

So this lunar eclipse photo has a low ISO to reduce noise, but a long shutter speed and a deep field of focus (and a big lens to capture light)
"NIKON Z 7 + 300mm f/4 @ 420mm, ISO 200, 10 sec, f/8.0"

I was playing around with PRO mode using AF, ISO 800 (noisy, but trying to get light), and 10 sec shutter speed resting my phone atop my trekking/ski poles. I was finally able to get shots that were not "Screen of Black" that showed the landscape I could not get with "regular" settings including "Night."

TIP: If you have a countdown timer (usually so you can set up the camera and then run to get in frame), you can use it to avoid the screen tap to take a photo from jostling it when you prop up the camera on something or are using a tripod. Some might have a delay after the tap if the Shutter Speed is long.

These two get the general idea across...

... where these show more movement because my fingers (and more) were getting cold (20F w/ breeze) and it was harder to hold the phone steady against the makeshift Bi-Pod of the two trekking/ski poles. There's the city in the bottom and I think E-bound I-70 going up to the pass.

I might play with incrementally lower ISO (400, 200, ...) keeping the max Shutter Speed (10 sec) and switching from AF to Manual to make sure it's maxed at "Mountain" for focus depth, and set the phone up on a signpost cross bar. I also plan to play with Saturation and other things too, but keep in mind that a smart phone is a VERY small lens -- it's a peephole in a door versus a window as far as how much light hits it.

@lowangle al and @bauerb, thanks for sharing!

[lowangle al]

[TallGrass]

Here's the "compressed" JPG photo...

... and the RAW file. I like this one as you can see the red and green light strobes of the aircraft below Orion.

Looks like the settings were F1.5, 10", 4.30mm, ISO 800
or in English
Shallow field (on AF so it chose 1.5), 10 sec exposure, 4.3mm phone lens, (I)SOaking up 800 light at the cost of noise/fuzz.

Again, it's cold and hard to hold a phone steady for ten seconds in a 20F breeze after minutes with a glove off. Even when I held my breath to avoid that movement, I could still clearly feel my pulse. Maybe I should play with this from a warmer locale!

[fisheater]

Cool photos. I like photos, but do absolutely nothing to learn how to take nice photos.