When it comes to shooting action on the slopes, the golden rule is in the timing. The starting point is to know where to position yourself so that you'll be in the right location when your skier or snowboarder flies by.

Before you set up for the shot, agree on exactly where you will set up, where they will pass you, and - most important - agree on a signal from you to indicate when the skier should start. Make sure they know how long it will take you to set up: you have to get to the agreed location, set your poles or detach your board, take off your gloves, get out the camera, get it ready, and set yourself and the camera for the shot. Only then are you ready!

Tell the skier not to budge until you give the signal - for example, wave your arms over your head. Freeze!

To get a head-on shot, you need to set up in their path. You can use a slower shutter speed than you might first think to 'freeze' a subject that's moving toward you, even though the same slow speed wouldn't freeze a subject moving perpendicular to you. You can pre-focus on the spot where you expect to take the picture. Autofocus is great, as long as you make sure your subject is in the centre of your viewfinder. In fast-moving situations, this may be difficult and your camera will still focus on whatever is in the centre. The trick to getting a well-focused photo of an off-centre subject is to use 'focus lock'.

A final note on this subject - often cameras take a brief moment to focus and set the exposure, which results in a moment's delay between you pressing the shutter-release and the picture being taken. Get to know your camera and if it has this sort of delay, then watch out! Otherwise you may press the button at the critical moment and the camera may record just an empty patch of snow. Anticipating the movements of the skier and using the pre-focus technique described above can help overcome this.

Panning is another method of getting a great action shot. Set up so the skier will move past you on the perpendicular. If you freeze the action by using a very fast shutter speed (1/1000 sec), you may end up with a picture in which nothing appears to move. The skier would be frozen motionless. The trees would be frozen motionless too and the entire picture would look static. Create the illusion of motion and speed by panning with the skier. The reason for doing this is to capture the image of the skier in sharp focus against a blurred background. The key to good panning is twofold: first, use a slow shutter speed (1/30 sec),
follow the subject in your viewfinder as they approach you, keep them there as you shoot, and keep following them after the shot has been taken. Your objective is a smooth motion.

And, action!
Freezing motion can produce very dramatic results in other situations.Where the position of the snowboarder or skier is in mid-air, freezing the motion can make them appear as through they're flying through the air! Also, flying bits of snow, say  'action' to the viewer.

Getting rid of glare
Unfortunately, the bright sun and pure white snow also causes glare and can make it difficult to frame your shot in the camera's LCD display. If you can't use an optical viewfinder or attach a hood to shade the screen, you need to call on every photographer's best friend - duct tape. You can make an improvised hood from the tape, just large enough to shade the display and allow you to see what you are shooting!